Your child's school is responsible to choose how to spend pupil premium funding, as they are best placed to identify what would be of most benefit.

Evidence suggests that pupil premium spending is most effective when used across 3 areas.

1. High-quality teaching, such as staff professional development
2. Targeted academic support, such as tutoring
3. Wider strategies to address non-academic barriers to success in schools, such as attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) recommend that schools particularly focus their pupil premium on supporting high-quality teaching.

There are some examples of how a school may choose to spend pupil premium funding:

• Extra one-to-one or small-group support within the classroom
• Employing extra teaching assistants to work with classes
• Running catch-up sessions before or after school, for example for children who need extra help with maths or literacy
• Running a school breakfast club to improve attendance
• Providing extra tuition for able children
• Providing music lessons for children whose families would be unable to pay for them
• Funding educational trips and visits
• Paying for additional help such as speech and language therapy or family therapy
• Funding English classes for children who speak another language at home
• Investing in resources that boost children’s learning, such as laptops or tablets

There is no obligation for your child's school to consult with you about how they use the money they claim for your child, although some schools may choose to involve parents.

Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual children and schools are not required to spend all of the allocated grant on eligible children.

Schools are responsible for recording the children who are eligible for pupil premium in their annual school census - you don't have to do anything yourself, other than making sure you return any paperwork that relates to the benefits you receive or your child's entitlement to free school meals.

If your child qualifies for free school meals or has at any point in the past six years, it’s important that you tell their school – even if they're in Reception or KS1 and receive universal school meals for infant pupils, or are in KS2 and take a packed lunch – as this enables them to claim pupil premium.