Pupil Premium and Meridian Trust Charter

The Government believes that Pupil Premium (PP) funding, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the underlying inequalities between children who are eligible for free school meals (FSM), or who have been eligible in the last 6 years, and their peers.

The use of the term ‘Pupil Premium’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. Meridian Trust also includes within its Pupil Premium Charter those pupils identified as Young Carers (YC), either through parental identification or through the use of the Multi-Dimensional Assessment of Caring Activities (MACA) tool. For the academic year 2023-24, the government is also adding a ‘Recovery Premium’ to help schools meet the demands of ensuring all pupils catch up after the Covid pandemic. The Recovery Premium is calculated on a per-pupil basis, and it is meant to help schools deliver evidence-based approaches for supporting a wider cohort of pupils than those who attract the funding, by directing spending where the need is greatest.

Schools also receive funding for children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months and for those pupils who are the children of either currently serving members of HM forces or who have retired on a pension from the Ministry of Defence.  This ‘Service Premium’ is not classed as Pupil Premium but is allocated to help with pastoral support. 

The Pupil Premium (PP) and Service Premium currently stand at:

• £1050 for every secondary-age pupil who claims free school meals or who has claimed free school meals in the last 6 years 

• £2,570 for every pupil who is within local authority care 

• £2,570 for every pupil who has left local authority care through adoption, special guardianship order or child arrangements order 

• £340 for every child of either a serving member of HM forces or retired on a pension from the MOD

The PP funding is used to help fund a range of educational benefits for pupils across the school such as targeted small-group interventions, additional pastoral support, or inclusion in school activities such as extracurricular clubs, school trips, and music lessons. 

Who is eligible?

Your child may be eligible if you receive any of the following benefits:

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Child Tax Credit only (with income up to £16,190) with no element of Working Tax Credit
• National Asylum Seekers Support
• The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Universal Credit (income dependent)

Free School Meals

If you think your child may be eligible for free school meals, please complete the form at the bottom of this page.  This form can either be emailed directly to ewb.fsm@cambridgeshire.gov.uk  or you can return the form to the college reception, and we will forward it on your behalf.

What happens if your financial situation changes

Your child’s school will continue to receive the funding for the next six years

Pupil Premium Strategy

It is a requirement for the academic year 2023-24 that the school publishes both how the money was spent in 2022-23 and how it is going to be spent in the coming year 2023-24.  The coronavirus has, for the past 3 years, interrupted a significant number of planned activities for pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium funding, but there have still been considerable efforts made to ensure that those in receipt of PP funding have received additional support.   

The strategy document can be accessed here

Ely College follows the Statement of Principals set out by Meridian Trust https://www.meridiantrust.co.uk/key-information/policies/