Pupil premium and disadvantaged learners

All schools must use the official DfE templates to publish their pupil premium strategy.

DfE will undertake monitoring checks on a sample of published reports.

For guidance on publishing the pupil premium strategy statement and to download the template use DfE’s Pupil premium guidance.

It also includes the use of the recovery premium which is a payment building on the Pupil Premium for disadvantaged students.

For guidance on the recovery premium use DfE’s Recovery premium: overview guidance.

The use of evidence in the conditions of the grant now says the following:

Schools must demonstrate how their spending decisions are informed by research evidence, making reference to a range of sources including the Education Endowment Foundation's toolkit.

In line with the EEF's pupil premium guidance activities should include those that:

• support the quality of teaching - for example, staff professional development
• provide targeted academic support - for example, tutoring
• tackle non-academic barriers to success in school - for example, attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support

For more information on EEF pupil premium guidance visit The EEF Guide to the Pupil Premium web pages.

Marc Rowland, who worked with the DfE on the new template, has written the following articles for schools to support them in developing a strategy:

• ​Pupil Premium Strategy Update and Questions to Consider
• Eight things to consider when planning your pupil premium strategy​ (PDF, 94KB)