Research and Markets: Primary school purchasing and the Pupil Premium

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/lnxsqk/primary_school) has announced the addition of the "Primary school purchasing and the Pupil Premium" report to their offering.

The pupil premium was established in April 2011 as a way of filtering budget to schools with higher levels of disadvantaged children. It is allocated to schools with children who are eligible for free school meals (FSM), children who have been looked after for more than 6 months and children whose parents are currently serving in the armed forces. In future the fund will also be allocated to children who have registered for free school meals in the last 6 years.

Total funding for the pupil premium is £625m in 2011-12. This is planned to rise to £2.5 billion a year by 2014-15. This equates to £488 for each eligible pupil (and £200 for children whose parents serve in the armed forces). From April 2012 and for the academic year 2012-13 the funding will increase by £112 for each eligible child to a total of £600 per child. The increased funding would mean that about a quarter of pupils could qualify, up to the age of 16, which is about 1.8 million pupils.

But since its introduction, how are schools spending the money? As schools will be held accountable for how the funding is spent, how are they tracking improvements in progress? How are they reporting to parents on its use and what influence, if any, does this give parents as to how the money is spent? This report will deal with these questions and draw out recommendations for education service providers for potential investment opportunities arising from the findings.

Key Questions Answered

- Who is making decisions on how the premium is spent (for example the head teacher, SenCo, LitCo, governors)? Which contacts or resources are they using to make these decisions? What have they found helpful?

- To what extent is the funding being spent on SEN resources, training resources, early intervention, school trips or other types of resources or services?

- Problems have been reported where families are failing to claim free school meals, resulting in schools missing out on funding. How are schools dealing with this and what measures are they taking to ensure that they receive all the funding for which they are eligible?

- Are schools better or worse off with the premium? Has the pupil premium actually meant less funding for other areas? If so, which ones?

- How are schools tracking progress? How will they be reporting on progress?

- How are schools reporting to parents on how the money is being spent? To what extent, if any, is parental influence having an impact on how the money is being spent?

Methodology

15 in-depth interviews will be conducted with heads and SLT members across a wide variety of state primary schools in England.

Email survey submitted by 110 head teachers and school business managers in state primary schools in England.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/lnxsqk/primary_school