PPG And Catch-Up
All iCollege members of staff and Governors accept our responsibility for
- deprived learners
- those in care
- those recently adopted
- children of service families
and are committed to meeting their academic, pastoral, social and emotional needs in a caring educational environment. This is an essential, integral part of the supportive iCollege ‘whole community’ ethos.
As with every learner in our care, a learner who is in receipt of the Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) is valued, respected and entitled to develop to their true potential irrespective of need.
PPG is a Government initiative that targets extra money at learners of deprived backgrounds, that research shows under achieve compared to their non-deprived peers. PPG is provided in order to support these learners in reaching their potential. It is in addition to any funding the learner might receive to support their educational needs.
The Government has used learners entitled to Free School Meals (FSM) as an indicator of deprivation, and have deployed a fixed amount of money to schools per learner, based on the number of learners registered for FSM.
Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011 and is allocated to schools to work with learners who have been registered for FSM at any point in the previous 6 years (known as EVER6-FSM). Schools also receive funding for learners who have been in care continuously for at least 6 months, and children of service personnel (Ever5). The fixed amount of money is expected to increase every year.
iCollege uses the indicators above to target learners to ‘narrow the gap’ regarding attainment.
The Government do not dictate how schools use this money, but are clear that schools need to employ strategies that they know will support their learners to improve attainment and ‘narrow the gap’. Schools are accountable for narrowing the gap. This expectation applies to all schools where there is a focus on expected rates of progress in comparison to national data sets.
In order to meet the above requirements, iCollege Governors will ensure that provision is made that secure the learning and teaching that meets needs of all learners. Our priority will be on focussed on narrowing the gap for those learners not on track to achieve the targets set for them.
As part of additional provision made for learners belonging to vulnerable groups, the Governors will ensure that the needs of learners in receipt of PPG are adequately assessed and addressed through learner progress meetings, and planned and recorded intervention strategies.
The Governors also recognise that not all learners at iCollege who are eligible are registered or qualify for FSM, and reserve the right to allocate ‘top-up- funding to support any learner, or groups of learners that the school legitimately identified as being socially disadvantaged of vulnerable learners.
iCollege aims to:
- facilitate learners’ access to education
- facilitate learners’ improvement in English and maths
- facilitate learners’ access to broader curriculum opportunities
- offer additional teaching and learning opportunities
- offer alternative support and interventions
- offer support for personal development, behaviour, welfare and well-being.