The Federation of Darlington Nursery Schools

 

Eligibility for the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)

Please see our most recent EYPP Strategy Plan:

Show list Show Grid

Early Years Pupil Premium Funding

The purpose of Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) funding is to help close the achievement gap between groups of children.

Eligibility

2, 3 and 4 year-olds in Darlington accessing early education sessions in a registered private day nursery, playgroup, with a childminder or in a nursery school or nursery unit will be eligible for the Early Years Pupil Premium if they meet at least one of the following criteria:

Their family gets one of the following:

  • Income Support
    1. Income based Jobseeker’s Allowance
    2. Income related Employment and Support Allowance
    3. Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
    4. the guarantee element of State Pension Credit
    5. Universal Credits (for children born after 31st December 2015, if a parent is entitled to Universal Credit they must have an annual net earned income equivalent to and not exceeding £15,400, assessed on up to three of the parent’s most recent Universal Credit assessment periods)
    6. Tax Credits and have an annual income of under £16,190 before tax
    7. The Working Tax Credit 4-week run on (the payment parents receive when they stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit).
  1. they are in local authority care
  2. they have left care through special guardianship, an adoption order or a child arrangements order which specifies with whom the child lives.

The Early Years Pupil Premium is a grant paid to registered providers to improve the education they provide to 3 and 4 year olds and for a child who is accessing their full entitlement of 15 hours a week over 38 weeks of the year, it equates to around £380 a year.

2 year olds who meet the criteria and are receiving the funded entitlement will also be eligible for the Early Years Pupil Premium.

Early years providers are responsible for identifying eligible children and informing the local authority so if you think your child is eligible, then please speak with your childcare provider or nursery school/unit as soon as possible.

Please note, the Early Years Pupil Premium is not a grant which is passed on to parents to offset childcare costs, it is paid to the childcare setting or nursery school/unit to improve provision.

You can see if your child is eligible for the Early Years Pupil Premium by using the early years pupil premium online checker. You will need your national insurance number. You can also speak with our administrator about eligibility or for further information, you can ring the Families Information Team on 01325 406222 (option 7) or email pfis@darlington.gov.uk.

Rationale

 

Schools are required to explain how funding is spent and the impact on this group of children’s progress.

As a maintained nursery school high quality teaching and learning is important to us. We value our families and aim to get to know them well. We set high aspirations and ensure that all of our educators are not only well qualified but also take responsibility for raising attainment for all children. We do this by adopting an individualised approach to addressing barriers to learning and emotional support, as well as providing access to generic support. Our ethos is one of highly inclusive practice.

How are we using our EYPP funding?

Since September 2021 we have noticed a decline in all children’s attainment within the prime areas on entry to school, within the areas of language and communication, socio-emotional and physical development. Many parents also state that they are worried about children’s social wellbeing and their school readiness. These concerns are not just isolated to the Federation and in fact are nationwide. 

We know that children’s emotional well being is the first necessity for effective learning. Evidence shows that children who demonstrate strong characteristics of effective learning, most notably self-regulation (the ability to regulate their feelings, thoughts, and actions) and executive function (a set of mental skills that include working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control- the skills we use every day to learn, work, and manage daily life) are more likely to succeed academically in the long term’ (Birth to 5 Matters).

We use some of our funding towards paying for additional support within the nursery room to teach self-regulation skills through modelling, suggesting strategies, providing frequent opportunities to practice, and scaffolding to support children to use self-regulation skills. In addition, this support can be used to promote communication and model language effectively.

In the last few years there has been an increase in ‘sedentary’ behaviour’ and a reduction in physical activity. Darlington have launched a ‘Childhood Healthy Weight Plan 2019-2024’ with an emphasis on developing healthy lifestyles. All children are actively encouraged to participate in physical activity indoor and outdoor and every child is included in the experiences we have to offer. We use some of our early years pupil premium funding to provide weekly sports activities, where vigorous cardiovascular activity is encouraged.

This year EYPP funding has also enabled educators and children to take part in the LEAP ( Little Explorers and Parents) project with Northern Ballet, in conjunction with North East and North Cumbria Child Health and Wellbeing Network and Newcastle University. This project has been designed for Early Years practitioners to confidently deliver creative movement and storytelling sessions to children in their settings. The project helps to encourage wellbeing through movement, and to improve educational outcomes for children by making links to the EYFS.

We also use EYPP funding to increase children’s understanding of the world around them. In the Summer term the children learn about new life and life cycles through experiences such as watching the ducks hatch, seeing the hungry caterpillars transform into beautiful butterflies.

 

Measuring the Impact

We are continually reviewing the information we collect on children’s attainment and updating our strategies to support children to achieve well. The strategies we have in place, that are implemented on a daily basis, are only a few of the strategies. Their success can be monitored through the achievements of our children but there are other ways that we measure and monitor the impact we have on our children, families and staff. These are:

  1. Monitoring the quality of interactions between staff and children
  2. Monitoring the types of interactions children have with staff
  3. Monitoring how children respond to the learning environment
  4. Key Educator termly progress discussions
  5. Parent/Staff questionnaires.
  6. Informal conversations at the start or end of a day with staff and parents.
  7. Parent feedback forms provided at progress meetings.
  8. Parent Progress Meetings.
  9. Success after the implementation of the Early Help Assessments (EHA’s), SEND reviews.
  10. Conversations with professionals we work alongside to support families.