Pupil Premium

The Pupil Premium is designed to ensure that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most. The funding is allocated to Local Authorities and schools with pupils from Reception to Y11 who are eligible for free school meals (FSM), are Children in Care (CiC) or have parents currently in the Armed Forces. or have been adopted or previously care experienced.

Both Highfield Academies are area special schools and as such have pupils on roll with a wide range of additional needs which are outlined in their EHCPs. Our schools have adopted a Pathways curriculum model and diverse staffing structure that provides a rich and varied curriculum with many opportunities to develop skills in holistic areas of development rather than just academic areas.

We recognise all our pupils as individuals and we do not benchmark progress of individuals against others. We have comprehensive systems of using feedback and judgement to inform where the pupil is at and what are their next best steps.

Our intention for our pupils whom are eligible for Pupil Premium (PP) is that their progress is as good as it can be, and that they have all the opportunities inside and outside school to support them in this. This is what we use the PP funding for - augmenting our existing provision for pupils whom are eligible for PP.

We use our knowledge of individual pupils as well as progress data to identify areas which, if additional funding were used, could enhance progress. However, we recognise that using PP funding just for pupils whom are eligible isn't possible. For example, an identified need for a group of pupils whom are eligible for PP was support around their mental health upon returning from Covid lockdown. This need wasn't just identified for this group, and other pupils have benefitted as well.

This statement and relevant data is reported on the school website and specific interventions of individual pupils can be reported directly to individual parents if requested.

The performance of pupils in receipt of free school meals in Cambridgeshire as a whole is poor – ranging between 112th and 141st out of 151 Local Authorities, according to data from the Local Authority in their guidance booklet on Pupil Premium.

Highfield School aims to make very good use of the Pupil Premium. We use the funding to address areas identified as ‘could be better’ at different levels:

To view our Pupil Premium spending report for 2024/2025 and planned spending for academic year 2025/2026 please click below:

Pupil Premium Report Highfield Littleport Academy

The impact of any interventions is measured in whatever terms are appropriate to the individual case. For one case this may be in terms of attendance data, for another it may be a question of academic progress or perceived well-being. Longer term impact is simply measured in terms of progress compared to our expectations, taking the student’s starting point into account.

Impact is assessed throughout the year during our regular progress meetings and through meetings with support staff, outside agencies and parents/carers. Alterations are made where needed but where a strategy is working it is left in place.  For example the purchase of software would benefit students as they are able to access this provision to reinforce skills and knowledge.  Each of our students learning is focused around students individual outcomes so the impact is addressed at EHCP reviews at least twice yearly.

Strategic Planning

Pupil Premium strategy reviews take place annually by the Headteacher and are evaluated by the School Improvement Lead and Governors.  Our next review is in September 2026.