Ipsos MORI and WISERD were commissioned by the Welsh Government in April 2013 to conduct a process and impact evaluation of the Pupil Deprivation Grant (PDG). The PDG was launched in 2012 and provides additional funding to schools based on the number of pupils on their roll eligible for Free School Meals (eFSM) or who are Looked After Children (LAC). Schools are provided with funding per eFSM pupil, and are directed to spend the additional funds on evidence-based interventions to help close the attainment gap. The evaluation aims to understand how the grant is being used by schools, and its impact on eFSM pupils.
This report is based on the third and final year of evaluation activity, and focuses on reporting on in-depth case studies with 22 schools conducted in 2013/14 and 2014/15, and follow-up visits to 14 of these schools in 2015/16 allowing for consideration of progress made or change in approach that may have occurred in the meantime. The report also contains findings from an analysis of data from the National Pupil Database conducted in 2015. Where relevant, we refer to findings from a survey of 201 schools conducted in 2014 during the first year of the evaluation. In March 2017 the PDG was renamed the Pupil Development Grant.