• At Mercia School, all members of staff and governors accept responsibility for those pupils recognised as 'disadvantaged’ and are committed to meeting their pastoral, social and academic needs.
• Every child who is considered to be ‘disadvantaged’ is valued, respected and entitled to develop to his/her full potential, irrespective of disadvantage.
• All staff will do all they can to ensure ‘disadvantaged’ pupils flourish, staff members will demand excellence from their colleagues and challenge those not delivering candidly.

• Our school will ensure that the Pupil Premium funding reaches the groups of pupils for whom it was intended and that it makes a significant impact on their education and lives.
• The Pupil Premium will be used to provide additional educational support to improve the progress and raise the achievement for these pupils.
•  The funding will be used to narrow and close the differences between the achievement of these ‘disadvantaged’ pupils and their ‘other’ peers.
• The school will use the additional funding to address any underlying inequalities between children eligible for Pupils Premium and others.

• The Pupil Premium will be clearly identifiable within the budget.
• The Headteacher, in consultation with the governors and staff, will decide how the Pupil Premium is spent for the benefit of the entitled pupils. Funding will be allocated following a needs analysis, which will identify priority groups or individuals.
• The school will assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils.
•  The School will be accountable for how it has used the additional funding to support the achievement of those pupils covered by the Pupil Premium.
• The Deputy Headteacher will report to the governing body and parents on how effective the intervention has been in achieving its aims, including publishing online information about how the Premium has been used.
• We will track the impact of the strategies put into place through the funding to ensure that we can show the value that has been added to the education of the entitled children.
• We will monitor evaluate and review the success of the impact of the pupil premium funding.
• We will regularly seek to further develop strategies and interventions which can improve the progress and attainment of these pupils. Examples of the range of provision we may put in place include:
  • Providing small group or 1:1 support with an experienced member of staff to focus on overcoming barriers to learning.
  • Facilitating pupils’ access to education and the curriculum through additional or specialist resources e.g. specialist software.
  • Additional teaching and learning opportunities provided through our teaching staff

It will be the responsibility of the Deputy Headteacher to produce a report for the Governing Body that will include:

• The implemented strategies and progress made towards closing the gap, by year group, for disadvantaged pupils.
•  An outline of the provision made during the term since the last report.
• An evaluation of the cost effectiveness, in terms of the progress made by the pupils receiving a particular provision, when compared with other forms of support.

The literacy and numeracy catch-up premium gives schools extra funding to support pupils in Year 7 who did not achieve the expected standard at the end of primary school.

Please see the attached reports for each academic year which outline allocation, spending plans, success statements and impact/intended impact.