Pupil Premium
In April 2011 the Government introduced the Pupil Premium funding which is additional to main school funding and allocated to those children of statutory school age who would be eligible for Free School Meals (FSM); to those children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months or for children whose parents are currently serving in the armed forces. From 2012/13 this also includes pupils eligible for FSM at any point in the last six years (known as the Ever 6 FSM measure). Schools are held accountable for how we use the additional funding to support disadvantaged pupils. The amount of Pupil Premium funding allocated since 2018 is as follows: 2018/19 £80.020; 2019/20 £79.860; 2020/21 £82,045. Our allocation for this year (2021/2) is £87,425. We also have been allocated £18,850 as ‘recovery’ money in order to help our children make progress following the disruption caused by the pandemic.
At The Brook we have currently 54% of children on FSM and one child who is looked after. It is more difficult in a special school to relate FSM to ability levels but we do our best to relate the funding to FSM children whilst including other children of the same ability within intervention groups/extended schools work and other areas. The most significant barrier to pupil progress relates to the nature of each pupil’s special educational needs, which within the Brook School includes: some pupils having additional needs such as sensory impairments, physical difficulties, autism and complex health needs.; and some pupils having severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties with associated severe communication difficulties
For all pupils, progress is maximised through the personalisation of the provision, the excellent resources, the expertise of staff supported by extensive training and partnership working with parents/others There is no significant gap for FSM or LAC children.
The following document indicates our three year strategy for narrowing the gap for our Pupil Premium children and provides an overview of how the premium was spent last year.