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pupil premium

The Pupil Premium is additional funding provided to publicly funded schools in England to raise the attainment of students classified as disadvantaged and to close the gap between them and their peers. The funding is provided for children in Year 7 to Year 11 from low-income families who have been eligible for free school meals, looked-after or previously looked after children and children from families with parents in the Armed Forces. 

Pupil Premium funding is entirely separate to the Government money provided to schools this year to help mitigate the lost learning caused by the spring lock down. The usage this new government money will be put to will be outlined to parents in due course.

Comprehensive information about how Gordon’s school engages with the Pupil Premium initiative can be found in our annually published Pupil Premium Strategy Statement. 

PUPIL PREMIUM STRATEGY STATEMENT 2023-24

Please click here for details of the 2023-24 Pupil Premium Impact Summary Statement and here for the 2023-24 Pupil Premium Strategy Statement.

WHAT IS THE PUPIL PREMIUM?

The Pupil Premium is additional funding for publicly funded schools in England to raise the attainment of disadvantaged students and close the gap between them and their peers. The funding is provided for children in Year 7 to Year 11 from low-income families who have been eligible for free school meals, looked-after or previously looked after children and children from families with parents in the Armed Forces.

In the current financial year, Gordon’s will receive the following funding:

  • £1035 for each child registered as eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years (Ever 6 FSM)
  • £335 for children with parents in the Armed Forces within the last five years (Ever 5 Service Child) or in receipt of a child pension from the Ministry of Defence 
  • £2530 for looked-after children (LAC) defined in the Children Act 1989 as one who is in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, an English local authority*
  • £2530 for children who have ceased to be looked after by a local authority in England and Wales because of adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order or a residence order (PLAC)

*The funding for Children who have been in 'Local Authority Care' for one day or more (LAC) does not go to their school; it goes to the Virtual School Head (VSH) in the local authority that looks after the child. VSHs are responsible for managing Pupil Premium funding for looked-after children.

If a student has been registered as eligible for free school meals and has left local-authority care for any of the reasons above, they will attract the £2530 rate rather than receive both awards.  Students who fall under the services category and the FSM category will receive both awards and will therefore be entitled to £1,370.

HOW IS FUNDING ALLOCATED?

In time for the start of each new school year the government publish the final Pupil Premium allocations for the current financial year based on the January school census data. If you believe your child is eligible for Pupil Premium funding and you have not been contacted by the school, please contact Miss V Phillips, Head of Inclusion at vphillips@gordons.school 

OFSTED INSPECTIONS

Ofsted’s school inspections report on the attainment and progress of disadvantaged students who attract the Pupil Premium. The Ofsted inspection framework and handbook are available online as are copies of the most recent Ofsted Inspection Reports relating to Gordon’s School.

ONLINE REPORTING

Gordon’s is also obliged to publish details of how the school spends its Pupil Premium and the effect this has had on the attainment of the students who attract the funding. See the ‘Pupil Premium Strategy Statement’ above.

School and college performance tables also report on the performance of disadvantaged students compared with their peers.

HOW DOES GORDON’S SCHOOL USE PUPIL PREMIUM FUNDING?

Gordon’s uses and allocates the Pupil Premium funding in the following ways:

Firstly, we use one third of the funding allocated to each student to provide a number of services and opportunities within school. We refer to this money as the ‘top slice’ funding. This money is put towards costs such as: counselling services, LAMDA lessons, music lessons, and some administrative costs. Additional information about this can be found in the FAQ section which is available in the 'Pupil Premium Information for Parents' drop down menu at the top of this page.

The remaining two thirds of the money allocated to students is offered directly to parents to fund the provision of private, academic tuition to ensure that Gordon’s students receive maximum benefit from the funding provided. The primary focus of this private tuition will be the provision of additional support and guidance in numeracy and literacy, with a view to fulfil the original government objective of closing the attainment gap between those students eligible for Pupil Premium funding and their peers. Where no gap exists, we would encourage parents to use the funding to extend students’ abilities in these areas beyond their current attainment.

Personal tutoring offers students the opportunity to focus on specific areas of the curriculum free from the conventional constraints of the classroom.

All students can benefit from personal tutoring. This is as relevant for students aiming for the highest grades as it is for those who require more assistance academically.

