Pupil Premium Strategy

What is Pupil Premium?

 Pupil Premium is funding allocated to schools for the specific purpose of boosting the attainment of pupils from low-income families. Funding is based on children who have registered for a free school meal at any point in the last 6 years, children who are in care or adopted, and children whose parents are currently serving in the armed forces.

Our philosophy

At Whiston Junior and Infant School we value the abilities and achievements of all its pupils, and are committed to providing each pupil with the best possible environment for learning. We recognise that each child is unique and will have different needs, which may well vary throughout their time in the school.

We are determined to ensure that all children achieve and are given the highest standards of teaching and learning through delivering Quality First Teaching (QFT). The impact of COVID 19 on all our pupils will have been substantial and the evidence base strongly suggests that the most effective way to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children is through excellent classroom teaching. Excellent classroom teaching can be achieved by all teachers having high quality professional development, sharing of outstanding practice and open and honest conversations about learning. Additionally, that focussed support and pastoral care outside of QFT is given to children that require it so that they are achieving their full potential.

There is no expectation that all Pupil Premium children will receive identical support; some children will need more than others and each child is individual with individual circumstances. The school considers how to allocate pupil premium money on an annual basis following rigorous data analysis and careful consideration of the needs of the children within this group and this is reviewed termly. The Action Plan for Pupil Premium spending focuses on whole-school strategies that impact all pupils, strategies that target under-performing pupils, and specific strategies targeting pupil premium pupils. We do not simply treat Pupil Premium children as a binary group, our aspiration is a whole school approach based on a culture of ‘no excuses’ that is underpinned with compassion. We have a clear, strategic approach to the use of Pupil Premium funding, and plans are integrated into wider school support and improvement systems.

How well are we doing at raising attainment for disadvantaged pupils?

 2019/20 and 2020/21: No official KS2 data or national comparisons due to COVID:19. - see our 2021 22 Strategy for internal data

Our end of KS2 results in 2021/22 demonstrated that Pupil Premium children who completed the KS2 SATS attained well in relation to expected national averages and attained significantly well in reading, writing & EGPS. It also showed that the disadvantaged gap is closing against their peers, with the pupil premium pupils (pupils who completed their SATs) achieving higher than their peers in reading (100% of PP who did not have an EHCP).

Impact on Attainment 2021 - 22: Closing the Gap

Notes: 4 x PP pupils were also SEND and 2 of the SEND had EHCPs. The EHCP children did not take their SATS as they were working below KS2.

The disadvantaged gap 

• Disadvantage Gap is lower than national in all subjects (Not including EHCP children who did not access the test) except at greater depth.
• In reading, pupil premium children (Not including EHCP children) achieved above peers and significantly above national average.
• However, no disadvantaged child achieved greater depth in reading, maths or combined and we want to address this.

What we do know, in our youngest classes we know that our pupil premium children have not been as successful as our KS2. We know that these youngest children have really suffered from the Lockdown's and the fallout from COVID 19. This means that we will continue to focus on early intervention, particularly in EYFS and KS1 and prioritise early reading, oracy and language acquisition, to ensure pupils can access the curriculum to it’s full potential.

Another key strategy is to provide research informed interventions, for our pupils who are disadvantaged and also SEND. 

We also need to ensure older pupils receive an even higher standard of teaching and targeted support with such limited time remaining in the school and this may mean remapping our curriculum carefully in order to ensure pupils are taught the key knowledge they need to be well prepared for KS3 and improve the attainment of pupil premium children achieving greater depth, especially in reading.

Finally. we are also keen to improve the attendance of our disadvantaged pupils - especially disadvantaged boys - to the highest possible level.

 Our priorities

Setting priorities is key to maximising the use of the PPG. Our priorities are as follows:

• Ensuring teachers have the ‘best’ knowledge, curriculum and resources to accelerate learning
• Ensuring early reading and phonics is given high priority and all staff are well equipped to ensure all lessons have most impact
• Closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers
• Providing targeted academic support for pupils who are not making the expected progress
• Addressing non-academic barriers to attainment such as attendance, behaviour and healthy food and lifestyle choices
• Ensuring that the PPG reaches the pupils who need it most

Barriers to future attainment 

Our implementation process

We believe in selecting a small number of priorities and giving them the best chance of success. We also believe in evidence-based interventions and learning from our experiences, which is why we utilise annual light-touch reviews to ensure our approach is effective and we can cease or amend interventions that are not having the intended impact.

 We will:

 Explore

• Identify a key priority that we can address
• Systematically explore appropriate programmes and practices
• Examine the fit and feasibility with the school

Prepare

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

Deliver

• Support staff and solve any problems using a flexible leadership approach
• Reinforce initial training with follow-on support
• Drive faithful adoption and intelligent adaption

Sustain

• Plan for sustaining and scaling the intervention from the outset
• Continually acknowledge, support and reward good implementation practices
• Treat scale-up as a new implementation process

Our Tiered Approach

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

1. Teaching
2. Targeted academic support
3. Wider strategies

Within each category, we have chosen two or three interventions. This focused approach ensures the best chance of success for each intervention.

