Pupil Premium

Mrs Heseltine (Assistant Head Teacher - Cultural Capital) currently leads on the school's Pupil Premium strategy, ensuring that all pupils, regardless of their socioeconomic background, develop the high aspirations and resilience to grasp hold of all the excellent opportunities available to them.

At Woodlands, we are a local school for local families and are proud to represent our local community. Currently, Basildon is the 3rd most deprived district in Essex, and our school is a representation of the community, with a high percentage of our pupils identified as Disadvantaged.

The pupil premium was implemented by the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2011. Schools currently receive: £1,075 for secondary schools for every pupil on roll that has been registered for free school meals (FSMs) at any time in the last six years; £2,630 per pupil looked after by the local authority at any time in their lives, £350 for every pupil registered as a ‘service child’ at any point in the last six years or those ‘in receipt of child pension from the Ministry of Defence’.

The pupil premium is money given to schools to ‘raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities and to close the gaps between them and their peers’ (DfE and EFA, 2018).

As of 2025-26, 31.5% of our pupils are identified as ‘Pupil Premium’, and 39% of our pupils are identified as Disadvantaged. As a school we are aware that many more of our families not classified as Disadvantaged are still struggling, particularly in the ongoing economic climate caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis. As such, we recognise that the strategy we have in place for our Disadvantaged pupils extends well beyond this specific group but in fact encompasses our entire school population, and we are committed to providing support to any pupil who needs it, regardless of their Disadvantaged status.

Please click on this link to view our interim Pupil Premium Strategy for 2025-26

If you have any questions or queries regarding Pupil Premium, please contact Mrs Heseltine at KHeseltine@woodlandsschool.essex.sch.uk

*The term ‘disadvantaged pupils’ is used to mean: pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last 6 years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route).- Ofsted School Inspection Handbook 2024.