The College’s Pupil Premium Strategy has been agreed by the Local Governing Body and forms the strategic planning for a three year period in managing the use of pupil premium. This strategy is reviewed annually by the 31st December to allow the needs of the new intake to be considered. It identifies the specific challenges faced by our disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils and the strategies which will be implemented through high quality teaching, targeted academic support and wider strategies.

Our intention is that all students, irrespective of their background or the challenges they face, make good progress and achieve high attainment across the curriculum.

The focus of our pupil premium strategy is to support disadvantaged pupils to achieve that goal. The activity we have outlined in our strategy statement is also intended to support vulnerable 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 the College.

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

Our approach will be responsive to common challenges and individual needs, 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 are set
• act early to intervene at the point need is identified
• adopt a whole College approach in which all staff take responsibility for disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes and raise expectations of what they can achieve

You may read the most up to date Pupil Premium Strategy here

Further information can be found by contacting Alex Emmerson, Vice Principal.

The Catmose College Local Governing Body Link Governor is Alex Mould.

Service Children Pupil Premium is used to supplement a member of pastoral staff known as the service children liaison officer. This position involves working pastorally with service pupils, including:

• Building strong relationships with pupils across all year groups
• Being the main point of contact for service families on a daily basis and at other College events
• Building strong links with the local barracks through meetings and liaison with the welfare officer
• Attending the Service Children in State Schools (SCISS) Conference
• Representing the College at barracks and community events
• Hosting the service children club and activities

In addition, all service children’s academic achievement is tracked individually through the Intervention Team with swift support actioned when needed.

These provisions are a vital part of ensuring that service children settle in quickly and continue with their learning when their education may be disrupted due to transferring schools. Having members of staff who have been in the same situation also means they are able to empathise with families, offering further emotional support.

The Department for Education requires all schools and local authorities to reassess eligibility for Free School Meals from September 2026 and this will be completed on an annual basis. If you are in receipt of certain benefits your child may be entitled to receive Free School Meals. You may find more information about eligibility requirements via this link.

Please complete all parts of the short electronic form here: www.rutland.gov.uk/fsm-check and Rutland County Council will complete eligibility checks.

If your child has previously received Free School Meals, you must still complete the form. If you do not complete the form, the FSM eligibility will be automatically removed from your child.

For further information please refer to Rutland County Council’s letter