Pupil Premium

Introduction to Pupil Premium Grant

The Pupil Premium Grant is additional funding given to Early Years providers so that they can support pupils who are known to be at risk of underachievement and help to close the attainment gap between them and their peers.

What is the Pupil Premium?

Pupil Premium funding is additional funding allocated to all schools to support disadvantaged pupils. St Thomas a Becket Nursery receives pupil premium if your child is aged 3 or 4 and you get 15 hours free childcare plus you also receive certain benefits (please see www.gov.uk/get-extra-early-years-funding), or if your child is currently being looked after by the Local Authority or if your child has left care through adoption, special guardianship order, a child arrangements order.

How can I find out if my child is entitled to the Pupil Premium funding?

Please complete the relevant information section on the termly nursery funding parent declaration form. The process for applying is straightforward and confidential. Please come in and talk through it with the Nursery Lead or Manager if you have any queries with this process. All enquiries will be treated in confidence.

How is the funding used?

St Thomas a Becket Nursery seeks to ensure the best use of the Pupil Premium to achieve maximum benefit for the child. We recognise that barriers to achievement take a variety of forms and look for individual ways to support each child to achieve their very best. We do this by offering our children a wide range of opportunities and ensuring that these are accessible for everyone. We work with our families and staff to ensure everyone has high aspirations for all.

Enriching the Curriculum

  • Visits from external organisations
  • Discretionary early bird club and lunch hour session
  • Additional hours at nursery
  • Trustee discretionary places
  • Purchase of resources / equipment specifically appropriate to the child’s interests and needs (can be for individual play or to encourage social skills with peers)

Targeted Support

  • Interventions based on the individual child’s needs and interests
  • Personal, Social, Emotional Development
  • Communication and Language for children with English as an additional language and SEND
  • Booster small group time and 1:1 support

Staff Training

  • ISEND training
  • Behaviour Management training
  • Speciality training books/manuals

Parental Engagement

  • Open Door Policy
  • Home/Nursery one to one meetings, agreements and resources
  • Social Media communication and updating through Tapestry and Mailchimp

Teaching and Learning

At St Thomas a Becket Nursery our focus is on the resources specific to the development needs of the child plus extending access to the nursery environment and curriculum through the provision of additional hours to support the child’s school readiness and the families’ capacity to return to work.

The nursery are extending their learning opportunities to include more outdoor learning and delivery of forest school type activities. The nursery allotment is enjoyed as an outdoor classroom. We are always very excited to visit there with the children.

Our second focus remains on Continued Professional Development for the whole staff team. In house whole team training is accessed through specialist support services information sessions, presentations, team meetings and inset days. Plus, training through the Local Authority and where possible, through our Early Years Hub.

Barriers to educational achievement

We recognise that a range of factors affect our children’s achievement. These include previous COVID restrictions on socialising opportunities, change in family make up and circumstances, nursery attendance, size of learning group, cultural/language diversity and children’s starting points. Our small group work supports children’s self-confidence, social skills and communication.

  • We operate a nursery library which is intended to support a love of books and to remind families of the importance of reading together.

EYFS delivery

Our delivery of the EYFS curriculum will continue to meet the needs of our children. We aim to support all children to become independent and collaborative learners through the delivery of a broad and balanced curriculum that will enable each child to develop personally, socially, emotionally, spiritually, physically, creatively and intellectually to their full potential.

We value each child’s achievements, assessing their individual needs and next steps and helping each child to progress. We will use a variety of assessment methods including on-going short and long observations, adult and child led activities and the use of tapestry. We develop positive relationships with parents and carers to build a strong partnership in supporting their children. We provide a caring and inclusive learning environment which is sensitive to the requirements of the individual child including those who have additional needs.

Pupil Premium Spending and Outcomes for Children

2021-2022 Pupil Premium – click here to view our report

We produce an Annual Pupil Premium Report which informs about our spending against clearly identified positive outcomes to the individual child. The outcomes are evidenced throughout the year through the Children’s tapestry records and are highlighted in parental and Key Worker feedback

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