Pupil Premium Statement
The pupil premium is additional funding available for publicly funded schools in England. It is designed to help disadvantaged pupils of all abilities perform better and close the gap between them and their peers.
Consistent with our vision of 'each and every child being inspired to choose a remarkable life', Academies Enterprise Trust aims to maximise the impact of pupil premium funding, while ensuring that we adhere to the government guidance.
Academy Requirements
We require each of our academies to publish certain information on the statutory information page of its website, using the DfE templates.
If you would like any further information, please contact the Inclusion Team at inclusionteam@academiesenterprisetrust.org
Key Principles:
Our expectations are high for all pupils. We do not equate deprivation and challenge with low ability.
Not all pupils who qualify for free school meals (FSM) are socially disadvantaged and not all socially disadvantaged pupils qualify, or are registered for, FSM. We, therefore, focus on the needs and levels of progress of all pupils.
All teaching strategies are designed to meet the needs of individuals and groups.
An understanding of evidence based practice is used in order to allocate the funding to activities that are most likely to have an impact on achievement.
In providing support, we will not socially isolate pupils. Therefore, it is likely that all groups receiving additional support will be a mix of FSM and non-FSM pupils.
Background and Legal Context
The most important factor in predicting a child’s future academic attainment is prior attainment.
The next most important factor is poverty. Material deprivation can influence educational outcomes by reducing the educational resources that families can provide and by adversely affecting the home environment. Deprivation is also commonly associated with other factors which can influence children’s outcomes: ill health, family stress, low levels of parental education and parental involvement in their children’s education, low levels of cultural and social capital and low aspirations. Whilst these factors are not always present for every child entitled to the Pupil Premium, we are mindful of these factors when working to ensure equity for all children.
Nationally, there is a wide gap between the attainment of pupils from deprived backgrounds and others, at all educational stages. The additional funding provided through the pupil premium was introduced by the government in April 2011 in order to help schools close this gap. Entitlement to free school meals (FSM) is used as a proxy for deprivation. A fixed amount, which is expected to rise year-on-year, is allocated to schools for each pupil registered for FSM at any point in the last six years (known as ‘Ever 6 FSM’). Schools also receive funding for children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months and children of service personnel.
The Secretary of State for Education lays down the following terms and conditions on which assistance is given in relation to the pupil premium grant (PPG) payable to schools and local authorities for the financial year. PPG provides funding for two policies:
Raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities to reach their potential.
Supporting children and young people with parents in the regular armed forces.
However, as with all public money, schools are required to spend the grant for the purpose that it was intended and will be held accountable through the following:
The performance tables, which show the performance of disadvantaged pupils compared with their peers.
The new Ofsted inspection framework, under which inspectors focus on the attainment of pupil groups, in particular those who attract the pupil premium.
The annual reports that schools are required to publish online.
Pupil Premium Grant (per pupil amounts)
The PPG amounts per pupil can be found at the DfE's Pupil Premium website.
How we make decisions regarding the use of the pupil premium grant
Schools must demonstrate how their spending decisions are informed by research evidence, making reference to a range of sources including the Education Endowment Foundation’s toolkit. In line with the EEF’s pupil premium guide, activities should include those that:
support the quality of teaching, such as staff professional development;
provide targeted academic support, such as tutoring; and
tackle non-academic barriers to success in school, such as attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support.
When making decisions about using pupil premium funding, it is also 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 skills, lack of confidence, more frequent behavioural difficulties and attendance and punctuality issues. There may also be complex family situations that prevent children from flourishing. The challenges are varied and, in making decisions, we will ensure that the pupil premium funding allocated to our schools is used solely for its intended purpose.
We also recognise that the Direct Schools Grant (DSG) has an element of deprivation funding included in it to address the attainment of our disadvantaged pupils. We will:
Use the latest evidence-based research on proven strategies which work to narrow the attainment gaps and adapt these as necessary to meet the needs of our pupils.
Be mindful of the fact that eligibility and take up of FSM does not equate with pupils being considered to be of ‘low attainment’ because of their social circumstances.
Be transparent in our reporting of how we have used the pupil premium, so that our parents, interested stakeholders and Ofsted are fully aware of how this additional resource has been used to make a difference.
Recognise the fact that FSM pupils are not a homogeneous group and cover a wide range of needs, including mental health needs. As such, the strategies we use to raise attainment will take these group and individual needs fully into account.
Use quality first teaching as the preferred way to narrow the gaps in attainment in the first instance. We will also use high-quality interventions with proven evidence of impact to assist our pupils who need additional support in a time limited way.
Use the pupil premium for all year groups, not just those taking examinations at the end of the year.
Use the pupil premium to promote good mental health for all pupils.
Accountability
To comply with School Information regulations, maintained schools are required to publish an updated pupil premium strategy annually. All schools must use the templates available on GOV.UK to publish their pupil premium strategy within the deadlines set by the DfE. The Department for Education will undertake monitoring checks on a sample of schools’ published reports.