There is a strong link between students achieving at least a grade C in GCSE Mathematics and English Language and the achievement of at least five or more higher GCSE grades. Furthermore, the GCSE grade that a student receives in these two subjects is often a strong indicator of the grades that will be achieved across the curriculum.

Students should use their next steps advice from Key Assessments or Tri-Weekly feedback to ensure that any numeracy or literacy tutoring undertaken is targeted and focused. If students are not clear about their next steps, they should speak with their respective subject teachers.

Students may wish to focus on alternative subjects. Whilst this is perfectly reasonable, students and parents should be aware of the significant link between strong numeracy and literacy skills and GCSE results across subjects.

SERVICE PUPIL PREMIUM

The premium available to families in the Armed Services is allocated in the same way as the standard Pupil Premium. However, it is designed to assist the school in providing non-educational support. Whilst it can obviously be used for academic support, families are encouraged to look beyond traditional English and mathematics tuition.

HOW CAN YOU SPEND YOUR TUITION MONEY?

In order to provide this personal tuition, Gordon’s has ‘approved’ the use of three tuition companies in the local area.  Details about these three companies can be found in the 'Pupil Premium Information for Parents' drop down menu at the top of this page and also below.

Parents can contact the local branches of these companies and organise tuition without any additional checks or references being required by the school. 

Tutor Doctor 

Tutor Doctor 

This is a nationwide company with branches across the UK. Our agreement, however, is with the Reading branch only. 

Tutor Doctor West Surrey has over 240 tutors on its books drawn from qualified teachers, post graduates and industry specialists. 

Mark Butler is our contact at Tutor Doctor and will be happy to discuss your personal requirements. They also fully investigate each pupil’s individual needs before tuition begins and monitor progress to ensure goals are attained. Parents are also kept up to date with progress via email reports on each tuition session.  

Mark Butler – 0118 449 2191 (admin01@tutordoctor.co.uk) 

Winchmore Tutors 

Winchmore Tutors 

Now under new account management, we have reinstated Winchmore Tutors to this list of approved companies as of September 2023.  

Salmaan Mollagee is our Account Manager and all initial queries should be directed to him on the contact details listed below. However, if he is unavailable, you may also contact any staff listed below:  

Academic tutors surrey

This is a private company delivering tuition to students in person and online in the Surrey area. Academic Tutors Surrey operates across the whole of Surrey, covering all academic subjects for all age groups (4 years to 18+), but specialises in Maths, English and Science. 

They have a network of more than 200 experienced tutors in Surrey, consisting of teachers, ex-teachers and full-time tutors, ready to assist with curriculum catch-up, exam preparation or stretching students to fill their full potential. They have a minimum education of a Bachelor’s Degree, are all referenced prior to joining the company and are enhanced DBS checked.  

This company works with private students, schools and is also an approved tuition company for Surrey County Council. Please see their website for further details: www.academictutorssurrey.co.uk  

To discuss your requirements, please contact Tess on 01483 363052 or email info@academictutorssurrey.co.uk

This information should be read in conjunction with the companies’ individual Terms of Service, which parents will be bound by should they choose to engage these companies.

If you have any questions about these individual companies that are not covered in the FAQ section in the first instance please speak with the named company contact. If they are unable to assist you, please contact Miss V Phillips, Head of Inclusion at vphillips@gordons.school
The FAQ section is available in the 'Pupil Premium Information for Parents' drop down menu at the top of this page.

out OF AREA TUITION

Should students prefer to work with alternative tutors, or branches of the companies other than those specified, this is fine but parents must make their own arrangements and ensure they are happy with the safeguarding arrangements in place. Please see the document ‘Engagement of Private Tutors’ (available online) for details of how this process works.

All tutors must use the Invoice Pro-forma, which is available in the 'Pupil Premium Information for Parents' drop down menu at the top of this page, every time they submit an invoice and must submit their invoices monthly in arrears to the Gordon’s Finance Office either by email or post. Emailed invoices should be sent to ppfinance@gordons.school

All invoices for the school year must be submitted by the end of July at the latest, no payments will be made retrospectively in the new school year. Please also note that the Finance Office will not be able to remind you when your funding is about to run out, so please ensure you are aware of how many sessions you have had and how much funding remains after each invoice has been paid.

