Pupil Premium at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School & Nursery
At Sacred Heart, we are committed to ensuring all our children make the best possible progress. We track the achievements of every child regularly and do all we can to help each child achieve their potential. We also have a duty to ensure that no groups of children are disadvantaged due to their gender, ethnic origin, family income, or background.
Pupil Premium
The Pupil Premium is additional funding provided to publicly funded schools in England to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and close the gap between them and their peers. Schools receive funding for any child who has been in receipt of free school meals within the last six years, is in local authority care, or has been adopted from care.
The funding allocation includes pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last six years, known as the ‘Ever 6 FSM’ measure.
Schools are able to use the Pupil Premium flexibly to narrow the attainment and achievement gap between socially disadvantaged pupils and the wider school population. To ensure accountability, schools must publish details of how the funding is used.
Pupil Premium 2025-2026
In the year 2025–26, Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School received £117,892.00, with 34.4% of pupils eligible for the Pupil Premium grant.
Our Pupil Premium Aims
High-quality teaching that meets the needs of all pupils.
Ensuring appropriate provision for pupils who belong to vulnerable groups, including assessing and addressing the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils.
Recognising that not all socially disadvantaged pupils qualify for free school meals, and reserving the right to allocate Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil or group of pupils legitimately identified as being socially disadvantaged.
Ensuring that high-quality teaching provides appropriate support and challenge for disadvantaged pupils.
Implementing the most efficient resources and responding to emerging challenges.
Providing appropriate training for teaching and support staff.
Use of Pupil Premium
The Governing Body has decided that this grant should be spent in the following ways:
School visits and enrichment, including extracurricular activities, learning resources, and support with transport costs.
Training and development for teachers, and resources to help children rapidly acquire and embed spoken language and communication skills.
Funding a school pastoral lead to work with families to overcome barriers to learning and attendance.
Funding a Community Welfare Officer to support families in fostering school readiness and good attendance habits.
Supporting the cost of phonics and reading resources, working with children and families.
Purchasing additional ICT resources to enable pupils to access learning and overcome language barriers.
Ensuring that pupils eligible for free school meals have their needs clearly identified and their progress closely monitored throughout their time in school.
Funding towards the school breakfast club.
Additional learning support staff within classrooms.
Additional support staff for pupils needing social and emotional support and mentoring, including staff training to develop emotional literacy, self-regulation, wellbeing, and confidence.
Funding for exciting in-school enrichment activities.
Funding towards educational trips and visits.
Measuring Impact
We carefully monitor the impact of Pupil Premium funding through ongoing assessment, tracking, and review. The progress of disadvantaged pupils is evaluated termly using attainment data, attendance information, and evidence from classroom practice. Leaders analyse whether funded strategies are improving outcomes and reducing gaps between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. Findings are shared with governors, who provide challenge and oversight to ensure the funding is used effectively. This continuous cycle of review allows us to refine our approach and respond swiftly to emerging needs.
Further Information
Our strategy for spending the Pupil Premium grant in 2025–2026 can be found here. You can also read the Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF) Pupil Premium
guide for information about the tiered approach to spending.
Schools do not have to spend Pupil Premium funding solely on eligible pupils; they can use it wherever they identify the greatest need. Improving teaching quality is the most effective way to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, and doing so inevitably benefits noneligible pupils as well.
For more information, read:
guidance for school leaders on using pupil premium funding effectively
Education Endowment Foundation’s pupil premium guide
the funding allocations which show the funding given to each school and at national,
local authority and parliamentary constituency level