Schools to face greater scrutiny over use of Pupil Premium funding
Katy Morton
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
The Schools minister David Laws has announced a raft of new measures to help schools further narrow the unacceptable gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their peers.
The Government’s commitment to the pupil premium for 2015/16 was underlined by the Chancellor George Osborne last week during the Spending Review.
Worth £2.5 billion per year, the pupil premium provides an extra £900 for each disadvantaged pupil, typically those eligible for free school meals.
From September, schools will face increased accountability over the attainment and progress of their 'pupil premium pupils'.
Under the new plans, schools whose disadvantaged pupils are not making good progress will be ‘unlikely’ to gain an Ofsted grade of outstanding.
Schools that struggle to ‘effectively’ improve the attainment of their disadvantaged pupils will receive support from headteachers that have a proven track record of achieving good outcomes for these children.
Ofsted will also examine how effectively schools are using the pupil premium, with schools judged as ‘requiring improvement’ facing extra scrutiny.
It follows an independent evaluation of the pupil premium by the universities of Manchester and Newcastle, that found some schools are prioritising interventions that are not consistently cost-effective or good value. Others are not using or aware of robust evidence of what works.
Mr Laws also announced the appointment of a new pupil premium champion, John Dunford.
Mr Dunford, a former general secretary of the Association of the School and College Leaders, will highlight and share examples of the best uses of the pupil premium across the country and advise the Department for Education.
Mr Laws said, ‘It is vital we support disadvantaged pupils to fulfil their potential. We introduced the pupil premium to give headteachers a funding boost to achieve that aim and the evaluation showed promising signs of its impact.
‘However, there is much more to be done. Disadvantaged pupils’ attainment is unacceptably low compared with their peers. Schools must shoulder the responsibility to reverse that, and the Government must help them do that as well as hold them to account.
‘I am pleased that Ofsted will add considerable weight to its scrutiny of the progress of disadvantaged pupils during its school inspections. And the pupil premium review process will help struggling schools to form a plan of action to ensure they are using this significant extra money effectively.’
Commenting on his appointment, John Dunford said, ‘I am delighted to be taking on the role to support schools in the effective use of the pupil premium in closing the achievement gap between disadvantaged pupils and others.’
Worth £2.5 billion per year, the pupil premium provides an extra £900 for each disadvantaged pupil, typically those eligible for free school meals.
From September, schools will face increased accountability over the attainment and progress of their 'pupil premium pupils'.
Under the new plans, schools whose disadvantaged pupils are not making good progress will be ‘unlikely’ to gain an Ofsted grade of outstanding.
Schools that struggle to ‘effectively’ improve the attainment of their disadvantaged pupils will receive support from headteachers that have a proven track record of achieving good outcomes for these children.
Ofsted will also examine how effectively schools are using the pupil premium, with schools judged as ‘requiring improvement’ facing extra scrutiny.
It follows an independent evaluation of the pupil premium by the universities of Manchester and Newcastle, that found some schools are prioritising interventions that are not consistently cost-effective or good value. Others are not using or aware of robust evidence of what works.
Mr Laws also announced the appointment of a new pupil premium champion, John Dunford.
Mr Dunford, a former general secretary of the Association of the School and College Leaders, will highlight and share examples of the best uses of the pupil premium across the country and advise the Department for Education.
Mr Laws said, ‘It is vital we support disadvantaged pupils to fulfil their potential. We introduced the pupil premium to give headteachers a funding boost to achieve that aim and the evaluation showed promising signs of its impact.
‘However, there is much more to be done. Disadvantaged pupils’ attainment is unacceptably low compared with their peers. Schools must shoulder the responsibility to reverse that, and the Government must help them do that as well as hold them to account.
‘I am pleased that Ofsted will add considerable weight to its scrutiny of the progress of disadvantaged pupils during its school inspections. And the pupil premium review process will help struggling schools to form a plan of action to ensure they are using this significant extra money effectively.’
Commenting on his appointment, John Dunford said, ‘I am delighted to be taking on the role to support schools in the effective use of the pupil premium in closing the achievement gap between disadvantaged pupils and others.’