Given their role in ensuring schools spend funding appropriately and in holding schools to account for educational performance, trustees should scrutinise schools’ plans, including their plans for and use of their pupil premium funding. At AET this is delegated through our professional assurance model to Regional Education Directors. Schools are held accountable for the outcomes they achieve with all their funding, including through Ofsted inspections and by governors and trustees, and this will be no exception. Trustees regularly monitor the impact of pupil premium spending through review of pupil premium outcomes. Regular reporting to trustees also enables them to scrutinise the effectiveness of actions being taken to improve PP pupil outcomes.
Roles and responsibilities
We expect all members of our school community, particularly staff and Academy Council members, to be committed to raising standards and narrowing the attainment gaps for ALL our pupils.
The Regional Education Director has responsibility to ensure that arrangements are made for the efficient implementation of this policy across their schools by regularly monitoring and reviewing outcomes for all pupils, including groups of pupils.
The principal is responsible for implementing this policy in their school by:
Overseeing the management and provision of support for pupils in receipt of PPG.
Ensuring that staff are aware of their responsibilities in narrowing the attainment gaps of all students.
Ensuring that staff are given appropriate support and relevant professional development opportunities to accelerate pupil’s progress and attainment.
Through performance management arrangements, making sure that narrowing attainment gaps is a priority area of focus for the school.
Ensuring that systems are in place to collect information about pupils and that this information is kept up-to-date, and kept and shared according to the Data Protection (GDPR) policy.
Making sure that all staff are aware of this policy and understand their role in its implementation.
Ensuring that progress and attainment data and analysis on narrowing the attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils is reported to Regional Education Directors termly
Ensuring that an outline of the provision made, intention to spend and an evaluation of the cost effectiveness of the provision (in terms of the progress made by the pupils receiving a particular provision, when compared with other forms of support) is provided annually to the Academy Council and readily available on the school’s website.
The designated lead for PP is responsible for:
Ensuring that all provision for pupils is clearly recorded and outcomes measured in the provision mapping tool and reported to the principal.
Managing the provision of support for pupils in receipt of PPG.
Monitoring the use of PPG on a termly basis to track the allocation of PPG to individual pupils and check that it is providing value for money.
Ensuring that the PP policy is shared with all staff and best practice for closing the attainment gap between groups of students is implemented.
Using the latest evidence-based research on proven strategies which work to narrow attainment gaps and adapt these, as necessary, to meet the needs of the students.
Reporting how the PPG is used to make a difference to the principal, Academy Council, parents and Ofsted.
Providing advice and training to staff on high-quality teaching and learning as the way to narrow gaps in attainment.
Ensuring that PPG is used for all year groups.
Liaising with the SENDCO, EALCo and other curriculum leaders to ensure that appropriate interventions meet the needs of all students.
Ensuring that decisions made about using the PPG consider the context of the school, subsequent challenges faced and promote mental health for all students.
Ensuring that a range of interventions are used to meet the needs of every student, thus removing barriers to learning.
Liaising with the designated lead for CLA in order to ensure that interventions for this particular group of students are highly individualised to their specific needs and agreed at their PEP meetings with all the stakeholders.
Ensuring that Service children’s needs are met by individualising support for this group of students.
Teaching and support staff are responsible for:
Maintaining the highest expectations of all pupils and not equating disadvantage of circumstance with low ability.
Promoting an inclusive and collaborative ethos in their classrooms, which enables pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to thrive.
Planning and delivering high-standard curricula and lessons that support the acceleration of progress in learning, so that gaps can be narrowed and improvements maintained.
Supporting disadvantaged groups of pupils in their classes through adapted planning and teaching, especially for those who find aspects of learning difficult and are in danger of falling behind.
Keeping up-to-date with teaching strategies and research, which have a proven track record of narrowing the gaps in attainment and achievement.
Parents will provide the school with sufficient and up-to-date information about their and their child’s circumstances and will be actively involved in their child’s progress and attainment at school.
Monitoring and reviewing the statement
The school will review the progress and attainment of pupils in receipt of PPG on a termly basis to ensure the grant is having the intended impact in narrowing attainment gaps; this will allow us to make adjustments if particular strategies are proving less effective.
Our pupil premium statement will be reviewed on an annual basis and adjustments will be made to it according to how successful the school is in narrowing attainment gaps. The review will also take into consideration any changes in the funding available under the PPG.
We recognise the importance of context and will evaluate new strategies as robustly as is possible to ensure that the approaches we are using have the desired effect. In order to do this effectively, we will, where relevant, undertake ongoing evaluations of the strategies as per outcomes measured in the provision mapping tool and the DIY Evaluation Guide provided by Education Endowment Foundation.
Complaints
Should parents be unhappy with any aspect of their child’s care, they should discuss their concerns with the school. This will be with the child’s (class teacher / form tutor) in the first instance, with whom any issues should be addressed. If this does not resolve the problem or allay the concern, the problem should be brought to a member of the leadership team, who will, where necessary, bring concerns to the attention of the head teacher / principal. In the unlikely event of this not resolving the issue, the parent should make a formal complaint using our Complaints Policy.