The Government provides all schools with additional funding to help close the gaps in academic results and progress over time between those students who are on free school meals (or have been during the last six years) and the rest of the students in the school. At The Dorcan Academy, we share the Government’s determination that there should be no gap between the achievement of students receiving Pupil Premium funding and their peers. We are working hard to ensure that all Dorcan students are equally able to take advantage of the opportunities the school has to offer.
Pupil Premium funding was first introduced in 2011. Schools are able to make choices about how they use their allocation of the funding. This is because the Government believes that schools are best placed to use the funding purposefully depending upon their own local circumstances.
At Dorcan, our focus on supporting some students through Pupil Premium and Recovery Premium funding is one important element of our wider vision. We want all of our students, regardless of their social and academic background, to achieve the best academic outcomes they possibly can, and to become the best version of themselves that they can be; enabling them to move on to courses and careers which match their abilities and aspirations and which challenge and reward them.
At The Dorcan Academy we take our responsibilities for ensuring the progress of all children very seriously. It is therefore our intention to allocate Pupil Premium and recovery Premium funding first and foremost to developing Quality First teaching in the classroom, and to recruiting, retaining and developing excellent practitioners who have the subject knowledge and skills to support all groups of students to make outstanding and comparable progress.
The declarations below show how the Academy has spent this additional income, and the most recent gives detail of our forthcoming plans. They include an impact statement which shows the effect that this is having on student progress.
