Pupil Premium

Middleton St Mary's CE (VC) Primary School is a larger than average primary school serving an area of significant deprivation. Pupils come from a wide range of backgrounds and ethnicities. 

According to the English Indices of Deprivation (2025), the postcode LS10 3SW sits in an area that is more deprived than 65% of neighbourhoods in England. However, this does not entirely reflect the areas in which our families live and only includes around 1600 households. It is known as a Lower-layer Super Output Area (LSOA).

Our intention is that all pupils, irrespective of their background or the challenges they face, make good progress and achieve high attainment across all subject areas. The focus of our pupil premium strategy is to support disadvantaged pupils to achieve that goal, including progress for those who are already high attainers. According to the January 2025 school census data; 44.27% of our children are classed as disadvantaged.

We will consider the challenges faced by vulnerable pupils, such as those who have a social worker or are receiving additional support through the Beeston, Cottingley & Middleton Cluster. The activity we have outlined in this statement is also intended to support all pupils needs, regardless of whether they are disadvantaged or not.

High-quality teaching is at the heart of our approach, with a focus on areas in which disadvantaged pupils require the most support. This is proven to have the greatest impact on closing the disadvantage attainment gap and at the same time will benefit the non-disadvantaged pupils in our school. Implicit in the intended outcomes detailed below, is the intention that non-disadvantaged pupils’ attainment will be sustained and improved alongside progress for their disadvantaged peers.

Our strategy is also integral to wider school plans for education recovery, notably in its targeted support through tutoring pupils whose education has been worst affected, including non-disadvantaged pupils.   

Our approach will be responsive to common challenges and individual needs, rooted in robust diagnostic assessment, not assumptions about the impact of disadvantage. The approaches we have adopted complement each other to help pupils excel. To ensure they are effective we will:

•  ensure disadvantaged pupils are challenged in the work that they’re set

•  act early to intervene at the point need is identified

•  adopt a whole school approach in which all staff take responsibility for disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes and raise expectations of what they can achieve.

The funding is provided to children who:

• Have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years
• Have been looked after continuously for a period of six months
• Have parents currently serving in the armed forces

Pupil Premium Statement