Pupil Premium

The ‘Pupil Premium’ is top-up funding received by schools which aims to address the underlying inequalities between disadvantaged students and their peers.  The funding is used to tackle disadvantage by providing additional support in a wide variety of ways, and is targeted to reach those children who need it most.  The amount that any school receives will depend on the number of pupils that it has who are eligible for Targeted Free School Meals or who have been registered for Targeted Free School Meals at any point over the preceding six years. In addition, pupils who meet the following criteria are also eligible: 

• Children Looked After (CLA) defined in the Children Act 1989 as one who is in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, an English local authority 
• 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 arrangement order or a residence order. 
• For clarification, children whose parents are in receipt of the following are entitled to receive Targeted Free School Meals if pupils live in households in receipt of Universal Credit with annual household earnings of £7,400 or less. 
• The Service Premium is extra funding for schools to support children and young people with parents in the armed forces.  Pupils attract the premium if they meet the following criteria: 
• One of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces 
• One of their parents served in the regular armed forces in the last 3 years. 

Expanded Free School Meals - Students may be entitled to Free School Meals only (the school will not receive Pupil Premium Funding) if they do not qualify for Targeted Free School Meals, but live in households receiving Universal Credit. 

If you think you may be eligible for either category of Free School Meals the easiest way to apply is here: 

WWW.HERTFORDSHIRE.GOV.UK/FREE SCHOOL MEALS

If you would like any help with the application process please contact us for further advice.

Pupil Premium Strategy at The Saint John Henry Newman Catholic School

The Saint John Henry Newman Catholic School is a high achieving and aspirational school and the challenge for all our pupil premium students is to reach the targets not only set by the school but by their peers. Our starting point is that all the pupils in the school can achieve their goals and we work particularly hard on ensuring this is the case for our pupil premium students.  We ensure their aspirations are the same as those around them. For the academic year 2024/25, 127 (8%) of students in the whole school cohort are eligible. Our estimated pupil premium allocation is approximately £100,000 - see below for a breakdown of how this is spent. In such a small group, with a diverse range of needs, any interventions have to be cost effective and have high impact. The School’s leadership team has embedded key practices, strategies and ideas lower down the school, from the point of transition, to avoid the need for lots of ‘bolt on’ interventions in Year 11. All Year 6 into 7 Pupil Premium Students were invited to the Summer School in the summer with over 90% attending. Many of the initiatives the school adopts are in place because we have identified the barriers to the progress of all groups. The initiatives are school wide but are intended to have maximum impact on those who don’t have the opportunities that many others in our community are exposed to.

JHN PP strategy document 2025-2028