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<p>We are not able, in the time available, to assess how many schools have received
the pupil premium in total since its introduction in 2011 as this data is not held
in the format requested. However, in the 2013-14 financial year, 19,986 schools attracted
funding due to having one or more pupils who had been registered for free school meals
at any point in the previous six years. There were also 1,349 schools (maintained
special schools, special academies, pupil referral units (PRUs) or Alternative Provision
academies) for which the local authority received any pupil premium funding due, in
line with the conditions of grant. These figures do not take into account schools
receiving pupil premium plus for looked after children, as this funding was also allocated
to local authorities to distribute.</p><p> </p><p>The gap in pupils achieving Level
4 or above in key stage 2 reading and mathematics has narrowed from 19.3 to 16.2 percentage
points between 2011 and 2013. The gap in pupils achieving at least five good GCSEs
including English and mathematics has narrowed from 27.4 to 26.7 percentage points
over the same period.</p><p> </p><p>Whilst it is too soon to see significant evidence
of the impact of the policy on the national attainment statistics, our assessments
of the policy show an improving picture. Ofsted concurs with this view, and in its
most recent report of July 2014 stated that schools are using the funding more effectively
than ever before to raise the attainment of their disadvantaged pupils, and that gaps
in many schools are beginning to close, in some cases quite quickly.</p><p> </p>
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