Pupil Premium and Catch Up Strategy 2020-21
What is ‘Pupil Premium’?
Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011 and is paid by means of a specific grant for any pupils who have been registered as eligible for Free School Meals within the last six years or those who are looked after by the Local Authority. A premium has also been introduced for children whose parents are currently serving in the armed forces. The Pupil Premium will be used by this school to address any underlying inequalities between children eligible by ensuring that funding reaches the pupils who need it most. This group of students is currently referred to as “disadvantaged students (DS)”.
Why do we need Pupil Premium?
Statistics for many years show that there is a gap between the attainment of those students who are considered disadvantaged and those which are not, even if they come to school with the same abilities. This is because of the opportunities that some children can be offered. The Pupil Premium is designed to help close this gap and allow all students to achieve their potential.
How many children at Grace Academy Coventry are eligible for Pupil Premium?
There are 298 students eligible for the Pupil Premium funding at Grace Academy Coventry in 2020 – 2021 academic year. This equates to 44% of the school cohort.
What is the ‘Catch-up premium’?
The literacy and numeracy catch-up premium gives schools additional funding to support year 7 students who did not achieve at the expected score for reading and/or maths at the end of key stage 2 (KS2).
Grace Academy Coventry – Pupil Premium Strategy
Context:
The current percentage of students’ part of the pupil premium is 44% across Years 7-11. In Years 7 and 8, the percentage of students eligible for the pupil premium is 53% and 46% respectively. Our current Year 7 is our biggest year group and as of November 2020 there were 89 out of 167 who qualified the school to receive additional funding.
In the 2016/2017 academic year, Grace Academy Coventry’s Progress 8 score was -0.57. As part of this the Progress 8 score for our disadvantaged students was -0.87. Both Progress 8 scores improved in the 2017/2018 academic year with overall moving to -0.5 and our disadvantaged score improving to -0.64. Our Progress 8 score for disadvantaged students within the English element massively improved from -1.07 in 2016/2017 to -0.39 in 2017/2018. In the 2018/2019 academic year our journey of progress saw our Progress 8 score move to 0.12 as a school, with our Progress 8 for disadvantaged moving to 0. Based on our tracking of centre assessed grades, as of June 2020 our progress 8 stands at 0.05 however, our disadvantaged progress 8 lies at -0.6. Whilst we have now produced two years of positive progress for our students and have shifted it successfully from -0.52 and lower in previous years, there is still inconsistency in our disadvantaged performance. This prompted a research project conducted in June 2020 alongside the review of our strategy from 2019/2020.
In our 2019/2020 strategy we placed ‘Teaching’ at the heart of our Pupil Premium strategy using the suggested tiered approach outlined by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). A view highlighted in the 2011 Sutton Trust report and put into practice effectively by Springfield Junior School – a school recognised for their exceptional outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. In our 2020/2021 we continue to place this as our focus but using this in unison with the four key areas our research piece highlighted which directly affect the progress of our disadvantaged students.
Another strategy outlined by the EEF is using evidence by making use of other schools and their successes with similar challenges. Using this strategy, since becoming part of the Tove Learning Trust (TLT), Grace Academy Coventry has made links with Rushden Academy who moved their Progress 8 score from -0.77 in 2016/2017 to -0.24 in 2017/2018 (formally Rushden College). In addition to this, Grace Academy now regularly attends network meetings within the Tove Trust.
In the previous strategy, research was at the heart of informing our policy, we continue to do this as 46% secondary school teachers found their school’s Pupil Premium work was having impact (Sutton Trust 2019). The initial research conducted in producing the 2019/2020 strategy was used to build a model for pupil premium spending that meant tracking and evaluation of funding occurred. Our latest piece of research was conducted in house during June 2020 and was focussed on producing a methodical, systemic approach to implementing this ‘teach first’ strategy. The review outlined four key areas which should allow us to detect barriers much earlier and therefore influence outcomes. As a result, the two foci for this strategy born out of the research project are ‘detect’ and ‘intervene’.
Our research project in June 2020 was conducted to identify trends and patterns and ascertain why some of our resources had not had the desired impact. It was also designed to produce a blue print to allow us to identify disadvantaged students falling behind in light of the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent school closure. Becky Francis, EEF chief executive estimated a complete reversal in ten years’ worth of work closing the disadvantaged gap. As a result, this strategy looks to utilize the work of our research project in ‘detect’ and ‘intervene’ to close that gap further.
