Pupil Premium
St Edward’s RC Primary School Pupil premium strategy statement 2024-27
Our philosophy
This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium funding to help improve the attainment of our disadvantaged pupils.
It outlines our pupil premium strategy, how we intend to spend the funding in this academic year and outcomes for disadvantaged pupils last academic year.
We believe in maximising the use of the pupil premium grant (PPG) by utilising a strategy aligned to the School Improvement Plan. This enables us to implement a blend of short, medium and long-term interventions, and align pupil premium use with wider school improvements and improving readiness to learn.
Our Catholic Mission recognises that every child is unique and made in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, all children should be provided with the best learning opportunities to enable them to succeed.
Overcoming barriers to learning is at the heart of our PPG use. We understand that needs and costs will differ depending on the barriers to learning being addressed. As such, we do not automatically allocate personal budgets per pupil in receipt of the PPG. Instead, we identify the barrier to be addressed, and the interventions required, whether in small groups, large groups, the whole school or as individuals, and allocate a budget accordingly.
Our priorities
Setting priorities is key to maximising the use of the PPG. Our priorities are as follows:
- Ensuring outstanding teaching in every class
- Closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers
- Providing targeted academic support for pupils who are not making the expected progress
- Addressing non-academic barriers to attainment such as attendance and behaviour
- Ensuring that the PPG reaches the pupils who need it most
The School Food Grant
The School Food Grant will be ending in July 2026. This is due to the Government’s decision to conclude the Household Support Fund on 31st March 2026, which has provided the funding for this support.
The Government’s Household Support Fund has been used locally since 2023 to enable schools in Blackburn with Darwen to support children and families with food insecurity in various ways. This has included the provision of subsidised or free school meals for children who fall outside of the official Free School Meal eligibility criteria, but whose families are still struggling to provide or pay for a school meal.
Although Household Support Funding will no longer support the School Food Grant in Blackburn with Darwen, there are a range of food support services and local provisions that families may be able to access, including the expansion of Free School Meal eligibility to families on Universal Credit from September 2026. Additional support includes:
- Low-cost food boxes available via the Food Alliance SPROUTS Food Club | Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
- Local support available to help with the rising cost of living can be found here including food and energy support Help with the rising cost of living | Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
- A tool for parents to check what benefits they are entitled to Benefits Calculator
- Holiday Activity Fund (HAF) programmes available for eligible children during school holidays Get Stuck In - Summer Activities For Kids
