Disadvantaged and Service Pupils
Disadvantaged learners
The Department for Education (DfE) defines 'disadvantaged' learners as those who are:
- Eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) in the previous six years
- Looked after children for more than six months during the year
- children who were looked after for at least one day during the year or who have ceased to be looked after by a local authority in England and Wales due to adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order, or a residence order.
Schools often equate their Pupil Premium students with their disadvantaged students, though there is a key difference: Pupil Premium includes service children, whereas disadvantaged does not. Information about supporting service children can be found here.
Pupil Premium strategy templates
Schools are required to:
- demonstrate, from the next academic year, how their spending decisions are informed by research evidence
- use the DfE strategy statement templates to publish their pupil premium strategy
Your online statement should explain:
- how much you have been allocated this year
- how you intend to spend the pupil premium
- the rationale for your spending decisions, including the barriers you’re looking to overcome
- the intended impact
- what effect last year’s pupil premium spending had within your school
The length and detail of your online statement should reflect the size of your pupil premium allocation.
3-year strategy
The DfE say you do not have to use the 3-year approach if you do not want to.
They recommend that you:
- take a longer-term approach to planning how to use the grant (for example, over 3 year period)
- update your online statement at least once a year, starting from late in the autumn term
You may find using the 3-year strategy approach makes it easier to plan your:
- spending
- recruitment
- teaching practice
- staff development
Useful documents:
An analysis of primary school Pupil Premium strategy statements
What Worked Education empower educators, local authorities, funders, grant recipients, and EdTech companies to make smarter, evidence-based decisions in education. They believe every educational investment should deliver measurable, impactful outcomes. By enabling rigorous, small-scale evaluations, they help schools, funders, and innovators identify what works best to drive meaningful change in teaching and learning.
The team at What Worked Education have produced a report analysing Pupil Premium strategy statements published by primary schools across the North East Combined Authority region. It is designed to support teachers, Pupil Premium leads and senior leaders by explaining what we looked at, what schools are doing well, where there is scope to strengthen practice and how the latest EEF guidance can be used in practical, classroom-focused ways.
You can find the report below
You can find the technical appendix below
Also provided for schools is a practical checklist to help schools review their Pupil Premium Statement before publication. You can find the checklist below
Download here
Finally, there is a list of questions for staff and governors to use to assess the impact of the spend, and refine the policy. You can find the questions below
Download here