Strategy for the use of Pupil Premium Grant

1. BACKGROUND

 ‘The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their wealthier peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.’ (DFE 2012).

 Schools are given additional funding for every student on their roll who is:

• a Looked After Child OR
• is currently able to claim Free School Meals OR
• has claimed Free School Meals in the last 6 years.

 This additional funding has been allocated to every school due to national figures which show that this group does not achieve as well as their peers. The funding is therefore to support schools to address this issue.

 Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit. There is no requirement for this money to be spent on individual students simply because they fall into this category. It is expected, however, that the funding will be used to support, as necessary, students in this group and other lower-income families so that this group makes the same progress as their peers.

 

2. Application of Pupil Premium Funding in 2017-18

 

2.1          Use of the Pupil Premium Grant in 2017-18         

The school received £96,242 of funding for the 2017-18 academic year.

Funding is based on the number of eligible students at the school in January and the amount is notified to us in the Spring term. It is paid in arrears.

Prior year funding was:

2012-13 £22,092                        2013-14 £47,887                        2014-15 £63,302                                2015-16 £82,400                            2016-17 £95,647

 

The school recognises that students in receipt of Pupil Premium funding may face barriers to educational achievement. For example, they may be unable to join extra-curricular trips; they may be unable to purchase ICT equipment or other additional school equipment they need to support their study at home; they may face additional pastoral challenges through their school years. 

 The school used the additional funding we receive to provide the following support structures for those students that need additional help in order to achieve success in line with school and national expectations:

 1-1 and small group intervention in literacy and numeracy, including recovery and support

• Social skills, self-esteem and other specialised programmes
• Additional behaviour and learning support
• Attendance related support structures
• Homework support and independent learning resources
• Purchase of ICT equipment for use in school and on loan
• Financial support for: music tuition; sports coaching; access to school events such as visits that may otherwise not be accessible to students due to cost
• Funding for Textiles, Design and Technology and Food equipment and resources
• Well stocked school library and access to a wide selection of books and revision guides
• Financial support for: revision guides and other resources that will help progress and are not needed as part of the taught course
• Mentoring and advice for students in this group (including access to counselling services), in order to raise aspirations and remove barriers to success
• GCSE 1-1 mentoring
• Funding for reviews of marking
• Close liaison with parents/carers, sharing concerns and celebrating successes
• Uniform grants

In addition, staff have been appointed whose role includes specific responsibilities with respect to this group of students; their role will include monitoring, tracking and ensuring appropriate intervention as needed as well as parental liaison.

We take this approach because we know there are two fundamental strands to the process of supporting these students to improve their engagement with education:

• ensuring their emotional and mental health and developing their interpersonal skills
• addressing particular learning needs to improve quickly to enable them to fully access the curriculum 

It is important to note that it should not be assumed that all students eligible for Free School Meals/Pupil Premium need some or all of this support. There are a number of this group of students in this school and elsewhere who are making excellent progress already, and who will need minimal support as a result. It is also the case that the school’s general expectation and support for high levels of participation (supported financially for this group in a number of areas) and responsibility, would appear to impact very positively on the development of students this group.

Table 1 provides additional detail on how the school applied its Pupil Premium funding in 2017-18.

 

Table 1: Application of Pupil Premium Grant in 2017-18

 

Expenditure Item	Amount
Pastoral care focus inc. attendance and behaviour	£24k
Subject specific support including interventions and attainment focus	£23k
Counselling, uniform grant, trips, homework support, music lessons	£20k
School meals	£17k
GCSE support including mentoring & review of marking funding	£12k
Total	£96k

  

2.2          Effect of the Pupil Premium Grant on Eligible and Other Pupils

 

The school tracks the progress of all students, including students in this particular group. Success will be evidence that shows that students in this group are making progress in line with all others. We do this using assessment data from all subject areas as well as checks on the development of reading and spelling. We also compare their progress against their peers in the school and nationally, so that we can judge the impact of our work in this broader context.

 Table 2 provides a summary of the performance of pupil premium students in 2017-18.

 Table 2: Performance of Pupil Premium Students in 2017-18

 

Year Group	Statistical Measure	Notes
11	Non PP P8 +0.27 PP P8 +0.14	GCSE Results – Progress 8

 

3. Application of Pupil Premium Funding in 2018-19

 3.1          Use of the Pupil Premium Grant in 2018-19         

 

The school has budgeted for Pupil Premium grant of £105,080 for the 2018-19 academic year.

 Barriers to Educational Achievement Faced by Eligible Pupils at the School

 Barriers to educational achievement amongst Pupil Premium students are always specific to each student. Nevertheless, there are some generalised issues that can be identified as being barriers to educational achievement. These barriers, the school’s response and the reasons for the approach are set out in Table 3.

 Table 3: Barriers to PP Students’ Achievement, School Response and Reason for Approach

 

Barrier	Response and Reason for Approach
Identified Special Educational Needs	Provide advice to EHCP assessment requests.
High level of medical needs
Speech and Language & social communication difficulties	Language development and building of confidence and self-esteem   Increase progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics, plus development of language, communication and social skills   Improve communication skills, which will impact directly on learning through development of speaking, listening, reading and writing
Social, emotional and mental health	To support with social, emotional and mental health To help identify suitable provision and strategies to support children with extreme social, emotional and educational needs.
Broken family structures	To enable adult support to be given to children with their homework, who do not necessarily get support at home Parenting courses/groups/individual sessions are run to impact positively on outcomes for children through addressing/supporting: Social, emotional and mental health Broken family structures Low parental engagement/parenting skills Social housing (e.g. overcrowding) Social Services involvement Low attendance High level of medical needs Behaviour management
Low parental engagement/parenting skills
Low attendance	Increase attendance of identified pupils to enable greater access to learning   To enable children with high levels of medical need to access mainstream education and supports their school attendance.
Deprivation	To further develop ICT skills for children who do not have access to technology at home

 

• Date of the Next Review of the School’s Pupil Premium Strategy

The school reviews its pupil premium strategy at least annually and the date of the next review is July 2019.