Priorities for the year are:
Internal:
- To raise levels of literacy and numeracy due to lower levels of Literacy and/or Numeracy skills for some disadvantaged students, which is resulting in lower progress and attainment levels in KS3 and KS4.
- To ensure that disadvantaged students make the highest levels of progress at KS3 and KS4. Pupils who are eligible for disadvantaged funding do not make the highest rates of progress in comparison to all pupils in school in KS3 and KS4. This can be said for high prior attaining, disadvantaged students.
- To reduce the cases of truancy by all students with focus on disadvantaged students within the school. Truancy of disadvantaged students directly affects their progress. In the research conducted, of the top 10 disadvantaged students’ progress 8 scores, no pupils had truanted any lessons during their final year.
External:
- To ensure attendance of disadvantaged students continues to rise. Lower levels of attendance rates for pupils who are eligible for disadvantaged funding in comparison to the rest of the cohort. In 2018/2019 disadvantaged attendance was in-line with the cohort and progress reflected this.
- To raise aspirations of pupils from disadvantaged families. Low levels of aspiration from some families who have pupils who are eligible for disadvantaged funding which impacts upon pupil’s self-esteem and aspiration. During our research project, HPA disadvantaged performance during the 2019/2020 academic year accounted for 5 of the top 15 worst performing disadvantaged students.
- To engage parents from our community. Generational disengagement of a minority, but a significant proportion of parents, who have not worked in partnership with the Academy in many years and hence parental engagement with them has been an issue for many years
For 2020-2021, expenditure will be focused on four main areas:
- Enrichment – £33,718
- Salary – £47,925
- Intervention – £121,102
- Curriculum – £54,281
Strategy for 2020/2021 – Context
For the 2020/2021 academic year, we are striving to build on the significant progress we made during the 2018/2019 academic year and the whole school improvement to disadvantaged and catch-up support in 2019/2020. We have split our funding into four different areas: salary, curriculum, intervention and enrichment. The purpose of this is in-line with our barriers: progress, attendance and aspirations.
Some of the key changes and rationale to our 2020/2021 strategy can be found below:
- Catch-up and pupil premium funding combined to ensure full coverage and use of overlap where necessary (example: accelerated reader had historically been dedicated to catch-up funding – this strategy would be useful for disadvantaged students)
- Catch-up sessions to be split into 10 lessons throughout the week across KS3
- MFL masterclass to be completed by HPA students in 6 lessons across the week in KS3
- Where budgeting for teachers has taken place, we have used the September 2020 pay scale (https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/advice/pay-pensions/pay-scales/england-pay-scales.html) M3 teacher for costing (£29,664)
As of November 2020:
Year Group | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | School |
Pupil Premium | 89 | 69 | 61 | 50 | 29 | 298 |
Total | 167 | 151 | 164 | 117 | 81 | 680 |
Percentage | 53% | 46% | 37% | 43% | 36% | 44% |
Strategy for 2020/2021 – Overview
Enrichment | |
---|---|
Actions | Cost |
Bespoke after school intervention
P6 lessons are added to school timetable. English, Maths and Science (as well as MFL – Spanish) given priority initially. Tracking of attendance to ensure disadvantage students attend the session (updated process from 2019/2020) |
£4,747 (3 teachers delivering afterschool intervention sessions – £10668 using our whole school percentage ratio of 44.5%) |
Enrichment opportunities tracked and high prior attaining disadvantaged students targeted for Brilliant Club, University visits and STEM initiatives Lesson observations evidence stretch and challenge | £2,000 |
