430 primary schools win in the Pupil Premium Awards 2015
Schools Minister David Laws announces key stage 2 qualifiers alongside infant and key stage 3 finalists in the 2015 Pupil Premium Awards.
David Laws today (18 December 2014) congratulated 430 schools which have qualified for the 2015 Pupil Premium Awards following key stage 2 results published last week. Their results showed that they have made or continue to make impressive improvements in the attainment of their disadvantaged pupils. Every school has won £1,000 and eligible schools will now be invited to apply for the prizes worth up to £100,000. Final prizes will be awarded at a ceremony hosted by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in March next year.
Four schools have also been named as national finalists in the infant and key stage 3 school category for next year’s Pupil Premium Awards, in recognition of their effective use of the pupil premium in raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and improving their outcomes. All finalists in the infant and key stage 3 school category will win at least £2,000, with the winning school to be awarded a total prize of £10,000.
The Pupil Premium Awards reward schools which are able to provide evidence of effective strategies to improve the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and show sustained improvement in raising their attainment. The pupil premium is extra funding schools receive for every disadvantaged pupil they teach and is worth £2.5 billion this year alone.
Schools Minister David Laws said:
The pupil premium is building a fairer society with opportunity for everyone.
I would encourage all of the primary schools who have received a £1,000 prize to share their achievements with other schools so they can learn from their strengths and experience.
I hope all schools will continue to learn from this excellent practice and ensure they are using their pupil premium effectively, so that they too may be in the running for a prize in 2016.
Dr Kevan Collins, Chief Executive, Education Endowment Foundation, said:
The infant school and key stage 3 school finalists include examples of brilliant practice. We know that the first stages of learning in each phase of education are essential and particularly important for children from disadvantaged communities. The finalists in this category are using the evidence of what works and the pupil premium to give their pupils the very best chance of success, and are rightly recognised as leaders and hubs of excellence and innovation.
Professor Becky Francis, Professor of Education and Social Justice, Department of Education and Professional Studies, King’s College London, said:
The commitment and dedication to ensuring all children succeed exhibited by these schools is really inspirational. It has been especially encouraging to see the way that research evidence is informing strategies adopted by the contestant schools in ensuring the good progress of their pupil premium children. Schools are actively engaging with research and evaluating impact in order to ensure that approaches are right for their context.
Schools across England that are doing the most to help disadvantaged pupils improve their achievements in school may be eligible to win a share of £4 million as part of the 2015 and 2016 Pupil Premium Awards. Thousands of pupils in more than 500 schools could benefit from the awards, which recognise schools which are using their pupil premium in innovative and effective ways.
A further £4 million prize money will also be awarded in the 2016 awards, and schools are being encouraged to act now to review what they are doing in their school and ensure they are using the pupil premium effectively - using tools such as the evidence-based Education Endowment Foundation toolkit or by undertaking a pupil premium review.
Notes to editors
- See the full list of KS2 qualifiers.
- Read more about the 2015 and 2016 Pupil Premium Awards, including eligibility criteria and further details on how to apply on the pupil premium rewards website.
- Primary schools that won £1,000 are invited to apply for a larger prize if they have 6 or more disadvantaged pupils in Year 6 in 2013 and 2014. The deadline for applications is 19 January.
- Schools without statutory assessment data, including special and infant schools, applied for the regional and national awards by submitting comprehensive evidence on how they have improved the performance of their disadvantaged pupils and have used their pupil premium funding in innovative ways. See the full list of all finalists.
- Eligible primary and secondary schools are automatically entered for the smaller qualifier awards and are invited to apply for larger awards if they have sufficient numbers of disadvantaged pupils.
- Secondary schools will hear if they have received a qualifier prize once the key stage 4 results are published in January 2015. To go on to win larger regional and national prizes, schools will be invited to submit further evidence on their use of the pupil premium in their application.
- Schools are held accountable for how they spend their pupil premium funding in the following ways: * through the attainment and progress of their eligible pupils * through the comparison between the gap between their eligible and non-eligible pupils and the national gap in performance of these groups * through requiring schools to publish details online of how they spend their funding and its effects each year * through the Ofsted inspection framework
- The 2015 infant and key stage 3 Pupil Premium Awards have been judged by a panel of independent experts: * Dr Kevan Collins, Chief Executive, Education Endowment Foundation * Becky Francis, Professor of Education and Social Justice, Department of Education and Professional Studies, King’s College London * Usha Sahni, Avanti Schools Trust Director of Education and the Executive Principal of Krishna Avanti School, Harrow
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