Quality of Teaching

Effective teaching and learning is the most important lever schools have to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. Using the PPG to improve teachers knowledge and pedagogy benefits all pupils and has a particularly positive effect on children eligible for Pupil Premium.

Our priority at Whiston Junior and Infant School is to ensure that a highly effective teacher is in front of every class, they have a range of quality resources to support learning and that every teacher is supported to keep improving.

 Encouraging self-led professional development: Facilitating weekly CPD opportunities for all teaching staff.

1. Professional Development: Weekly individual and group development sessions to support teachers/TAs, with a particular emphasis on phonics, reading, SEND, metacognition and curriculum design.  
2. Professional Development for staff by attending targeted training courses and INSET.

Targeted academic support

At Whiston Junior and Infant School we consider carefully how staff are deployed to provide specific targeted academic support either in a one to one or small group situation.

1. Structured, research-led interventions: Introducing speech and language interventions - Talk Boost -for pupils with poor oral language and communication skills.
2. Small group tuition: Introducing targeted English and maths teaching for pupils who are below age-related expectations and including our SEND pupils. Creating additional teaching and learning opportunities using TAs.

 Wider strategies

At Whiston Junior and Infant School we aim to focus on the most significant non-academic barriers to success in school, including attendance, behaviour and social/emotional support.

1. Readiness to learn: Continued development of a breakfast club to provide pupils with a nutritious breakfast and exercise before school; plus provide school uniforms to ensure pupils develop a ‘sense of belonging and pride. 
2. Attendance: Use of our Attendance Lead daily to improve attendance and foster links with parents.
3. Cultural Capital: Providing a broad range of enrichment experiences for all pupils including literature, visits, visitors, after school clubs etc.
4. SEMHN: Providing focused research-led interventions to support pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs.

Our review process

Annually reviewing a one-year pupil premium plan and creating a new plan each year is time-costly and ineffective. This three-year approach allows us to dedicate more time up-front and introduce light-touch reviews annually.

During a light-touch review, we will review the success of each intervention, based on evidence, and determine the most effective approach moving forwards – adapting, expanding or ceasing the intervention as required.

Individual targets are set for each pupil in receipt of the PPG and their progress towards achieving these targets is analysed at the end of interventions.

The progress of pupils in receipt of the PPG is regularly discussed with teachers.

Once the three-year term has been completed, a new three-year strategy will be created in light of the lessons learned during the execution of the previous strategy, and with regard to any new guidance and evidence of best practice that becomes available. The Head Teacher is responsible for ensuring a pupil premium strategy is always in effect.

How will the school measure the impact of Pupil Premium Funding?

• Pupil PUMA and PIRA assessment tools are used by class teachers to measure attainment and progress at termly intervals through the year
• All teachers are responsible for tracking the progress of all vulnerable groups, including Pupil Premium, SEND and EAL. This information is then collated and monitored by SLT.
• Pupil Progress meetings are held with class teachers and SLT to monitor impact and identify any concerns to be addressed.
• Attendance data is collected and monitored by the Attendance Lead and SLT
• When selecting pupils for intervention groups and support, this will not be limited to children who are in receipt of Pupil Premium funding, but will include other pupils who have similar needs, and who we believe will benefit from the support / intervention.
• Pupil Premium funding and its impact is a regular agenda item for the School Governor’s meetings.
• Designated staff member in charge: Tina Angell (Head teacher)
• Monitoring, assessment and tracking: SLT 

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, a link to the school and college performance tables and the schools’ performance table page on the school website.

Recovery Funding:   Home Recovery premium funding

Purpose

In February 2021, the government announced a one-off recovery premium as part of its package of funding to support education recovery.

The recovery premium provides additional funding for state-funded schools in the 2021 to 2022 academic year. Building on the pupil premium, this funding will help schools to deliver evidence-based approaches for supporting disadvantaged pupils.

Eligibility

All schools that are eligible for pupil premium are eligible for recovery premium. This includes the following types of schools:

• mainstream primary, secondary and all through local authority-maintained schools, academies and free schools serving children aged 4 to 15

Pupil Eligibility

The recovery premium will be allocated using the same data as the pupil premium. This means the following pupils will attract recovery premium funding to schools:

• pupils who are eligible for free schools meals (FSM)
• pupils who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years
• children looked after by local authorities and referred to as looked-after children (LAC)
• post-looked after children (post-LAC)

Funding: Funding allocations

School allocations will be calculated on a per pupil basis.

Mainstream schools will get:

• £145 for each eligible pupil in mainstream education

Our funding

Please refer to the attached overview below for our 3-year_long-term-pupil-premium-strategy.