Detail

Data

Number of pupils in school

106

Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils

17.9%

Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers (3 year plans are recommended)

2022-2025

Date this statement was published

November 2022

Reviewed

September 2023

Next Review

September 2024

Statement authorised by

Board of Trustees

Pupil premium lead

Alison Blackwell

Governor / Trustee lead

Mary Hewitt

Detail

Amount

Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year

£26,190

Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year

£2,610

Pupil premium (and recovery premium*) funding carried forward from previous years (enter £0 if not applicable)

£0

National Tutoring (23/24 final year)

£1,080

Total budget for this academic year

If your school is an academy in a trust that pools this funding, state the amount available to your school this academic year

£29,880

Graveney Primary School recognises that when making decisions about using Pupil Premium funding it is important, when preparing this plan, we consider the context of our school and the subsequent challenges it has faced. This has been done alongside research conducted by the EEF.

Our common barriers to learning for disadvantaged children include: lack of experiences and opportunities at home, weak language and communication skills, lack of resilience, greater emotional 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”. We will ensure that all teaching staff are involved in the analysis of data and identification of pupils, so that they are fully aware of strengths and weaknesses across the school.

Key Principles:

• We ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all the pupils.
• We ensure that appropriate provision is made for pupils 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. We reserve the right to allocate Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil or groups of pupils the school has legitimately identified as being socially disadvantaged.
• Pupil Premium funding will be allocated following a needs analysis which will identify priority classes, groups or individuals. Limited funding and resources mean that not all children receiving free school meals will be in receipt of Pupil Premium interventions at one time.

Our Objectives:

• That all teaching staff are involved in the analysis of data and identification of pupils, so that they are fully aware of strengths and weaknesses across the school.
• To ensure all pupils causing concern are closing the gap between their peers and receiving quality first teaching.
• To ensure all disadvantaged pupils experience the opportunities within the full curriculum including enrichment activities that will promote good levels of engagement and enjoyment for learning.
• Support the physical and mental health and wellbeing of disadvantaged pupils through specific interventions and a tailored curriculum that focuses on character education and development.
• To promote writing throughout the curriculum as a school priority.
• To promote early reading development for disadvantaged pupils and to ensure that pupils develop a love of reading, including providing them with a wide range of books to enjoy for pleasure.
• To support children’s language development through specific intervention programmes, external agency support and quality teaching.
• Engage parents as partners of their children’s learning and support with barriers such as attendance.

Challenge number

Detail of challenge

1

Children who are under-achieving from their starting points due to disrupted learning.  

2

Lower attainment on entry to the Early Years Foundation Stage particularly in emotional regulation

3

Limited language and communication skills.

4

Limited wider experiences and skills

5

Low resilience skills which have led to lower levels of engagement.

Intended outcome

Success criteria

Progress in Reading, Writing and Maths

Pupils to make accelerated progress from their new baseline –

7 steps

Phonics

Year 2 and Year 1 pupils to achieve the national average expected standard in Phonics Screening Check

Attendance

Pupils to have an average attendance of above 96%

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Continue to train and develop staff in delivering new Phonics and reading scheme across the school

EYFS and KS1 – Little Wandle

KS2 – Pathways to Read

Phonics approaches have a strong evidence base that indicates a positive impact on the accuracy of word reading (though not necessarily comprehension), particularly for disadvantaged pupils:

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/phonics 

Reading comprehension strategies focus on the learners’ understanding of written text. Pupils learn a range of techniques which enable them to comprehend the meaning of what they read. These can include: inferring meaning from context; summarising or identifying key points; using graphic or semantic organisers; developing questioning strategies; and monitoring their own comprehension and then identifying and resolving difficulties for themselves (see also metacognition and self-regulation).

Reading comprehension strategies | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

1, 2, 3,5

Enhancement of our maths teaching and curriculum planning in line with DfE and EEF guidance.

The DfE non-statutory guidance has been produced in conjunction with the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, drawing on evidence-based approaches:

Mathematics guidance: key stages 1 and 2 (covers years 1 to 6) (publishing.service.gov.uk)

1,2,5,

Disadvantaged pupils should experience opportunities within the full curriculum including enrichment activities that promote good levels of engagement and enjoyment for learning e.g. funded school trips, visitors, PE/sports, competitions, learning to play musical instruments.

Evidence shows there is intrinsic value in teaching pupils creative and performance skills and ensuring disadvantaged pupils access a rich and stimulating arts education.

