Scottish Government Rationale

Pupil Equity Funding is allocated directly to schools, targeted at those children most affected by the poverty related attainment gap.

From April 2017 £120m will be provided through the Attainment Scotland Fund directly to Headteachers to use for additional staffing or resources they consider will help reduce the poverty related attainment gap.

The funding will reach schools in every local authority area in Scotland and will be distributed on the basis of the numbers of pupils in P1-S3 known to be eligible and registered for free school meals.

Are you able to claim this free school meals allowance for your child? We are aware that some families in Bathgate Academy do not claim this entitlement. Click this link to check and apply: https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/article/3787/Free-School-Meals

On February 1 2017 the Deputy First Minister announced the Pupil Equity Funding school level allocations for 2017/18 with draft National Operational Guidance being published to accompany this. You can view amounts allocated to all schools by clicking here: .http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/Raisingeducationalattainment/pupilequityfund/Schoolallocations

West Lothian Vision

To work collaboratively and collectively to interrupt the cycle of inter-generational poverty in order to improve the life chances of children and young people in communities in West Lothian.

Funding allocated to Bathgate Academy

Bathgate Academy has been allocated £99,600 for session 2017-18. This money can be spent in accordance with the underlying principles set out below with interventions and success criteria detailed within our School Improvement Plan. We expect a similar amount each year for the term of this Scottish Parliament.

Our Challenge: To disrupt the link between poverty and low attainment

Our intervention priorities

There is a wealth of information and research now available for us to utilise and discuss as we make our intervention decisions for the coming year.

However, interventions should be in addition to our normal practice and prioritise the following areas;

• Improve our young people's attainment in literacy and numeracy
• Improve the health and well-being of our young people
• Improve our young people's employability skills and support their move towards positive destinations when they leave school

To do this we need to focus on the quality of

• Teaching and learning
• Leadership
• Families and community engagement

To aid discussions and decision making we are using the above diagram and, amongst others, the following reference materials to support our decision making:

We are also fully committed to the aspirations set out within our revised Teaching and Learning Policy which will be developed further next session:

What happens next?

As a school we will be consulting and then making decisions on how this money can be best used. Our Parent Council will be running parent engagement sessions during the summer term in a number of locations across Bathgate and Blackburn. These informal sessions will allow you to meet and discuss areas where you think the school could improve its work, as well as talk about this additional funding. More detail on this coming soon!

In the meantime, please spend some time clicking on and reading the online links held within this handout. This will give you an excellent overview about the various opportunities and challenges this additional funding brings .