Pupil premium: ensuring value for money

Last reviewed on 6 June 2017
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How can we monitor pupil premium spending? We relay guidance from one of our associate experts on how governors can monitor pupil premium spending. We also link to information and tools from Ofsted to help monitor the funding, and a case study from FASNA.

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Contents

  1. Monitoring pupil premium spending
  2. Analysis and challenge tools
  3. Effective expenditure: examples

Monitoring pupil premium spending

We asked one of our associate education experts, Jeremy Bird, how governors can monitor pupil premium spending.

Clarifying how the money will be spent

Jeremy said the governing board will first want to look at the rationale for how the pupil premium is used. This will depend on the context of the school.

There may be specific areas the school wishes to look at, or the pupils attracting the funding might have specific needs that can be targeted.

Receiving reports on spending 

Jeremy said that the finance committee and the curriculum committee should be updated regularly on the spending of the pupil premium. In evaluating provision, the governing board should be able to see the impact of spending on pupil achievement.

For instance, if a school decides to spend the premium on targeted early intervention, pupils should sit assessments both before and after the intervention so that the school can measure any improvements in attainment.

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