Schools minister David Laws has praised Ashfield School as outstanding on a visit to see how his brainchild, Pupil Premium, is working.

The premium is additional funding given to publicly-funded schools in England to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and close the gap between them and their peers.

It has helped fund an alternative curriculum at the school, focusing on vocational subjects like vehicle maintenance, hair and beauty, construction and catering.

The visit was arranged by the leader of Nottinghamshire Liberal Democrats, Coun Jason Zadrozny, a former pupil.

Mr Laws met with head Dick Vasey, deputy head John Maher, senior staff, school governors and pupils at the school.

Mr Laws said: “This is a dynamic school that is making a real difference in Ashfield. I was delighted to see the difference the premium has made.

“What is clear is that it has helped this outstanding school thrive. When I came up with the idea, it was places like this that I had in mind.”

Mr Vasey said: “We were delighted to show Mr Laws some of the initiatives we have introduced using Pupil Premium funding. These included additional support for literacy and numeracy in key stage three and small group interventions in key stage four.

“Whilst the immediate impact of these strategies has been to reduce the gap between pupil premium and other students, we are even more confident that in the future our longer terms strategies working with hard-to-reach families on attendance and engagement with school will ensure these pupils make even more progress in the future.”

Pictured is Coun Zadrozny, Mr Maher, Mr Vasey and Mr Laws.

To find out more about the Pupil Premium see – https://www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and-alternative-provision-settings.