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Pupil Premium

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Pupil Premium at Dover Grammar School for Boys

What is the Pupil Premium?

The Pupil Premium is a grant allocated by the Government to support disadvantaged students to achieve their potential and close the significant outcomes gap nationally, between these students and their peers.

Disadvantaged students, for the purposes of this grant, are defined as being those who are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM), either currently or in the previous 6 years, those who come from Service families or those who are designated as Looked After Children (CLAs). 

Although the Pupil Premium Grant is not ring-fenced, and the school can spend the grant in any way it sees fit, we have to be able to demonstrate that the specific needs of the students on whose needs the funding formulae is based, are addressed and how this funding is being used to close the gap in outcomes.

At DGSB we have introduced our "Pupil Premium Pledge" which forms part of our wider Pupil Premium Action Plan. This is an incredibly important aspect of our work and our systems and approaches are designed to provide students who are in receipt of the Pupil Premium Grant with an optimum level of support which, over time, allows them to fulfil their potential.

Our Pupil Premium Champion, Mrs Westgate, who works with all PP students and their parents/carers, has been in post since early 2021 and meets with all students on a regular basis. She can be contacted at lwestgate@dgsb.co.uk.

How does DGSB help PP Students?

At DGSB we want all our students to be the very best they can be. To this end we will provide all that we can to ensure our Pupil Premium students progress as they should.  

In terms of school resources, we will provide stationery, maths equipment, a scientific calculator, a reading book for all our Year 7 students and revision guides for all our GCSE students. We can also provide a laptop to help with homework and if internet connection is an issue we ask that parents or carers contact us so that we can help with that too.  

At school, our PP students will be closely tracked in terms of attendance, homework, and academic progress and achievement. We have intervention programmes to help in all these areas should a student be struggling. Additionally, your son will meet with Mrs Westgate during the year to have an informal discussion about how things are going and how we may help him further in school. Once again, as last year, in 2023-24 we will be offering extra tuition to students in the subjects where they are not making expected progress.  

It is important to us that we have communication with you. Beginning this year, we will be giving our PP parents priority booking at parents’ evenings. If you cannot make the date, please contact lwestage@dgsb.co.uk to make alternative arrangements. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at any time should there be anything else you would like to discuss or to alert us to an issue which may affect your son at school.  

We are committed to helping our students become well-rounded individuals and our actions are not limited to academia. We also offer cooking classes on Tuesday lunchtimes where your son can learn how to cook tasty dinners (and also enjoy his work afterwards!). We can provide items to further your son’s hobbies and inspire his career choices; for example, we have arranged the provision of sketchbooks, art equipment, compasses, sports equipment, football boots, books on rocket science and even equipment to help build an actual rocket! The possibilities are endless so please take advantage of what we have to offer and get in touch if you have any ideas for your son.  

You can find out more about our work this year in the documents linked below:

DGSB Pupil Premium Action Plan 2023-24 

DGSB Pupil Premium Pledge 2023-24

Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 2023-24

Our Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 2023-24, which outlines our work this year, the reasons for undertaking this work (backed up by academic research) and the funding allocated can be found here.