Praise is
handed out for pupil premium spending

TWO schools have won awards for their use of pupil premium funding to support pupils from deprived backgrounds.

South Hunsley School in Melton, near Hull, and St Andrew’s CE Primary School, in Hull, have been selected as Yorkshire’s regional winners of the Pupil Premium Awards and will now go through to the national finals in London later this month.

Pupil premium funding is a key policy of the coalition Government. It ensures schools receive a payment for every child they teach from a poor background. It is awarded to pupils on free school meals.

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Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has written to both schools after they were judged to have made excellent use of their pupil premium money.

St Andrew’s pupils eligible for the premium outperformed their peers in maths tests sat by 11-year-olds last year, bucking the national trend. Across the country “non-eligible” pupils outperform eligible pupils by on average 11.8 per cent.

The gap between South Hunsley’s pupil premium-eligible students and their peers in achieving five A* to C grade GCSEs, including maths and English, was 14 per cent. Nationally, the gap was 26.2 per cent

Judges noted that reasons for the South Hunsley’s success include pupils referring themselves to a learning support centre and the school working with others in its chain to monitor progress and impact.

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In his letter to the schools Mr Clegg wrote: “This is a huge achievement and reflects the hard work of you, your team and your pupils.”

The judging panel included Dr John Dunford, the country’s pupil premium champion.

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