Pupil Premium

The Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) is allocated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to academies and free schools, and to local authorities for maintained schools and non-maintained special schools.

Our School Context

The Windmill School is a specialist free school for children and young people aged 5–19 whose autism significantly affects their learning and who have an Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP). We provide a calm, structured and autism-specific environment where learners receive personalised support to thrive both academically and personally.

Our approach across the school is based on specialist pedagogy that values each pupil’s individuality and supports both strengths and needs.

As a specialist free school, The Windmill School receives Pupil Premium funding directly from the ESFA for pupils who meet the eligibility criteria. When funding is received, it is used to mitigate the impact of disadvantage by addressing barriers to learning and supporting pupils to make progress academically, socially and emotionally, in line with their Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).

For more details, visit the Department for Education website.

Where Pupil Premium funding is allocated because a pupil is a Looked After Child (LAC), this funding is managed by the local authority’s Virtual School. The funding must be used to support the child’s educational needs as identified in their Personal Education Plan (PEP).

Where The Windmill School receives Pupil Premium funding, we have a duty to use it to support disadvantaged pupils by helping to support their engagement with school, boost attainment and learning and promote positive outcomes in line with each pupil’s individual needs

Given the complex learning profiles of our pupils, funding is used flexibly and strategically to support:

Bespoke, off- and on-site blended programs that support re-engagement in school, as many pupils have experienced placement breakdowns and no school routines; therefore, class-based learning needs to be gradual and build up to on-site activities.
Personalised specialist training and CPD for staff to gain a deep understanding of autism and complex additional needs, including mental health needs
Enrichment programmes including music, animal-assisted therapy, art workshops, coding and animation
📚 Strong emphasis on comprehension and language development, given that this is central to the diagnosis of autism
The programme is built on research showing that sustained engagement with a rich range of texts supports comprehension, vocabulary development, inference and broader language skills — all areas linked to improved performance in English assessments. Power of Reading provides detailed teaching sequences that allow pupils to explore complex language and ideas in context, promoting deeper understanding rather than surface decoding alone.

Primary School Pupil Premium eligibility

A primary-aged child is eligible for Pupil Premium funding if they meet one or more of the following criteria:

1. Free School Meals (FSM)

A child is eligible if they:

Are currently eligible for Free School Meals, or
Have been eligible for Free School Meals at any point in the last six years

This is known as FSM Ever 6 and applies even if the family’s circumstances have since changed.

✅ Important: Even though all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 receive Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM), parents must still apply for FSM if they think they may be eligible. UIFSM does not automatically qualify a child for Pupil Premium.

Children in Key Stage 1 are automatically entitled to a free school lunch. However, registering your child for free meals will entitle them to additional support.

Parental Eligibility Criteria for Pupil Premium

To ensure The Windmill School receives appropriate Pupil Premium funding, parents/carers should check whether their child is eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) through the London Borough of Barnet. If eligible, the school will receive additional Pupil Premium support on the child’s behalf.

Who Qualifies for Free School Meals (FSM) in Barnet?

Children may be eligible for FSM — and therefore trigger Pupil Premium funding — if their parent(s) or guardian(s) receive one or more of the following benefits:

Income-related benefits:

Universal Credit with net annual earned income of £7,400 or less (after tax, excluding benefits)
Income Support
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
Guaranteed element of Pension Credit
Child Tax Credit (provided not also receiving Working Tax Credit and with an annual income below £16,190)
Working Tax Credit run-on (for 4 weeks after stopping eligibility)

We must publish on our website the details of how we spend the pupil premium funding and the effect this has had on the attainment of the pupils who attract the funding.