Pupil Premium
Support for Pupil Premium
The pupil premium grant is additional money schools receive to help disadvantaged pupils of all abilities achieve their full potential.
The amount of pupil premium funding each school receives is decided by how many disadvantaged pupils they have – schools then receive funding per pupil premium-eligible child to improve their educational outcomes.
Transform Your School offers four different packages to support schools in getting the most from Pupil Premium:
1. Pupil Premium Review
A pupil premium review analyses how your school is spending its pupil premium funding.
The focus of the review is to improve your school’s pupil premium strategy, so that you spend the funding on approaches shown to be effective in improving the achievement of disadvantaged pupils. This will normally involve adjusting the way the funding is used, with greater attention to approaches that have been proved to be effective elsewhere, improving the delivery of existing approaches or targeting them more specifically to the identified needs of pupils in the school.
Does my school need a Pupil Premium Review?
All schools should consider whether they could benefit from the fresh perspective of an experienced school leader to help them try new approaches or improve current provision to help raise the attainment of their disadvantaged pupils. You can commission a review at any time if you want to improve the effectiveness of your school’s pupil premium strategy.
There are also specific circumstances where a review is needed:
- Ofsted will recommend that you commission a review if, as a result of a section 5 inspection, it identifies specific issues regarding the provision for disadvantaged pupils. You should start the process of commissioning a review within 2 weeks of it being recommended and should aim to have the review completed within 8 weeks. If an Ofsted inspection report recommends the review, the monitoring inspector will expect it to be undertaken in a timely manner.
- In some cases, the Department for Education, your LA, your RSC or the organisation involved in running your school, academy or free school (for example, the trust or diocese) may recommend that you commission a review if there are concerns about the results of your disadvantaged pupils.
What’s included in a Pupil Premium Review?
The pupil premium review will usually take 1 ½ and 2 days depending on the size of the school.
Part One:
A day spent with the school undertaking an in-depth review, gathering evidence about the impact of the school’s pupil premium strategy and drawing up an action plan – teacher and leader voice and agency in developing the strategy is vital.
The day will include a clear executive summary from the visit and a list of actions and outcomes which will improve the school’s strategy and impact positively on the learning of disadvantaged pupils. There will be a strong focus on implementation.
Part Two:
A half-day follow-up visit two to six months later. This is an opportunity to evaluate the progress made and the emerging evidence of impact. The plan may amend implementation accordingly. Reviewed schools have also attested to the value of a further follow-up visit later in the year, once changes have had time to bed in.
2. Writing Your Pupil Premium Strategy
All schools that receive Pupil Premium must publish a strategy statement by 31 December each academic year on their website, using the DfE template. This can be daunting, especially to new leaders. We recognise this and offer a half-day visit – in person or virtually – to support effective completion of the statutory template.
We provide opportunity to discuss the school context and current strategy before supporting leaders to craft a purposeful accountability document which communicate effectively to internal and external stakeholders, including families, advisers and inspectors. Throughout conversation we will ensure full transparency and meet school requirements under Ofsted.
Writing should be far more than ‘filling out the form’ and this visit will guarantee the strategy document embodies the school and can legitimately underpin actual school improvement and outcomes for children and young people rather than being a bolt-on.
A further half day is often added to write the school pupil premium implementation plan.
3. Pupil Premium Training
Training is always bespoke and will be designed in consultation to meet identified needs and audience – it can be offered in person or virtually. Currently course objectives include:
- Developing school leadership to secure outstanding provision and support
- Monitoring and evaluating the impact of pupil premium provision effectively
- Effectively managing and deploying support staff for maximum impact on progress and standards
- Understanding how best to support class teachers to meet the needs of disadvantaged learners within their class, including the most able
- Building an inclusive school culture
- Managing the strategic development of provision and practice in your school
- Preparing governors to meet their responsibilities and to strategically challenge school leaders
- Engaging parents and carers more effectively in their child’s learning
- Preparing for Ofsted inspection of pupil premium provision and spend
4. The Pupil Premium Toolkit
The Pupil Premium Toolkit has been written to ensure leaders have everything they need to succeed and excel in their support for the disadvantaged learners in their school. The toolkit is comprehensive, including quality standards, an audit tool and examples of best practice.
A toolkit can only go so far though, and there are often questions you would like to ask. The toolkit includes a virtual 60-minute conversation to support senior leadership and/or governors.

Get Started
Find out more about how Transform Your School can help you get more from Pupil Premium with a free initial consultation
Our initial consultation is focussed on establishing your key objectives, the level of engagement required, and the outcomes you’re looking for, and the most appropriate solutions for your school.