Staunton & Corse C of E Academy

Pupil Premium

The Government introduced the Pupil Premium Grant in April 2011. This grant which is additional to main school funding, is seen by the government as the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their wealthier peers, by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most. The Pupil Premium is allocated to school and is clearly identifiable. Schools can decide how the Pupil premium is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility. However, at Staunton and Corse we believe that parents have a key role to play in this process and as such each year we arrange meetings to discuss the individual spending plan for each child and talk about any additional requirements parents may feel are necessary. Furthermore, the school is keen to promote interventions and academic support programs that have proven track records and evidence for their success in furthering the learning of disadvantaged children; therefore we utilise a range of resources to ensure the interventions that we choose are robust, effective and value for money.

The School Leadership Team and the Local Advisory Board monitors the impact of all spending and interventions, including the Pupil Premium

At Staunton and Corse our group of pupil premium children have a wide range of barriers to their learning which will be addressed with this year’s funding including:

• Speech & Language development and the acquisition of early reading and writing skills.
• Fundamental maths skills (number) and confidence in this subject area
• Early developmental social skills – Turn taking/Sharing (Reception)
• Developing higher order thinking skills in maths.

Strategies to overcome barriers

• Small group support with teaching assistants:  As well as targeted intervention support (focussing on specific areas of academic learning or social/emotional support) this also includes a highly effective program that allows a teaching assistant with Qualified Teacher Status to work one-to-one with each Pupil Premium child to review KS2 English and Maths marking; helping them address next steps in learning. We also run our ‘Solve It’ set which is a discussion based maths group that includes children working at greater depth in maths and allows them to develop their problem solving and higher order thinking skills.
• One-to-One Tuition:  Each child receiving the Pupil Premium is eligible for 10 weeks of maths tuition (On occasions this is delivered in a small group format dependent on the individual involved).
• Additional resources to support teaching:  The school has funded numerous resources and schemes to help aid Pupil Premium children to achieve their full potential; 2 such schemes include Numicon intervention and Power of 2. Through 1:1 reading support and parental discussions we are also able to identify and purchase inspiring reading material that is individually selected for pupil premium children.
• Trips, clubs and activities.

Additional Spending:

The school attempts to be flexible with its spending arrangements and as such has several other areas of spending that are put in place on a case-by-case basis, including:

• The purchase of laptops to allow children to be able to access the online learning platforms that support KS2 spelling and maths homework; this scheme is to support those children that do not have access to a computer at home.

• Peripatetic music tuition – The school recognises the value of music tuition to promote self esteem and enjoyment of school life. Several children are supported in their music tuition via pupil premium.

The school has had great success with its approaches to overcoming barriers with disadvantaged children. We have found that the 1:1 tuition and small group intervention programs have really helped to fill gaps in knowledge and further promote learning opportunities. Furthermore, the ability of the school to tailor a program of support to the individual needs of each child has meant that, through close monitoring, they achieve and progress in line with their peers.

The impact of the above support is measured through in-school tracking data. Interventions and academic support is monitored by the class teacher on a daily basis and pupil progress meetings occur with the Head Teacher each 1/2 term. All pupil’s attainment and progress (including pupil premium children) is monitored and discussed at this meeting and interventions are evaluated and new targets set.

Pupil premium spending is reviewed at the end of each half term with class teachers and full termly with local advisors. A revised plan is drafted when funding is released in April and this is utilised as a working document from this point.