Pupil and PE Premium

Our Philosophy:

Our School Philosophy, which is in keeping with our Christian Values, is that the school Staff, Parents and Governors will work together to make a difference. We recognise that good teaching is the most important lever schools have to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children and therefore aim to offer education which is challenging, enjoyable and knowledge rich. We will have succeeded if everyone is given the chance to achieve the best results possible, and is equipped with life skills and experience for their future.

Overcoming barriers to learning is at the heart of our Pupil Premium Grant use. We understand that needs and costs will differ depending on the barriers to learning being addressed. As such, we do not automatically allocate personal budgets per pupil in receipt of the PPG. Instead, we use evidence informed research to make decisions on the best approaches for all of our students. 

The ‘Pupil Premium’, along with all forms of school funding are carefully managed to enable us to offer personalised support for children in a range of ways and supports us in achieving our philosophy and vision.

Our priorities:

Setting priorities is key to maximising the use of the PPG. Our priorities are as follows:
Ensuring all students have access to High Quality Teaching and Learning in every lesson
Closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their peers
Providing targeted academic support for students who are not making the expected progress
Addressing non-academic barriers to attainment such as attendance, behaviour, mental health and adverse childhood experiences/trauma
Ensuring that the PPG reaches the students who need it most

Barriers to Future Attainment may be:

Academic barriers to attainment	Non Academic barriers to attainment
Low levels of literacy	Poor attendance
Low levels of numeracy	Poor behaviour
Low levels of oracy	Lack of parental engagement and skills to support children in their learning
Poor language and communication	Arriving at school hungry and not ready to learn
Social, emotional and mental health needs	Lack of focus and confidence due to poor mental health and wellbeing
Lack of school readiness	Poor social skills and conflict resolution skills; lack of emotional literacy
	Low parental aspiration
	Rural isolation/lack of services
	Adverse Childhood Experiences, such as:  – domestic violence – parental abandonment through separation or divorce – a parent with a mental health condition – being the victim of abuse (physical, sexual and/or emotional) – being the victim of neglect (physical and emotional) – a member of the household being in prison – growing up in a household in which there are adults experiencing alcohol and drug use problems

Implementation

In line with guidance from the Education Endowment Fund’s Guide to implementation, we select a small number of priorities to ensure a higher success rate in meeting the needs of our pupils.

We will:

Explore: 

Specify an area of focus for improvement that is amenable to change. 
Determine a programme of activity based on existing evidence of what has – and hasn’t – worked before. 
Examine the fit and feasibility of possible interventions to the school context.

Prepare: 

Develop a clear, logical and well-specified plan
Assess the readiness of the school to deliver the plan
Make practical preparations for the plan to be delivered

Deliver: 

Support staff and solve any problems using a flexible leadership approach
Reinforce initial training with follow-on support
Use data to review the delivery and inform next steps

Sustain:

Ensure it remains fit-for-purpose
Continually acknowledge, support and reward good implementation practices
Treat scale-up as a new implementation process

Our tiered approach:

We ensure that appropriate provision is made for students who belong to vulnerable groups, this includes ensuring that the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils are adequately assessed and addressed.

In making provision for socially disadvantaged pupils, we recognise that not all pupils who receive free school meals will be socially disadvantaged.

We also recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals. The Pupil Premium Grant therefore can be allocated to support any student or groups of students the school identifies as being socially disadvantaged.

To prioritise spending, we have adopted a tiered approach to define our priorities and ensure balance. Our tiered approach comprises three categories:

Tier 1: High Quality Teaching and Learning

Curriculum and assessment – Ensuring the use of summative/formative assessments and ensuring teachers use these wisely to help pupils embed and use knowledge fluently
An evidence informed Continued Professional Development programme of support which develops teachers’ subject knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge

Tier 2: Targeted academic support

Structured interventions: A variety of literacy and numeracy interventions which enable children to access the full curriculum offer, this may include small group tuition including targeted group work in reading and writing; one-to-one support: including creating additional teaching and learning opportunities using Learning Support Assistants.

Tier 3: Going the Extra Mile

Readiness to learn: Early drop off club, to provide support to working families.
Enriching the Curriculum: Subsidised residential trips for children in receipt of PPG, visits and visitors in school, extra-curricular clubs, Subsidised uniform, music lessons, celebration assemblies, revision materials.
Targeted pastoral intervention, including Deputy and Headteacher support for pupils as needed
In-house Nurture programme: to support students to resolve conflict;
Mental Health Support: Mental Health First Aider for Adults

Our Review Process:

The progress of pupils in receipt of the PPG is scrutinised by class teacher, SENDCo and Headteacher at identified points in the assessment calendar. Furthermore, staff awareness of those students in receipt of the pupil premium grant enables ongoing and purposeful conversations and support regarding personal development alongside the quality of education delivered. 

“Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how great an educational idea or intervention is in principle; what really matters is how it manifests itself in the day to day work of people in schools.”
(EEF, 2018)

The cycle of implementation is therefore ongoing and developed in light of the lessons learned and with regard to any new guidance and evidence of best practice that becomes available. The Deputy and Headteacher are responsible for ensuring a pupil premium strategy is always in effect.

Accountability:

Ofsted inspections will report on the attainment and progress of disadvantaged pupils in receipt of the PPG. The school is held to account for the spending of the PPG through the focus in Ofsted inspections on the progress and attainment of the wider pupil premium eligible cohort; however, they will not look for evidence of the grant’s impact on individual pupils, or on precise interventions.

The school publishes its strategy for using the pupil premium here :-