Arts participation | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

Physical activity can impact on pupils ability to make connections, but there are wider benefits from regular physical activity in terms of physical development, health and wellbeing as well as other potential benefits have been reported such as improved attendance.

Physical activity | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

1,2,3,4,5

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Additional phonics sessions targeted at disadvantaged pupils who require further phonics support. Phonics approaches have a strong evidence base indicating a positive impact on pupils, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Targeted phonics interventions have been shown to be more effective when delivered as regular sessions over a period up to 12 weeks:

Phonics | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

1,2,3,5

Engaging with the National Tutoring Programme to provide a blend of tuition, mentoring and school-led tutoring for pupils whose education has been most impacted by the pandemic. A significant proportion of the pupils who receive tutoring will be disadvantaged, including those who are high attainers. Toolkit Strand | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF

Tuition targeted at specific needs and knowledge gaps can be an effective method to support low attaining pupils or those falling behind, both one-to-one:

One to one tuition

One to one tuition | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

And in small groups:

Small group tuition | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

1,3,5

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Improve levels of parental engagement particularly for disadvantaged families which encourage parents to support their children with reading or homework. Involvement of parents in children’s learning activities and more intensive programmes for families in crisis.

There is extensive evidence that increased parental engagement has a positive impact on average of 4 months’ additional progress.

Parental engagement | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

2,3,4,5

These outcomes are for disadvantaged pupils in the 2022-23 academic year.

Pupils across the school including those who are disadvantaged have been tracked carefully across the school to ensure that their progress is carefully monitored.  8 pupils from this group where identified to receive the National Tutoring Programme support, this was provided by Sherpa with most pupils accessing the sessions regularly.  For those pupils who were struggling to access the platform our after school provision was provided free of charge for with staff available to support them logging in and using the school computers.  This was a very effective way of ensure that the attendance was increased for our disadvantaged pupils. 

The implementation of our new phonics scheme saw an increase in our phonics scores from 60% in 21-22 to 81% in 22-23 additional resources and staff training within the school to supported early reading and the recovery of lost learning in phonics caused by the pandemic.  The Little Wandle Phonics scheme is embedded into our EYFS and Key Stage 1 class to develop their phonics and early reading.  Reading books were changed from our old scheme to the new one with the introduction of e-books for children to read linked to their learning in class.  This was not well received by the parents who continued to request our old reading books.  These have now been removed from our school and an investment in purchasing additional paper books for reading at home is now underway linked to the phonics scheme.  Reading for pleasure is also being encouraged children sharing books with parents and siblings has begun to increase.  

Results for Maths across the school continue to remain above the national average, Progress in Key Stage 2 showed only 50% of disadvantaged pupils achieving the expected standard,  our small cohorts were impacted one of the 4 Year 6 being disapplied from the SATs (Pupil was also SEN with an EHCP). 

Results for Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling were lower for this cohort both as a cohort and also for our disadvantaged pupils, this is already being addressed as a whole school issue with a new writing scheme focusing on writing being introduced during the year.

Pupil Premium funding continues to be used to fund our breakfast club for disadvantaged pupil and was also used to support these pupils to attend a trip for the school visit Wingham Wildlife Park in the summer term.   The experience of visiting a Zoo and speaking with the zookeepers was one which a significant number of pupils across the school had never experienced.

Additional activity

Our pupil premium strategy will be supplemented by additional activity that is not being funded by pupil premium or recovery premium. That will include:

• embedding more effective practice around feedback. EEF evidence demonstrates this has significant benefits for pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils.
• offering a range of high-quality extracurricular activities to boost wellbeing, behaviour, attendance, and aspiration. Disadvantaged pupils will be encouraged and supported to participate.

Planning, implementation, and evaluation

In planning our new pupil premium strategy, we evaluated which activity undertaken has been effective and consider if these strategies should continue or be changed.

We triangulated evidence from multiple sources of data including assessments, engagement in class book scrutiny, conversations with parents, pupils and teachers in order to identify the challenges faced by disadvantaged pupils.

We regularly keep updated with relevant training and research around improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils such as looking at a number of reports, studies and research papers about effective use of pupil premium, the impact of disadvantage on education outcomes and how to address challenges to learning presented by socio-economic disadvantage.

We will continue to use it through the implementation of activities. We have put a robust evaluation framework in place for the duration of our three-year approach and will adjust our plan over time to secure better outcomes for pupils.