School Overview
Metric | Data |
School Name | Athelstan Primary School |
Pupils in school | 602 (Jan 20 Census) 615 (Oct 21 Census) |
Proportion of disadvantaged pupils | 29% (Oct 20 Census) 32% (Oct 21 Census) |
Academic year or years covered by statement | 2020-2023 |
Publish date | September 2021 |
Review date | July 2022 |
Statement authorised by | Deb Halliday, Headteacher |
Pupil Premium leads | Lisa Watson, Deputy Headteacher |
Governor lead | Sarah Horsfield, Chair of Governors |
Funding Overview
Detail | Amount |
Pupil premium allocation this academic year | £231,340 |
Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year | £26,680 |
Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years | £0 |
Total budget for this academic year | £258,020 |
Disadvantaged pupil progress scores for last academic year (2019)
Measure | School Disadvantaged | National Disadvantaged | National Non-Disadvantaged |
Reading | 1.9 | -0.6 | 0.3 |
Writing | 0.3 | -0.5 | 0.3 |
Maths | 1.4 | -0.7 | 0.3 |
Disadvantaged pupil performance overview for last academic year (2019)
Measure | Score | National Disadvantaged | National Non-Disadvantaged |
Meeting expected standard at KS2 | 54% | 51% | 71% |
Achieving high standard at KS2 | 7% | 5% | 13% |
Statement of Intent
Our intention is that all pupils, irrespective of their background or the challenges they face, make good progress and achieve high attainment across all subject areas. The focus of our pupil premium strategy is to support disadvantaged pupils to achieve that goal, including progress for those who are already high attainers. We will consider the challenges faced by vulnerable pupils, such as those who have involvement with outside agencies. The activities we have outlined in this statement are intended to support their needs, regardless of whether they are disadvantaged or not. High-quality teaching is at the heart of our approach, with a focus on areas in which disadvantaged pupils require the most support. This is proven to have the greatest impact on closing the disadvantage attainment gap and at the same time will benefit the non-disadvantaged pupils in our school. Implicit in the intended outcomes detailed below, is the intention that non-disadvantaged pupils’ attainment will be sustained and improved alongside progress for their disadvantaged peers. Our strategy is also integral to wider school plans for education recovery, notably in its targeted support through tutoring for pupils whose education has been worst affected, including non-disadvantaged pupils. Our approach will be responsive to common challenges and individual needs, rooted in robust diagnostic assessment, not assumptions about the impact of disadvantage. The approaches we have adopted complement each other to help pupils excel. To ensure they are effective we will: • ensure all pupils are challenged in the work that they’re set • act early to intervene at the point need is identified to ensure pupils keep up • ensure all staff take responsibility for disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes and raise expectations of what they can achieve |
Challenges
This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.
Challenge Number | Detail of Challenge |
1 | Assessments, observations and discussions indicate poor speech, language deprivation and a general lack of vocabulary among many pupils. This is evident from Reception through to KS2. |
2 | On entry to Reception, over the last three years, between 74-91% of our disadvantaged pupils have arrived below age-related expectations compared to 63-74% of other pupils. Assessments and observations indicate that disadvantaged pupils have greater difficulty with phonics in FS than their peers. |
3 | Internal and external assessments (2019 data) indicate that disadvantaged pupils perform significantly below their non-disadvantaged peers in combined reading, writing and maths in KS2. Attainment at the expected standard in SPaG and at greater depth in writing amongst disadvantaged pupils at KS2 is significantly below that of non-disadvantaged pupils nationally. |
4 | Assessments and observations indicate that the education and wellbeing of many of our disadvantaged pupils have been negatively impacted by school closures. These findings are supported by national studies. This has resulted in significant gaps in knowledge leading to pupils falling further behind age-related expectations, especially in writing. |
5 | Our assessments, observations and discussions with pupils and families have identified social and emotional issues including limited emotional resilience and low self-esteem. Challenges, such as a lack of enrichment opportunities during lockdown, together with poor morning, evening and bedtime routines have impacted negatively on disadvantaged pupils. |
6 | Our attendance data over the last two years indicates that attendance among disadvantaged pupils has been, on average, at least 2.5% lower than non-disadvantaged pupils. In addition, we have some families who live outside of catchment and struggle with punctuality. High mobility is also a barrier, as some families move for work or are rehoused far away after being housed in a nearby women's refuge. |
Intended Outcomes
Intended Outcomes | Success Criteria |
To improve language acquisition and vocabulary | Assessments, observations, discussions with pupils and scrutiny of our VIP indicates improved oral language among disadvantaged pupils and a wider use of vocabulary in written work. |
To achieve at least national figures for GLD | Outcomes in 2023/24 show that more than 75% of disadvantaged pupils achieve GLD. |
To achieve at least national figures for PSC | Outcomes in 2023/24 show that more than 85% of disadvantaged pupils meet the expected standard in the PSC. |
To ensure attainment in reading, writing and maths combined is at national figures for all pupils in KS2 | KS2 outcomes for combined reading, writing and maths show that more than 75% of disadvantaged pupils meet the expected standard. Expected standard in SPaG is at least 78% and greater depth in writing is at least 20%. |
To ensure and sustain improved wellbeing for all pupils in our school, particularly those who are disadvantaged | Sustained high levels of wellbeing from 2023/23 demonstrated by:
|
To achieve a whole school attendance target of 96% for all groups and to ensure persistent absence figures are no greater than 9% | Sustained high attendance from 2023/24 demonstrated by:
|
Activity in this academic year
This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium (and recovering premium funding) this academic year to address the challenges listed above.