ON-SITE TUITION

For the vast majority of pupils, tutoring will typically take place at weekends, during school holidays or on midweek evenings. However, for those students who are Residential Boarders, we offer on-site tuition sessions.

These sessions will take place in Sudan with a tutor from one of our approved companies and will be supervised by a member of Gordon’s staff.  Until further notice, all sessions will take place online using the platforms indicated by each individual tuition company.

The process to organise on-site tuition is as follows:

  • Please contact the relevant Houseparents and request the subject you require and how many sessions you would like – please make sure your Pupil Premium allocation is sufficient to cover the initial number of sessions you request.
  • If you have a preference for a specific company, please make this known. However, please note, Tutor Doctor are unable to offer single hour tuition in any subject and all three companies (as well as Gordon’s School) strongly recommend that, where your Pupil Premium allocation is only sufficient to cover five or six sessions, you focus on one subject, preferably English or Mathematics and then make a request for top-up funding where appropriate. 
  • The Houseparent will then inform Mrs Reeve, the PA to the Deputy Head Pastoral, who will liaise with the tuition companies to organise the sessions.
  • Mrs Reeve will then inform the Houseparents when the sessions are booked for, who the tutor is, and what time the sessions will begin and end.
  • The Houseparents will then pass this information on to the student in question who is expected to attend all sessions (please read the individual terms of service for each company regarding cancellation of appointments or a failure to attend).
  • Should you wish to amend the time of your child’s session, or make any other changes such as individual tutor or company, please liaise directly with Mrs Reeve.

Please note, there are a limited number of places available for on-site tuition sessions, they will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority going to GCSE students.

NON-ACADEMIC TUITION

In exceptional circumstances, it may be possible to use the Pupil Premium funding allocated to your child for something other than direct academic tuition. This may include, but is not limited to, musical instruction for GCSE music, wider reading books or subject specific text books, revision material, and computer software designed to support learning or revision.

These decisions will be taken on an individual basis but are likely to be considered only in exceptional circumstances. Please contact Miss V Phillips, Head of Inclusion on vphillips@gordons.school

HOW TO GET MORE PUPIL PREMIUM FUNDING!

Gordon’s School also runs an initiative to allow parents who have already spent their Pupil Premium funding to apply for more money in a ‘top-up’ scheme.

WHY IS THERE EXTRA MONEY AVAILABLE?

All Pupil Premium funding is individually allocated to support students academically, however, if a student does not make use of their funding, the school retains the right to reallocate it. The School, therefore, offers some of this ‘spare’ funding back to those parents who have used up their initial allocation of funding yet would like to continue with tuition for their child.

If you have already spent your initial allocation of Pupil Premium funding and would like to continue tuition sessions, you may apply for additional funding to an amount of your choosing*.

*Please note that there is a finite amount of funding available and decisions on the final amount of money allocated to each parent will depend on the popularity of the scheme in any given year and rest with Miss Phillips, Head of Inclusion. 

HOW CAN I CLAIM ADDITIONAL ‘TOP-UP’ FUNDING?

If you would like to apply for additional funding under this scheme, please email Miss V Phillips at vphillips@gordons.school, with the following information:

  1. Your name and the name, Year Group, and House of your child.
  2. How much money you were initially allocated and what you have spent it on eg £200 all spent on private tuition with Tutor Doctor.
  3. How much additional funding you would like in total eg I would like a total of £240 please.
  4. What you intend to spend your additional funding on eg I intend to continue tuition sessions for a further six weeks during the Summer Term / I intend to pay for an Easter Revision course, etc.

WHEN SHOULD I APPLY?

You can apply for top-up funding at any time after the February Half Term holiday. However, if you are looking to support a GCSE student with Easter revision, you are advised to apply for top-up funding by the end of March at the latest. You will then be notified of the amount you have been allocated to enable bookings to be made for the Easter holiday.

WHAT CAN I SPEND MY TOP-UP FUNDING ON?

Just like the normal allocation of Pupil Premium funding, this money is designed to ‘close the gap’ between the academic attainment of Pupil Premium students and their peers. Therefore, we require that the additional funding be spent on academically supporting students in the same way as the original funding was. This means that your top-up funding may be used for any of the following:

  • Personal tuition with one of our recommended companies or a privately hired tutor
  • Academic text books or wider reading books
  • Computer software to support learning
  • Easter revision courses