Blue Bell Hill

Pupil Premium

Aims:

At Blue Bell Hill, we have high aspirations and ambitions for our children and we believe that no child should be left behind. We strongly believe that it is not about where you come from but your passion and thirst for knowledge, and your dedication and commitment to learning that make the difference between success and failure, and we are determined to ensure that our children are given every chance to realise their full potential. Pupil premium funding represents a significant proportion of our budget and this policy outlines how we will ensure it is spent to maximum effect.

Background

The pupil premium is a new government initiative that targets extra money at pupils from deprived backgrounds. Research shows that pupils from deprived backgrounds underachieve compared to their non-deprived peers. The premium is provided to enable these pupils to be supported to reach their potential.

The Government has used pupils entitled to free school meals (FSM), looked after children and service children as indicators of deprivation, and have provided a fixed amount of money for schools per pupil based on the number of pupils registered for FSM over a rolling six year period.  This fixed amount of money is expected to increase every year for the course of this current Parliament. At Blue Bell Hill we will be using the indicator of those eligible for FSM as well as identified vulnerable groups as our target children to “close the gap” regarding attainment.

Context

When making decision about using pupil premium funding it is important to consider the context of the school and the subsequent challenges faced. Common barriers for FSM children can be less support at home, weak language and communication skills, lack of confidence, more frequent behaviour difficulties, and attendance and punctuality issues. There may also be complex family situations that prevent children from flourishing. The challenges are varied and there is no “one size fits all”.

Key Principles

By following the key principles below, we believe we can maximise the impact of our pupil premium spending.

Building Belief

We will provide a culture where:

• Staff believe in ALL children
• There are “no excuses” made for underperformance
• Staff adopt a “solution-focused” approach to overcoming barriers
• Staff support children to develop “growth” mindsets towards learning

Analysing Data

We will ensure that:

• All staff are involved in the analysis of data so that they are fully aware of strengths and weaknesses across the school
• We use research (such as the Sutton Trust Toolkit) to support us in determining the strategies that will be most effective

Identification of Pupils

We will ensure that:

• ALL teaching staff and support staff are involved in the analysis of data and identification of pupils
• ALL staff are aware of who pupil premium and vulnerable children are
• ALL pupil premium children benefit from the funding, not just those who are underperforming
• Underachievement at all levels is targeted (not just lower attaining pupils)
• Children’s individual needs are considered carefully so that we provide support for those children who could be doing “even better if…..”

Improving Day to Day Teaching

We will continue to ensure that all children across the school receive good teaching, with increasing percentages of outstanding teaching achieved by using our team leaders to:

• Set high expectations
• Address any within-school variance
• Ensure consistent implementation of the non-negotiables, e.g. marking and guided reading
• Share good practice within the school and draw on external expertise
• Provide high quality CPD
• Improve assessment through joint levelling and moderation

Increasing learning time

We will maximise the time children have to “catch up” through:

• Improving attendance and punctuality
• Providing earlier intervention (KS1 and EYFS)
• Extend learning out of school hours
  • Early mornings and after school
  • Weekends
  • School holidays

Individualising support

“There’s no stigma attached to being in an intervention in this school. Everyone needs something, whatever that might be, and so they’re all getting something somewhere.”

We will ensure that the additional support we provide is effective by:

• Looking at the individual needs of each child and identifying their barriers to learning
• Ensuring additional support staff and class teachers communicate regularly
• Using team leaders to provide high quality interventions across their phases
• Matching the skills of the support staff to the interventions they provide
• Working with other agencies to bring in additional expertise
  • Volunteer readers
  • School Home Support
• Providing extensive support for parents
  • to develop their own skills (ESOL, Literacy, ICT, Back to Work, Managing Money)
  • to support their children’s learning within the curriculum
  • to manage in times of crisis
• Tailoring interventions to the needs of the child (e.g. targeted maths revision session in the afternoons for children who struggle in the main lesson)
• Recognising and building on the children’s strengths to further boost confidence (e.g. providing Turkish GCSE classes)

Going the Extra Mile

In our determination to ensure that ALL children succeed we recognise the need for and are committed to providing completely individualised interventions for set periods of time to support children in times of crisis.

Monitoring and Evaluation

We will ensure that:

• A wide range of data is used – achievement data, pupils’ work, observations, learning walks, case studies, and staff, parent and pupil voice
• Assessment Data is collected half termly so that the impact of interventions can be monitored regularly
• Assessments are closely moderated to ensure they are accurate
• Teaching staff and support staff attend and contribute to pupil progress meetings each term and the identification of children is reviewed
• Regular feedback about performance is given to children and parents
• Interventions are adapted or changed if they are not working
• Case studies are used to evaluate the impact of pastoral interventions, such as on attendance and behaviour
• A designated member of SLT maintains an overview of pupil premium spending
• A governor is given responsibility for pupil premium

Reporting

When reporting about pupil premium funding we will include:

• information about the context of the school
• objectives for the year
  • reasons for decision making
  • analysis of data
  • use of research
• nature of support and allocation
  • Learning in the curriculum
  • Social, emotional and behavioural issues
  • Enrichment beyond the curriculum
  • Families and community
• An overview of spending
  • Total PPG (pupil premium grant) received
  • Total PPG spent
  • Total PPG remaining
• A summary of the impact of PPG
  • Performance of disadvantaged pupils (compared to non-pupil premium children)
  • Other evidence of impact e.g. Ofsted, Accreditations
  • Case studies (pastoral support, individualised interventions)
  • Implications for pupil premium spending for following year

The Governing Body will consider the information provided and will ensure that there is an annual statement to the parents on the school website outlining how the Pupil Premium funding has been used to address the issue of closing the gap for pupils eligible for Pupil Premium. This task will be carried out in line with the requirements published by the Department of Education.

This strategy is reviewed annually and approved in September by the trustees.