Teaching
Budgeted cost: £103,390 - 42% of total spend
Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
Daily vocabulary enrichment through our morning Vocabulary Immersion Process and a focus across the whole curriculum on language acquisition. | Research shows the importance of the explicit teaching of vocabulary and how this supports pupils to communicate effectively and achieve academically. https://www2.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/support/rmcfinal1.pdf | 1, 2, 3 |
High quality and regular PIXL CPD to ensure there is quality first teaching in morning sessions and that afternoon therapies compliment this. Regular liaison between class teachers and support staff. Support from Assistant Headteachers to ensure high quality teaching. Purchase of PiXL subscription. | Research shows that high quality teaching can narrow the disadvantage gap and promoting effective CPD plays a crucial role in this. | 2, 3, 4 |
Regular development days with the RWI Consultant. Access to the online training portal with the RWI Leader to ensure there is a high standard of phonics teaching and tutoring in EYFS and KS1. Daily coaching with RWI Leader to ensure high quality teaching. Purchase of RWI resources to maintain strong phonics teaching for all pupils. | Phonics approaches have a strong evidence base that indicates a positive impact on the accuracy of word reading, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/phonics | 2 |
Targeted academic support
Budgeted cost: £60,890 - 25% of total spend
Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
High quality and regular after-school PiXL CPD for support staff to improve the quality and impact of therapies. Purchase of PiXL subscription. | Research shows that small group tuition can have an impact of up to four months’ progress over the course of a year and that by providing training to those delivering these interventions (therapies), increases the impact. | 3, 4 |
Daily one-to-one tutoring in EYFS and KS1 to accelerate progress in reading for pupils falling behind age-related expectations. | Research shows that high quality one-to-one tuition is effective for improving pupil outcomes. | 2, 4 |
Wider strategies
Budgeted cost: £79,795 - 33% of total spend
Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
Providing an effective Pastoral Team, including a Safeguarding Liaison Officer, to support pupils and families across a range of areas including behaviour, well-being and good routines. | According to figures from the Department for Education, pupils who receive Free School Meals are more likely to receive a permanent or fixed period exclusion compared to those who do not. The most common reason for exclusion is persistent disruptive behaviour. Pupil behaviour will have multiple influences, some of which teachers can directly manage though universal or classroom management approaches. Some pupils will require more specialist support to help manage their self-regulation or social and emotional skills. | 4, 5, 6 |
Providing access to a broad range of extended services, including Breakfast Club and extra-curricular activities. | Research shows that participation in extracurricular activities supports pupils’ academic and personal developmen https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1230758.pdf Working with parents to support pupil’s learning EEF https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/supporting-parents | 4, 5 |
Embedding principles of good practice as set out in the DfE’s Improving School Attendance advice to improve attendance and readiness to learn for the most disadvantaged pupils. | Guidance has been informed by schools that have significantly reduced levels of absence and PA. | 6 |
Exposing our pupils to a range of enrichment curriculum experiences (ACEOs) which they would not normally have access to within their own home life. | Pupils who are exposed to a wide range of experiences and culture develop character-building qualities which will help them succeed in later life. https://www.trueeducationpartnerships.com/schools/what-is-ofsteds-cultural-capital/
| 4, 5 |
Total budgeted cost: £244,075
Recovery - one-off payment over four instalments £26,680
Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
Increased weekly hours (2 days) for two existing teachers to provide high-quality targeted support for pupils falling behind age-related expectations. Two additional days of support from two regular and experienced supply teachers to provide high-quality targeted support for pupils falling behind age-related expectations. | Research shows that small group tuition can have an impact of up to four months’ progress over the course of a year. | 3, 4 |
Introduction of an after-school club for pupils and parents/carers of Y3 and Y4 pupils; this will give them access to technology (Lexia, TTRS) to support and accelerate personalised learning and improve parental engagement. | Research shows that parental engagement can bring about up to four months’ additional progress for pupils, and can therefore help prevent widening the attainment gap. | 3, 4, 5 |
Daily one-to-one tutoring by a qualified teacher in EYFS and KS1 to accelerate progress in reading for pupils falling behind age-related expectations. | Research shows that high quality one-to-one tuition is effective for improving pupil outcomes. | 2 |
Part B: Review of outcomes in the previous academic year
Pupil premium strategy outcomes
This details the impact that our pupil premium activity had on pupils in the 2020 to 2021 academic year.
