Pupil Premium
Mrs Heseltine (Assistant Head Teacher - Cultural Capital) currently leads on the school's Pupil Premium strategy, ensuring that all pupils, regardless of their socioeconomic background, develop the high aspirations and resilience to grasp hold of all the excellent opportunities available to them.
At Woodlands, we are a local school for local families and are proud to represent our local community. Currently, Basildon is the 53rd most deprived area in the UK, the 3rd most deprived district in Essex, and our school is a representation of the community, with a high percentage of our pupils identified as Disadvantaged*.
The pupil premium was implemented by the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2011. Schools currently receive: £1050 for secondary schools for every pupil on roll that is eligible for free school meals (FSMs) at any time in the last six years; £2,570 per pupil looked after by the local authority at any time in their lives, £340 for every pupil whose parents are serving in the armed forces.
The pupil premium is money given to schools to ‘raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities and to close the gaps between them and their peers’ (DfE and EFA, 2018).
As of 2024-25, 31.5% of our pupils are identified as Pupil Premium, and 39% as Disadvantaged*; as a school we are aware that many more of our families not classified as Disadvantaged are still struggling, particularly in the ongoing economic climate caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis. As such, we recognise that the strategy we have in place for our Disadvantaged pupils extends well beyond this specific group but in fact encompasses our entire school population, and we are committed to providing support to any pupil who needs it, regardless of their Disadvantaged status.
Please click on this link to view our interim Pupil Premium Strategy Statement for 2024-25.
If you have any questions or queries regarding Pupil Premium, please contact Mrs Heseltine at KHeseltine@woodlandsschool.essex.sch.uk
*The term ‘disadvantaged pupils’ is used to mean: pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last 6 years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route).- Ofsted School Inspection Handbook 2024.
