Pupil Premium and Sports Premium

At Uffculme Primary School, we are committed to raising the achievement, progress, ambition and wider development of disadvantaged pupils by narrowing the gap between their outcomes and those of their peers from more advantaged backgrounds.

Pupil Premium

There is a substantial body of evidence that shows that children from disadvantaged backgrounds, whether that be because of socio-economic circumstances or due to family upheaval, generally face significant additional challenges in reaching their potential at school. Consequently many do not perform as well as their peers from more advantaged backgrounds, often with large gaps seen between the achievements of each group. Indeed, after prior attainment, poverty is the single most important factor in predicting a child’s future life chances.

Our ultimate objective is to narrow the attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils so that all disadvantaged pupils in school exceed nationally expected progress rates in order to reach Age Related Expectation at the end of Year 6. This means that no child is left behind at Uffculme Primary School because of their background.

Pupil Premium is a fund which comes directly into school from the government to help us to achieve the above aim.  It is targeted at children who are, or have received, Free School Meals at any time in the past 6 years; or are ‘looked after children’ who are in the care of a local authority; or have been adopted having previously been a looked after by a local authority. 

The Recovery Premium is a one-off grant that all state-funded schools were awarded in the 2022-23 academic year to further help schools deliver evidence-based approaches for supporting disadvantaged pupils.

We have developed a comprehensive 3-year strategy that sets out the actions we will take with the additional funding we have been allocated in order to tackle the main areas of challenge facing our disadvantaged children. Details of our strategy can be accessed here - Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 2022-2025.

PE & Sports Premium

The primary school sport premium investment goes direct to primary school Head Teachers and is designed to support improvements in the quality and depth of PE and school sport. In 2017/18 the amount schools receive each year has doubled.

The Department for Education vision is that all pupils leaving primary school are physically literate and have the knowledge, skills and motivation necessary to equip them for a healthy lifestyle and lifelong participation in physical activity and sport. The objective is to achieve self-sustaining improvement in the quality of PE and sport that delivers high quality provision of a balanced and holistic PE and school sport offer.

There are 5 key indicators that we seek to improve across the school:

  1. The engagement of all pupils in regular physical activity - the Chief Medical Officer guidelines recommend that all children and young people aged 5 to 18 engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day, of which 30 minutes should be in school.

  2. The profile of PE and sport is raised across the school as a tool for whole-school improvement.

  3. Increased confidence, knowledge and skills of all staff in teaching PE and sport.

  4. Broader experience of a range of sports and activities offered to all pupils.

  5. Increased participation in competitive sport Funding.

We have developed a comprehensive action plan that sets out how we ensure we are improving the above indicators and how the sport premium fund is spent. Details of our plan can be accessed here - PE & Sports Premium Report 2022-23.