PUPIL PREMIUM STRATEGY UPDATE - JULY 2014
Pupil Premium Strategy 2013-2014
Schools receive pupil premium funding in order to raise the achievement of disadvantaged students and to
reduce the gap in attainment between FSM students and Non Free School Meal students (NFSM). In the
financial year 13/14 pupil premium funding was £900 per pupil premium student; this equated to £437,400 as
over 40% of our school qualified for the funding.
This year we had the following strategies in place and they will continue in September 2014 unless stated
otherwise:

Two English pupil premium tutors are in post. One works full time and the other 3 days a week. Both
work in English either with one or two students, with small groups or as in-class specialist support.

One maths pupil premium tutor is in post, four days a week and one is on maternity leave and due to
return next year two days a week. They work in maths either with one or two students, with small
groups or as in-class specialist support.

We have one full time Science pupil premium tutor who mainly works as specialist support in class
with some small group work.

We have one humanities pupil premium tutor who mainly works as specialist support in class with
some small group work in Geography, History and Philosophy & Ethics classes.

We have a pupil premium learning support assistant who works with school action plus students.

From November 2013 we have employed a data analyst assistant to carry out more detailed data
analysis of the attainment gaps and levels of progress achieved so that any interventions can be more
strategically targeted.

We have a pupil premium learning advocate supporting year 7s in opening minds lessons but with the
change in curriculum we are not continuing this part of the strategy in September.

We ran summer schools for year 6 students in art, PE and performing arts last summer and this year
we have an English and maths summer school planned for August 2014.

We have three pupil premium pupil progress advocates in place in all 3 core subjects. Their role is to
challenge the underachievement of FSM students within their core subjects. In addition they run
weekly extracurricular sessions in their subject targeting FSM underachievers. We have decided not to
continue this in September as 2 of the 3 members of staff have new roles within school.
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
Funding has been used to pay staff and pay for refreshments for study plus classes in the holidays and
on Saturdays for both core and foundation subjects. English, maths and science having the first
priority slots.

All subjects have been able to bid for pupil premium funding to obtain extra resources, run trips or
pay staff to provide additional classes.

Funding has been used to ensure pupil premium students are able to participate in trips and music
lessons.

Funding has been used to provide focussed independent advice and guidance as regards careers and
pathways.

Transport was provided so that Year 11 could to go to Luton University campus for maths and English
workshops.

Funding has been used to enable staff to receive CPD in order to increase the percentage of
outstanding teachers within school and increase awareness of thinking skills.
In addition to all the strategies in place staff were reminded that although we have additional staff that are
employed using pupil premium funding the task of reducing the attainment gap is the responsibility of all
teachers. The following are proven effective strategies to increase progress. They are strategies that all staff
can use. The strategies are:
Effective feedback; this can add 8 months progress over an academic year. It is the most effective method of
improving attainment according to the Sutton Trust’s Pupil Premium Toolkit.
Peer-to-peer tutoring; this can add 6 months progress over an academic year.
Learning to learn skills; these can add 8 months progress over an academic year. These meta-cognition and
self regulation skills include things like self-assessment, goal-setting, reasoning and thinking.
Homework; this can add 5 months but progress is dependent on how it is set, with integral homework
projects working better than simple “add on” work.
It has been emphasised to staff that we must ensure that we focus additional use of these strategies on the
pupil premium students where they are underachieving or their attainment is lower than their peers. In the
new Ofsted framework it clearly states that the achievement of pupil premium students will be taken into
account and it is very unlikely that a school will be judged outstanding if disadvantaged students are not
found to be making sufficient progress.
Narrowing the gaps with pupil premium
103 of our year 11 students last year qualified for pupil premium; this equated to 45% of the year group.
3 levels of progress in English KS2-KS4
In this threshold the attainment gap between pupil premium students and non pupil premium students has
reduced last year by 11% to -19%.
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58% (FSM/CLA) compared to 77% (Non FSM/CLA). All students = 69%.
The national average for Non FSM/CLA is 74%; we were 16% away from this national average. There was a
-36% gap in 2011 so this has reduced in the last two years. Current year 11 March PPGs predict a -9% gap.
3 levels of progress in maths KS2-KS4
In this threshold the attainment gap between pupil premium students and non pupil premium students has
remained at -14%.
72% (FSM/CLA) compared to 86% (Non FSM/CLA). All students = 79%.
However, the national average for Non FSM/CLA is 76%; we are only 4% away from to this national average.
Current year 11 March PPGs predict a -14% gap.
5 A*-C including English and maths
In this threshold the attainment gap between pupil premium students and non pupil premium students has
increased this year by 1% to -25%
38% (FSM/CLA) compared to 63% (Non FSM/CLA). All students = 52%.
Current year 11 March PPGs predict a -18% gap.
Reducing the Attainment Gap
We are pleased with the reducing gaps between the progress of pupil premium students and their peers
especially in levels of progress in maths where our disadvantaged students are very close to achieving the
same as the national average for non pupil premium students. However, the attainment gap in the 5 A*-C
including English and maths threshold remains too big and we are using our pupil premium strategy to reduce
this gap. In March 2014 our Professional Predicted Grade data collection for our current year 11 showed an
attainment gap of -18 in this threshold; 47% (FSM/CLA) compared to 65% (Non FSM/CLA).
The gap at 3 levels of progress in English was predicted to be reduced to -9 and the gap in 3 levels of progress
in maths was predicted to remain at -14.
In addition, our year 9 data collection in June 2014 showed a -6% gap FSM/CLA compared to Non FSM/CLA in
level 5s and above in English. This attainment gap has reduced as it was at -16 when the data was collected
for the same students in June 2013. The attainment gap in level 5s and above in maths in June 2014 was also
reduced from the previous summer and was -1% compared to -13% when the students were in year 8.
Our Hard to Reach Students
The comment in our Ofsted report from March 2014: ‘...the engagement and achievement of the most hardto-reach individuals remains an ongoing challenge’ led me to ask our year 11 senior tutor to prepare case
studies for the year 11 pupil premium students that may fit into this category in August. The case studies
contain evidence of all the additional pastoral and academic support we have put into those pupil premium
often in response to their complex and difficult home lives.
In addition, I have analysed the year 10 summer progress data and drawn up a list of potential hard to reach
students who were then discussed with the pastoral team, together with information gathered from their
teachers, in order to formulate actions needed to prevent them slipping into the hard to reach category in the
future.
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Karen Corcoran July 2014
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