Pupil premium ‘plugs budget holes’

Some schools are using extra funding designed to help their poorest pupils to boost the results of all youngsters, or to plug holes in their budgets, a poll of teachers suggests.

A new survey reveals that just over half of teachers (53%) say their school is using pupil premium funding to raise the attainment of disadvantaged children.

But around one in six say the funds are being used to improve all pupils’ results while others are using the money to pay for activities affected by budget cuts (7%).

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Sutton Trust chair Sir Peter Lampl said: “The pupil premium was established to break the cycle of disadvantage that begins when poor children underachieve at school. It’s vital that the funds to help these pupils are well-targeted and used in a cost-effective way.”

Read the full report here.