Pupil Premium
Pupil Premium
The Pupil Premium Grant is allocated to children from low-income families who are known to be eligible for Free School Meals (FSM), children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months and children of service personnel. This includes pupils eligible for FSM at any point in the last six years (known as the Ever 6 FSM measure). Research shows that these pupils underachieve compared to their peers. The Pupil Premium Grant is provided to schools in order to support these pupils in reaching their potential.
The Pupil Premium Plan for this year can be found below. Our Pupil Premium Strategy is reviewed each academic year. We are constantly tracking and analysing pupil progress and attainment to secure the best possible outcomes. A great deal of time and effort is also invested to ensure pupils' social and emotional needs are being met and nurtured. We work hard to swiftly identify gaps in learning and tailor support, resources and our approach to ensure the gap is narrowed between our Pupil Premium pupils and other pupils.
The range of ways we support our children includes:
Quality first teaching in class
Targeted teaching – focused feedback and teaching from teachers and learning support assistants
1:1 support
Additional small group work
Half termly progress meetings with the class teacher when children are off track, to which parents are invited
Half termly check-in conversation with parents for pupils who are on track
Financial support for visits and events
Financial support for school uniform
Strategies implemented to address and improve attendance
Support and signposting to other agencies for pupils with emotional needs
Purchasing of specific resources
Summary of barriers sometimes faced by pupils eligible for Pupil Premium, these often include:
Motivation or "availability to learn"
Social and cultural barriers
Social, emotional, mental and physical health
Personal issues which can affect learning
Poor attendance, punctuality and engagement
Attainment
In Year 1, all children complete the National Phonics Screening. In 2024, 100% of our pupils eligible for Pupil Premium passed the phonics screening. In 2025 77% of these pupils passed. In 2024 our school was also in the top 4% for phonics outcomes, of all schools nationally. We continue to sit above National for phonics, with 92.3% of our pupils achieving the expected standard versus the National average of 79.9%.
In Year 4, all children take the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC). Whilst there is no 'pass mark' published we do know that the average score for all pupils nationally who took the test was 21.0 out of 25; our average was 22.37. At our school, pupils eligible for Pupil Premium achieved the National average.
In 2025 other successes include some end of KS2 outcomes. In writing 92.9% of our pupils eligible for Pupil Premium achieved the expected standard and in maths 78.6% achieved the expected standard.
Attendance
We strive to ensure attendance for all our pupils is the absolute best it can be and recognise that barriers to attendance can be complex. We listen carefully to the child's voice as well as the parent's and draw on a number of strategies to support good attendance.
For the academic year 2024 - 2025 attendance in state-funded primary schools was 94.9%, whereas Mersea Island School's attendance was 96.2%. Up to and including 1st July 2025, pupils at our school eligible for Pupil Premium had an average attendance of 94.34%