Pupil premium funding is allocated to eligible schools based on the number of:

• pupils who are recorded as eligible for free school meals (FSM), or have been recorded as eligible in the past 6 years (referred to as Ever 6 FSM)
• children previously looked after by a local authority or other state care, including children adopted from state care or equivalent from outside England and Wales.

Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils, and schools do not have to spend pupil premium so that it solely benefits pupils who meet the funding criteria. It can be used:

• to support other pupils with identified needs, such as those who have or have had a social worker, or who act as a carer
• for whole class interventions which will also benefit non-disadvantaged pupils

Pupil premium funding is allocated to local authorities based on the number of:

• looked-after children, supported by the local authority
• pupils who meet any of the eligibility criteria and who attend an independent setting, where the local authority pays full tuition fees

For pupils who are looked-after children, funding is managed by the local authority’s virtual school head (VSH)  in consultation with the child’s school.

From the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year, the Department for Education (DfE) is delivering an expansion to FSM eligibility to include all pupils from households in receipt of Universal Credit. There will then be 2 categories of FSM:

• Targeted FSM, which continues to be based on the existing £7,400 income threshold
• Expanded FSM, which will apply to meals only, covering pupils who do not qualify for Targeted FSM, but who are in households in receipt of Universal Credit. 

We hold regular discussions with Directors of the Academy over income and expenditure relating to Pupil Premium allocations and  Mrs. Spauls, Chair of Directors, has responsibility for Pupil Premium.  The Directors help us to evaluate the impact of the funding. We also share with the members of our Monitoring Standards Committee full details of Pupil Premium funding allocations and areas of expenditure and impact. 

Pupil Premium Strategy

We have a detailed Pupil Premium Strategy Statement for Waltham Leas which can be downloaded from the link below. 

	25-26 Pupil Premium Strategy Statement (1).docx (1)	[pdf 316KB]
	24-25 Pupil premium strategy statement	[pdf 194KB]
	23-24 Pupil premium strategy statement	[pdf 261KB]