|
2 language teachers – 3 lessons per week for 39 weeks £4337 & £5286 Total: £9,623 |
|
12 sessions delivered by teachers for 39 weeks
(teacher salary – regardless of responsibility) |
Salary | |
---|---|
Actions | Cost |
|
£3,308 – CATs tests |
|
45% of associated cost for attendance – £1232 |
33% of TLR for attendance (£6533) 45% of figure £2939 |
|
33% of total salary (£16954) and 45% of figure £7629 | |
20% of TLR time directed for PP work £2285 | |
Using our teaching assistant to support disadvantaged students in lessons and to lead some intervention sessions | 45% of Assistant Principal SENDCO £30,532 |
Intervention | |
---|---|
Actions | Cost |
|
£1,824 Literacy coordinator |
Utilise family support worker Attendance Officer and Pastoral Managers to monitor pupils and follow up quickly on absences and to identify patterns. | £14,400 Attendance officer£2500 – hardship support (uniform, equipment, face masks) |
First day response to absence Mentoring support offered to encourage higher levels of attendance | £25,229 Pastoral Managers |
Disadvantaged students to be rewarded with breakfast to attend school earlier Students struggling to reach school on time due to long distance travel to be Pupils cannot make progress if they do not attend. Rewards systems to support attendance. | £1,000
Planner system £4000 |
Educational psychologist | £2,943 |
Local authority support | £3,746 |
Family support worker to provide different layers of internal and external support to ensure attendance increases | £25,229 |
|
£2,368 Ethos Lead TFTF |
|
£2,728 SEND consultant |
£10,961 SEND Admin |
|
£9,150 SEND TA |
|
£15,524 HLTA |
Curriculum | |
---|---|
Actions | Cost |
|
£1,900 (5% Assistant Principle allocated) |
HPA students to receive MFL ‘Masterclass sessions’ | 7 MFL sessions using £889 as mentioned (£6223) at 45% £2,800 |
Catch-up literacy sessions | 10 catch up sessions £8890 |
Monitoring of pupil attendance at careers opportunities and targeted activities | Free |
Regular reward trips to celebrate success which are subsidised for PP students | £1,000 |
Critical Content booklets for each key stage with knowledge, skills and content for each subject provided to pupils to support home learning | £1,000 |
Provide resources to disadvantaged students to ensure there is no barrier to their learning | £18,900 |
|
£2,265 |
To produce progress summaries after each assessment point with focus on school focus groups | 45% of data manager salary in producing reports focussed on disadvantaged and other focus groups £17,526 |
Strategy for 2020/2021 – Funding:
Pupil Premium Funding: £250,000
Catch-Up Funding: £40,000
Total: £290,000
Strategy for 2020/2021 – Expenditure:
Enrichment – £33,718
Salary – £47,925
Intervention – £121,102
Curriculum – £54,281
Reserved funding:
- Alternative provision to avoid permanent exclusion (impending): £12,000 initial figure
Total: £270,000
- Term 1.2 review spend: £20,000
Pot of money reserved to be spent from November 2020 – June 2021
(Unapproved proposals: Tassomai, Geography revision guides, PE rain jackets for students)
Examples of how this funding has been used:
MFL Masterclass
Rationale: to increase the opportunity for language selection at during Year 9 options process
Removal: Year 9 English (language most developed), Year 8 Maths (numeracy better developed in Year 9 but English given more emphasis for a language), Year 7 Science (to avoid English and Maths at such a key age)
MFL Masterclass | |||
Subject Removed | Year Group | Band | MFL Intervention |
Science | Year 7 | X | Thursday P3 – AFO 0015 |
Y | Monday P1 – CSO 0015 |
||
Maths | Year 8 | X | Wednesday P3 – AFO 1009 |
Y | Wednesday P4 – CSO 1009 |
||
English | Year 9 | X | Wednesday P1 – CSO 1095 |
Catch-Up Intervention
Rationale: to improve literacy skills for students in Years 7, 8 and 9
Removal: students to be taken out of MFL lessons. Students who require catch-up will not benefit from MFL lessons initially. Not necessarily to be a permanent intervention.
