Pupil Premium

What is the Pupil Premium?

The Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011. In 2012–13, schools were allocated a total of £1.25 billion funding for children from low-income families who were eligible for Free School Meals, Looked After Children (LAC) and those from families with parents in the Armed Forces.

Key Principles for the use of the Pupil Premium

  • Alderbrook School never confuses eligibility for the Pupil Premium with low ability and focuses on supporting disadvantaged students to achieve the highest possible levels, both academically and pastorally
  • The school thoroughly analyses which students are underachieving, particularly in English and Mathematics and the reasons for this
  • The school draws upon its previous experiences in order to allocate funding to activities which are most likely to have a positive impact in raising attainment and progress of eligible students
  • The school uses achievement data regularly and robustly, to check the efficacy of interventions and techniques and makes adjustments accordingly
  • The school ensures that a dedicated senior leader (the Deputy Headteacher), plus the Headteacher and Governing Body, have a clear overview of how funding is allocated. They review the difference it is making to the outcomes of students on a termly basis and in between data collections
  • The school ensures that all subject teachers know which students are eligible for the Pupil Premium so that they can take responsibility for accelerating progress on an individual basis
  • The school successfully uses Pupil Premium funding to tackle a range of issues, e.g. attendance, behaviour, confidence, resilience, reading, factors outside of school, effective teaching and learning, literacy support, targeted support, further enrichment and so on.

The impact of the use of Pupil Premium funding is measured and reviewed; Ofsted (January 2014) noted how successful the school is in this area:

“The pupil premium funding is spent on extra support in a range of subjects, especially in English and mathematics. As a result, the attainment gap for students eligible for the pupil premium and other students is narrowing and they now achieve better than this group nationally in both English and mathematics. They are, on average, one GCSE grade behind their peers in English and two thirds of a grade behind in mathematics.”

 

Alderbrook School’s Pupil Premium Funding is used in the following ways:

  • Recruitment and retention of specialist teachers and support staff so that students are taught as much as possible by those best able to educate them, as evidenced by the Sutton Trust and Education Endowment Foundation
  • Funding an EWO to improve the attendance of Pupil Premium students
  • Purchasing additional resources to support English and Mathematics as well as other curriculum subjects, for Pupil Premium students
  • Support and catch- up programs
  • Subsidising school trips for eligible students
  • Subsidising extra-curricular opportunities both in and out of school
  • Funding a Careers Advisor to support Pupil Premium students

The Governing Body rigorously monitors the progress of disadvantaged students and the impact of the school’s Pupil Premium spending.

Diminishing the Differences for Disadvantaged Students

  

What we have done to diminish the differences:

  • Used the Pupil Premium funding to employ and retain specialist teachers and support staff so our students have the best possible staff available
  • Identification of Pupil Premium learners in lessons, their progress and associated interventions, and the impact of these
  • Quality staff CPD and SLT monitoring of Pupil Premium students to maximise their performance and outcomes
  • Whole school drive on Pupil Premium outcomes
  • Smaller teaching groups in English and Mathematics, SSA support, spelling and reading workshops along with our Accelerated Reading Programme
  • Employment of a specialist EWO to monitor attendance; two new TLR post holders within school to monitor, evaluate and celebrate attendance
  • Additional pastoral support programmes, improving behaviour, anxiety, well-being etc.
  • Dedicated Year 11 Achievement Co-ordinator liaising with the Pupil Premium and SLT links
  • Funding used to facilitate educational interests both in and out of school
  • Funding used to allow under allocated teachers to work with Pupil Premium students
  • Morning Breakfast Club to support Pupil Premium students
  • GCSE Pod, Duke of Edinburgh, sporting tuition to raise aspirations, revision guides and examination remarks
  • Bespoke personalised timetables for some Pupil Premium students to increase motivation, reduce school refusal etc.
  • Hardship Fund for those Pupil Premium students in need of additional financial assistance for uniform etc

Impact

Pupil Premium funding is enabling the school to diminish differences for Pupil Premium students compared to “other” students nationally and within the school. The funding has allowed us in particular to focus on retaining and employing a superb group of professionals who work tirelessly for all students, particularly the Pupil Premium ones. The Governing Body monitors the impact of Pupil Premium spending and outcomes for students very closely. Our link governor for Pupil Premium is Mr Peter Johnson; Ms Selina Dempsey and Mr Christopher Czepukojc are the lead Pupil Premium and SLT link respectively at Alderbrook; please contact them for further information.

Alderbrook’s Pupil Premium Strategy can be found here.

Christopher Czepukojć
Deputy Headteacher