Pupil and Sports Premium

What is the Pupil Premium?

The Pupil Grant is funding allocated to schools for the specific purpose of boosting the attainment of pupils from low income families. Funding is based on children who have registered for a free school meal at any point in the last six years, children who have been in care for more than six months and children whose parents are currently serving in the armed forces.

Why has it been introduced?

The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to make up for the unequal opportunities that children on Free School Meals get compared with children from wealthier families. The school must make sure that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most. Whilst schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit, we are required to publish online information about how we have used the Pupil Premium.

How do we make sure that the right children are benefiting?

With the high number of children facing challenges of various kind, we fund additional teaching assistants to support pupils in their learning. This means that the Pupil Premium children can be given more support than would have been possible without the extra funding. Low stakes assessments, review of learning and gap analysis mean targeted support is put in place where required. Staff are aware of Pupil Premium children and ensure they receive support and intervention. All staff have high expectations for every child at Marlborough Road Academy – including those receiving Pupil Premium funding. We endeavour to ensure that all pupils reach their full potential and achieve the high targets set for them.

We invest in high-class training for both teachers and teaching assistants so that they make best use of the Pupil Premium grant. The Principal and Inclusion Lead constantly check on how the grant is being spent and the impact it is having. And they report every term to the governors who also monitor the use of the grant.

Education at Marlborough Road Academy isn’t just about the children doing well academically. We provide a wide range of opportunities for children to broaden their experiences, including educational trips and visits. The Pupil Premium Grant is also used to develop the whole child; to uncover their talents and extend their interests, to encourage pupils to become active, economically self sufficient citizens with a strong moral compass, emotional intelligence and integrity. We are committed to ensuring that all pupils, regardless of their background, will achieve their very best. Our aim is to provide an excellent education for all our students; an education that brings out the best in them and gives them all the cultural capital they need to succeed. With around half the children in every class being on Free School Meals, Pupil Premium funds are set aside to make sure no child misses out. This includes a residential visit and an enrichment programme at lunchtime. 

SEMH support is offered through the funding of Key Workers and leaders show their commitment to achieving the best outcomes for all pupils (including disadvantaged pupils) through the allocation of resources to secure good attendance. 

PE and Sports Premium

What is the PE and Sports Premium?

The PE and Sport Premium provides funding to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of the PE, physical activity and sport offered.  It is allocated directly to our school so that we have the flexibility to use it in the way that works best for our pupils.

At Marlborough Road Academy, we share the Department for Education vision that all young people should have the opportunity to live healthy and active lives. A positive experience of sport and physical activity at a young age can build a lifetime habit of participation and is central to meeting the government’s ambitions for a world-class education system.

Physical activity has numerous benefits for children and young people’s physical health, as well as their mental wellbeing (increasing self-esteem and emotional wellbeing and lowering anxiety and depression), and children who are physically active are happier, more resilient and more trusting of their peers. Ensuring that pupils have access to sufficient daily activity can also have wider benefits for pupils and schools, improving behaviour as well as enhancing academic achievement.

How do we use the PE and sport premium?

We use the funding to make additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of our physical education (PE), physical activity and sport and to secure improvements in the following 5 key indicators.

Engagement of all pupils in regular physical activity, for example by:

• providing targeted activities or support to involve and encourage the least active children
• encouraging active play during break times and lunchtimes
• establishing, extending or funding attendance of school sport clubs and activities and holiday clubs, or broadening the variety offered
• adopting an active mile initiative
• raising attainment in primary school swimming to meet requirements of the national curriculum before the end of key stage 2. Every child should leave primary school able to swim

Profile of PE and sport is raised across the school as a tool for whole-school improvement, for example by:

• encouraging pupils to take on leadership or volunteer roles that support sport and physical activity within the school (such as ‘sport leader’ or peer-mentoring schemes)
• embedding physical activity into the school day through active travel to and from school, active break times and active lessons and teaching

Increased confidence, knowledge and skills of all staff in teaching PE and sport, for example by:

• providing staff with professional development, mentoring, training and resources to help them teach PE and sport more effectively to all pupils, and embed physical activity across your school
• hiring qualified sports coaches to work alongside teachers to enhance or extend current opportunities

Broader experience of a range of sports and activities offered to all pupils, for example by:

• introducing new sports and physical activities (such as dance, or fitness sessions) to encourage more pupils to take up sport and physical activities
• partnering with other schools to run sport activities and clubs
• providing more (or broadening the variety of) extra-curricular activities after school

Increased participation in competitive sport, for example by:

• encouraging pupils to participate in club sports
• organising, coordinating or entering more sport competitions or tournaments within the school or across the local area, including those run by sporting organisations.

Raising attainment in primary school swimming?

Swimming is a national curriculum requirement and by the end of key stage 2 pupils are expected to be able to swim confidently and know how to be safe in and around water.

We use the premium to provide hour long swimming lessons to all pupils in Year 4 to help meet the 3 national curriculum requirements for swimming and water safety.

In Year 6 the percentage of pupils who can:

• swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres is 58%
• use a range of strokes effectively is 50%
• perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations is 56%

For further information on the Sports Premium Funding please click here

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