Pupil Premium & Covid Recovery Statement - Chirbury

Chirbury CE Primary School and Busy Bees Nursery - Shropshire Hills Federation

Pupil Premium & Recovery Funding Statement 2021/22

The government issues additional funding to schools each year to support children who are eligible for free school meals (not universal free meals), those who are looked after by a local authority, who have previously been looked after, and for children of armed forces service families.  We report on the use of this funding annually.  This year, we are also in receipt of additional funding for all children as part of the government’s national catch up strategy, to ensure that all children are able to receive any additional support that they require because of the Covid 19 pandemic.  Our school has a strategy to maximise the use off all funding in the most effective way possible, combining funding where appropriate, to maximise the support available and the impact upon children’s education and well-being.

Covid Recovery Funding

We are extremely proud of the way that all of our teachers were able to continue to offer live and recorded full time lessons throughout the pandemic, starting on day one of the first lockdown, and we are incredibly proud of our children and all parents that were able to adapt quickly, so that almost all children could attend school, full time, virtually.  We know from our assessments, that this hard work and cooperation has limited the impact upon most children significantly.  However, for some families this was more challenging for a variety of reasons, and so the majority of the support that we are now putting in place will be targeted directly at these children.  We also recognise that one of the biggest negative impacts of Covid upon some children, is to their confidence.  Because of this, most of our catch up interventions support children in small groups, so that no one feels singled out or inferior.  Using our funding in this way, and combining it with some of the annual pupil premium funding, supports more children in a sociable and enjoyable way, and makes our funding go further.  The following amounts have been received and spent so far:

Year 2020/21                                                    £2800

Year 2021/22 (received to date)                      £3059

How Are We Spending Our Recovery Funding?

To ensure that every child receives the additional support so that they can make the best progress possible, we have actually allocated significantly more to our catch up programme than we receive from the government.  For 21/22 we have allocated £16,123 which provides one additional of staff (full time) to support groups of children throughout the week.  In addition to this, we have allocated further funding for resources for the work. 

Total Pupil Premium and Early Years Pupil Premium Received for 2020/21  -  £6380

Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they deem best. However we are held accountable for how we have used the additional funding.  Each year we are obliged to issue a detailed statement of exactly how the funding has been spent and the impact that it has had in raising attainment for eligible children.

In the year 2020/21, only four children were eligible for Pupil Premium and no children were eligible for Early Years Pupil Premium. With such low numbers involved, we are most aware that in publishing very specific details, we may inadvertently identify the families to others, which would be completely unacceptable; complete confidentiality is vitally important in this matter.  Therefore, governors have decided to publish the amounts of income received as specified, but to issue a general statement of how funding has been spent over time, along with the impact that it has had (see below). The exact expenditure and impact statement will be available at any time for inspection by the Local Authority, Ofsted and The Department for Education.   We believe that in doing this, we support and protect children and families to the very best of our ability. 

As we are an inclusive school, we frequently spend far in excess of the additional funding allocated to support vulnerable children, where we deem this necessary.

2021/22

For the year 2021/22 we currently have 3 children in receipt of Pupil Premium. We have no children in receipt of Early Years Pupil Premium. This year we have received £5035, which will we will spend appropriately to support children to ensure that they are not disadvantaged in their education and well-being.

Since the introduction of Pupil Premium we have used funding to overcome barriers to learning.  Examples of barriers identified include:

• The need for additional support for home learning and/or underachievement in the classroom
• Inability to take part in extra-curricular activities
• Where families need support with personal issues
• Low self-esteem of children and families
• Limited opportunities for enriching, life experiences

To address these needs we:

• Provide additional support in class and to complete home learning
• Provide addition learning resources for home use
• Provide free places for all clubs and extra-curricular activities
• Provide specialized counselling and parenting advice in a wide range of areas
• Provide a confidential student counsellor to advise children and raise self-esteem
• Provide free school uniform
• Provide free or part funded places for all visits and residential visits

Impact

The strategy that has been put in place to support children who receive additional funding has ensured that they are not disadvantaged in any way within school.  Our own assessment data demonstrates that children make good progress because of this.

Our Pupil Premium Strategy is reviewed at annually, by the governing body, where impact is carefully monitored.  The next review will be at the full governing body meeting in November 2021.