PUPIL
PREMIUM
WHAT IS PUPIL PREMIUM?
The Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011 and is allocated to schools to work with pupils who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years (known as ‘Ever 6 FSM’).Schools also receive funding for children who have been Looked After Children (LAC) continuously for more than six months, and children of service personnel. The service premium is designed to address the emotional and social well-being of these pupils.
WHY HAS IT BEEN INTRODUCED?
The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.
USE OF PUPIL PREMIUM
Pupil premium strategy statement 2023-2024
Pupil premium strategy statement 2020-2023
SPORTS
PREMIUM
The PE and sport premium is allocated to schools to help them provide additional and sustainable improvements to the quality of the physical education, physical activity and sport they provide.
To find out more about our Sports Premium, please see the documents below:
POLICIES &
PROCEDURES
BEYOND SCHOOLS TRUST POLICIES (INCLUDING EQUALITY, GDPR COMPLIANCE AND WHISTLEBLOWING) CAN BE FOUND HERE
Balfour's individual procedures can be found below.
All policies and procedures can be requested from the Head Teacher in print form for free.
Accessibility Procedure and Plan
Determined Admission Arrangements Balfour 2024-25
Determined Admission Arrangements Balfour 2025-26
Equality information and objectives
Health and Safety Management System
Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Policy
Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and PSHE Policy
Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy
Supporting pupils with medical conditions
SPECIAL
EDUCATIONAL
NEEDS
At Balfour Junior School, we strive to support all children to enable them to achieve at school. The school aims to be fully inclusive and currently supports pupils with a wide range of additional needs.
In order to do this, many steps are taken to support them through their learning journey.
High quality teaching is vital. However, for some children there are occasions when further measures/additional support may be needed to help them achieve their targets and feel ready to learn and participate fully in school life.
Our Inclusion team work with pupils, parents and teachers to ensure that pupils with Special Education Needs have full access to the curriculum and succeed in accordance with the SEND Code of Practice 0 – 25 years, DfE (January 2015).
We liaise, where necessary, with outside expert agencies to assist in diagnosing any learning difficulties and in suggesting strategies to support our pupils and staff. We encourage our pupils to be resilient and to begin to take responsibility for their own learning and foster a positive, supportive relationship between home and school to enable every Balfour pupil to achieve their best.
Information advice and guidance is always available through our ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant and FLO (Family Liaison Officer) who work very closely with those pupils who are struggling with their own personal well-being and offer support to families who may have concerns, issues or worries that are impacting on their ability to parent effectively. They aim to empower parents to take an active role in their child’s social, emotional and educational development.
All information related to SEND can be found in the SEND Policy and SEND Information Report.
Should you have any queries or concerns that your child may have a SEND need or wish to discuss the current provision the school can offer, please contact the appropriate member on the Inclusion team as soon as possible in order that the correct investigations and support can be put in place.
Miss Bethany Kember (SENCO): bkember@balfourjuniors.org.uk
The Medway Local Offer provides parents/carers with information about how to access services in their area, what they can expect from those services and the options available to support families who need additional help to care for their child.
SCHOOL
ATTENDANCE
If your child is absent from school for any reason please use the Studybugs app to report their absence. If we do not receive a reason for the absence it will be unauthorised.
Please provide medical evidence to support any absences. This may include appointment cards, letters, copies of prescriptions or proof of prescribed medication.
If your child’s attendance falls below 95%, we will be unable to authorise absences without medical evidence. Pupils with unauthorised absences and low attendance may be referred to AASSA (Attendance Advisory Service to Schools and Academies), this may result in a penalty notice (fine) and/or court action.
We are not permitted to authorise holidays unless there are exceptional circumstances. In this event, please put your request in writing to the Head Teacher and each case will be assessed on an individual basis. If we cannot authorise your child’s absence we may refer to AASSA (Attendance Advisory Service to Schools and Academies), this may result in a penalty notice (fine) and/or court action. Please note, schools do not issue penalty notices directly and do not receive any monies from penalty notices, we only refer to AASSA and they take any necessary action.
The expected attendance for all pupils is 96% or above. Low school attendance has a detrimental effect upon your child’s education and attainment. Schools are open to children for 190 days per year. 95% attendance means 10 days (2 full weeks) of learning have been missed. 90% attendance is the equivalent of 20 days/4 weeks absence.
If you have any problems getting your child into school please let us know, good communication is vital.