Catch-Up | ||||
Year | X Band | Y Band | ||
7 | Thursday P1 Staff Member D. Ion RE, Computer Science, MFL Numeracy Catch Up0046 |
Thursday P5 Staff Member D. Ion History, Music, MFL Literacy Catch-Up0046 |
Monday P2 Staff Member A. Waller (Monday P2) MFL, History, RE Numeracy Catch-Up0046 |
Monday P3 Staff Member M. Mann (Monday P3) Drama, Computer Science, MFL Literacy Catch-Up0015 |
X Band | Y Band | |||
8 | Monday P1 Staff Member F. Liburd RE (2), MFL Numeracy Catch Up1043 |
Tuesday P2 Staff Member C. Lockyer MFL, Music (2) Literacy Catch Up1009 |
Friday P3 Staff Member D. Ion History, MFL, PSHE Literacy Catch Up1009 |
Friday P4 Staff Member D. Ion Geography, Computer Science, MFL Numeracy Catch-Up1043 |
X Band | Y Band | |||
9 | Wednesday P1 Staff Member F. White MFL, Computer Science, Music Numeracy Catch Up1095 |
Thursday P5 Staff Member L. Webley RE, Geography, MFL Literacy Catch Up1086 |
Thursday P2 Staff Member R. Turvey MFL, Geography Drama Numeracy Catch Up1095 |
Friday P5 Staff Member R. Turvey MFL(2), Drama Literacy Catch Up1086 |
One Page Summary of Evaluation for 20219/2020
Provision | Desired Outcomes | Evaluation 2019/2020 |
Directed staff time | Improve progress of more able disadvantaged students Non-HPA |
Improved compared to 2018/2019 where disadvantaged HPA were one of the biggest negative P8’s |
Attendance | Improve attendance for disadvantaged and for persistent absentees | Persistent absentees and disadvantaged attendance remains a focus for 2019/2020 |
Attendance | Increased attendance at parents evening | First time tracking this data and the attendance increased following the initial tracking |
Curriculum | Improve literacy making using of DEAR, talking points etc. | Continues to be embedded and remains a whole school focus |
Enrichment | Improve sixth form applications | Sixth form applications increased for the 2020/2021 academic year |
Attendance | Enhanced and wider provision of extra-curricular clubs Attendance not tracked |
Wider provision of clubs made available – reduction due to COVID for 2020/2021 |
Attendance | Pupil attendance at careers days | Attendance tracked and monitored. Students assigned multiple opportunities to attend. All students receiving careers advice in 2019/2020 (with the exception of 2 who received electronic careers advice) |
Enrichment | Critical content and resources for all students’ to support revision | All students issued, critical content reviewed for content for 2020/2021 academic year |
After school intervention sessions | Attendance of disadvantaged students to be in line with non-disadvantaged | Improvement in attainment could not be attributed to attendance in intervention. Intervention attendance gap was not closed |
After school intervention sessions | Improve progress through afterschool intervention attendance |
Improvement in attainment could not be attributed to attendance in intervention. Intervention attendance gap was not closed |
Evidence of impact:
Due to COVID19 and the cancellation of exams, it was not possible to compare our disadvantaged students’ progress to their peers nationally using the progress 8 measure.
The CAG process ensured that all disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students achieved grades which showed good performance compared to their starting points. We have taken the relevant internal data acquired to support our 2020/2021 cohort, despite their being no national data.
Whilst progress has been made in the Academy to improve the outcomes for disadvantaged students. We will be prioritising the following areas to ensure further progress is made:
- To raise levels of literacy and numeracy
- To ensure that disadvantaged students make the highest levels of progress at KS3 and KS4 for progress 8
- To reduce the cases of truancy by disadvantaged students
- To reduce attendance gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students
- To raise aspirations of pupils from disadvantaged families
- To engage disadvantaged parents from our community
Evaluation of Pupil Premium spend for 2019/2020
Pupil Premium Spend September 2019 – July 2020 | |||||
Total | £ | 204531 | |||
230/556 PP Children | 41% | Amount | Percentage | ||
Dedicated Staff Time | £ | 95,895 | 47 | % | |
Enrichment | £ | 6000 | 2 | % | |
Interventions | £ | 21421 | 10 | % | |
Curriculum | £ | 41000 | 20 | % | |
Attendance | £ | 41888 | 20 | % | |
Total | £ | 206,204 |
Year Group | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | School |
Pupil Premium | 72 | 53 | 32 | 34 | 39 | 230 |
Total | 167 | 109 | 83 | 90 | 107 | 556 |
Percentage | 43% | 49% | 39% | 38% | 36% | 41% |
Pupil Premium and Catch Up Strategy
Pupil Premium 2019-20
Pupil Premium 2017-18
Disadvantaged student impact report 201718 v1
Pupil Premium 2016-17
Disadvantaged student impact report 2016 to 2017 v1