The Department for Education (DfE) has published templates on GOV.UK to help schools meet their pupil premium reporting obligations, with refreshed effective practice guidance.

The new templates, that are voluntary to use, are designed to make reporting easier and quicker. Blank templates for primary/secondary/special schools are accompanied by worked examples to help school leaders complete them. You can find the templates here.

The refreshed guidance directs schools to the Education Endowment Foundation's 'Pupil Premium Guide' (June 2019) and its three-tier approach:

• focusing most of the grant on recruiting and developing high-quality teachers
• dividing the rest between targeted academic programmes and
• wider 'school readiness' initiatives.

 The refreshed web pages reiterate:

• a prompt to consider the needs of all educationally disadvantaged pupils (Children in Need, young carers) when arranging support;
• a suggestion that schools might wish to plan their pupil premium strategy over the medium (e.g. three year) term.

First published 07 November 2019