Internal assessments during 2020/21 showed that the performance of disadvantaged pupils was lower than in previous years in reading, writing, maths and SPaG. There was no official data for the last two academic years but our own teacher assessments showed that the difference between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils in Y2 and Y6 was much greater than that in 2018/19. There was no GLD data for 2020/21; our last official data in 2018/19 showed only 52% of disadvantaged pupils achieving GLD, compared to 73% of all pupils. Our Y2 PSC outcomes remained above national figures, with 95% all pupils and 92% of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard. This was as a result of high quality phonics teaching and daily targeted one-to-one support for those falling behind.
These outcomes have been significantly impacted by COVID-19 and subsequent school closures, which disrupted all subject areas. As evidenced in schools across the country, school closures were most detrimental to our disadvantaged pupils, and they were not able to benefit from our pupil premium funded improvements to teaching and targeted interventions (therapies) to the degree we had intended. Whole school attendance from the end of the March lockdown to the end of the summer term was 93.4%. This was affected by term time holidays which accounted for 1.03% of absence; illness accounted for 3.2% of absence. At the end of the school year, persistent absence figures were 12%. |
Externally provided programmes
Programme | Providers |
Read Write Inc Phonics and Spelling | Ruth Miskin |
PiXL Primary | PiXL Partners in Excellence |
Service pupil premium funding
Measure | Details |
How did you spend your service pupil premium allocation last academic year? | Pupils had access to members of the Pastoral Team for emotional support. Resources from Little Troopers were purchased (postcards, Send-A-Hug, badges, Father’s Day cards, etc) but because of year group bubbles and school closures, we were unable to run these groups. We were also unable to run the half-term lunches with the deputy headteachers. Activities, however, were shared on google classrooms. Extra transition support was also put in place. |
What was the impact of that spending on service pupil premium eligible pupils? | Teachers and the pastoral team reported positive wellbeing amongst our four service children. |
Why have we chosen these approaches?
How will the impact be measured?
Governors monitor the impact of PP monies at Strategic, Engaging Learning, Resources and Curriculum and Standards' committees.
Summary of PP spending in 2020-2021
Summary of spending | Cost |
RWI Phonics and Spelling RWI one-to-one tuition Pastoral staff, including Safeguarding Liaison Officer Learning Champions Clerical officers to target attendance and extended services PiXL subscription and CPD Booster clubs and one-to-one tuition Uniform and book bags Achievement for All | £2,550 £28,136 £129,450 £24,958 £31,527 £2,800 £13,410 £150 £1,4000 |
Service Premium
Allocation: £310 each per year
Number of service children - 3 (1 x Y2, 2 x Y5)
Desired outcomes | Chosen action/approach | Staff lead |
Pastoral needs of the Service Children are supported so that they enjoy school Improved levels of communication Build a sense of wider community and better understanding of the role of their service parent/carer | Access to the Pastoral Team as and when required Worry box Little Troopers resources - Mindfulness Resource Pack, postcards, Send-A-Hug, badges, Father’s Day cards, etc Lunch with LW and FB at end of each half term (risk assessment permitting) | Lisa Watson and Fiona Barry |