Pupil Premium and Free School Meals

The Pupil Premium grant is additional funding for publicly funded schools in England. It is a school-level grant that gives schools extra resources to help them meet challenges, including those arising from deprivation.

Schools receive this additional funding for those students who fall within the below categories or have done so at any time within the last six years:

• those who qualify for free school meals (FSM)
• are receiving a child pension from the Ministry of Defence
• are a looked after child
• are adopted from care or have entered into special guardianship
• have a residence order
• children from the families of services personnel (at any stage in the last four years)

It is allocated for schools to:

• improve the academic outcomes of disadvantaged students of all abilities
• close the attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their peers across the country

Schools receive funding for each Disadvantaged student and can use the funding flexibly, in the best interests of eligible students. GLF leaders draw upon an evidence based approach to apply a ‘tiered’ approach to delivering their pupil premium strategy.

Tier 1: supporting training and continuous development to improve the quality of all teaching

Tier 2: targeting support for Disadvantaged students through evidence-based interventions

Tier 3: supporting whole-school strategies to improve attendance, behaviour and readiness to learn

Tier4: supporting strategies that develop learning outside of the classroom to promote the development of the whole student

A longer term strategy

Since September 2019 schools are encouraged to include a reference to a multi-year strategy that outlines how the school aims to address the needs of Disadvantaged students across all age ranges at the school. This will help school leaders to:

• take a longer view of the support the grant will provide as students pass through the school
• align their plans with the wider school improvement strategy

Pupil Premium funding at The Beacon School is used primarily to address the following priorities:

• To narrow the progress gap between Disadvantaged students and non-Disadvantaged students,
• To promote better attendance rates for Disadvantaged students,
• To improve reading comprehension in KS3,
• To develop the aspirations of Disadvantaged students regardless of their disadvantaged starting point,
• To reduce the number of Disadvantaged students who receive a suspension therefore lose learning time,
• To ensure colleagues are fully aware of Disadvantaged students’ needs, including their access to resources at home, so gaps in knowledge can be minimised.

At The Beacon School at the start of the 2024/25 academic year, we have 173 students who are entitled to Pupil Premium funding.

We regularly review our Pupil Premium initiatives to ensure they are having a positive impact. Each year we plan priorities for this year’s expenditure based on the cohort of eligible students.

We encourage all families who are entitled to a free school meal to claim it. Parents/carers are entitled to claim free school meals for their child/children if they receive:

• Income Support (IS) or Income Based Job Seekers Allowance (IBJSA) (other job seekers allowances do not qualify)
• Income-related Employment Support Allowance (ESA(IR))
• Child Tax Credit, so long as you do are not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190
• Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit – if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)
• Guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
• Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

 For those students entitled to a free school meal, a daily sum is automatically made available to purchase food via our canteen and thus they pass through the checkout in the same way as those paying for their meals. Students who are entitled to a free school meal are able to choose from the range of quality food on offer, including a main meal or sandwich and side of a fruit pop, hot pudding or drink.

Schools receive funding for use with the general curriculum based on the number of free school meals they provide. We would, therefore, encourage all parents/carers who qualify to claim the free school meals and take up the offer of a free school meal every day to save the family hundreds of pounds on lunches. 

Accessing the Pupil Premium funding or Free School Meals at The Beacon School

Please complete the following form to apply for free school meals or pupil premium support or to allow us to check if you are eligible to continue to receive any Free School Meal or pupil premium support you may have received in primary school.

Free School Meals/ Pupil Premium Application form

Once you have completed the relevant form, The Beacon School will contact Surrey County Council to confirm your eligibility for free school meals or pupil premium.

If your eligibility is confirmed, the school will then make arrangements for your child to receive free school meals. If the Surrey County Council (SCC) can’t confirm your eligibility, they will contact you to ask documentation.

Once you have applied and The Beacon has established you are eligible, parents/carers will not have to apply again. 

It is important that if you think your child is eligible for Pupil Premium support, that you contact the school office for more information. Individual requests for financial support for school-based activities are considered by the Headteacher. Requests can be made via the school office info@thebeaconschool.co.uk 

The Beacon School can provide items of pre-loved uniform should families be looking for assistance with these costs.

The School runs a large pre-loved uniform sale each July as we ready for our new intakes. Information will be sent out to all parents/carers across the year groups and those year 6 that accepted places to join us that Autumn.

Should students join our school community outside of this time or grow out of existing uniform, please do contact our main office to enquire about uniform availability on info@thebeaconschool.co.uk

Donations

Students that are coming to the end of their time at the school or that have grown out of their uniform are encouraged to donate items that are still good quality back to the school to support other students.

Any donations are gratefully accepted via our main reception during the opening hours of 8am- 4pm every weekday.

The Beacon School Pupil Premium stategy statement