Brimsdown Junior School - Pupil Premium Review 13 February 2015
Joan L Low
Background
Schools need to carefully ring-fence the funding so that they always spend it on the target group of pupils and never confuse eligibility for the Pupil Premium with low ability, and focus on supporting their disadvantaged pupils to achieve the highest levels. Schools also thoroughly analyse which pupils are underachieving, particularly in English and mathematics, and why. More importantly schools understand the importance of ensuring that all day-to-day teaching meets the needs of each learner, rather than relying on interventions to compensate for teaching that is less than good.
Research has shown that the Pupil Premium was least effective where the school had a lack of clarity about the intended impact of the spending and spent the funding indiscriminately on teaching assistants, with little impact. Schools did not monitor the quality and impact of interventions well enough, even where other monitoring was effective and did not have a good performance management system for teaching assistants and other support staff. There was also evidence that they did not have a clear audit trail for where the funding had been spent.
Evidence base:
Interviews took place with the Executive Headteacher , Interim Associate Headteacher and Governors
Websiteinformation and documentary evidence were explored with regards to spending and activities for Pupil Premium Pupils as well as monitoring and assessment data on outcomes from planned interventions.
The key data and SAT’s results for 2014 were examined and discussed as well as looking at the current tracking for all pupils in the school.
There were interviews with pupils in the morning and learning walks were undertaken at various points during the day.
The Associate Headteacher has produced exemplary paper work to enable close and careful monitoring of Pupil Premium money and individual pupil progress in each class and year group . There was a careful analysis of the progress of pupils , supported by in-depth data analysis, whichhas started to drill forensically data at class ,group and pupil level. There is a comprehensive spending plan for the allocated funding (£415,00).
There is clear evidence to show improvement in the tracking of pupils so that early intervention and the impact of interventions are easily and effectively tracked. The school is aware of the profile on entry of learners to the school and is keen to address the needs of year groups with higher numbers of pupils with low attainment on entry.
As well as attainment and progress data , the school is looking at the attendance data to be able to show the impact of some of the more emotional and social interventions which are in place.
The school also has a Hearing Impaired Unit and the school is ensuring that the hearing impaired pupils supported by the Pupil Premium are also accessing a number of targeted and specialist interventions to enable the pupils to make the appropriate number of points progress.
Key Data:
Trends
Overall, outcomes for PP pupils in comparison to Non-PP pupils for both in year progress across all groups and for end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 results demonstrate that the school has still to address the gap which has widened for disadvantaged pupils.
The school needs to act to ensure that the Value Added scores of all pupils of all prior attainment bands is closely monitored. The school is currently working on this and should be able to demonstrate the impact of their work in this area.
Achievement for PP pupils
Key Stage 2 headline figures / Source : Raise online (unvalidated 2014)Attainment – Level 4+ reading / Non FSM = 84%
FSM = 66%
Difference = -18%
Attainment – Level 4+ writing / Non FSM = 90%
FSM = 85%
Difference = -5%
Key Stage 2 headline figures / Source : Raise online (unvalidated 2014)
Attainment - Level 4+ in mathematics / Non FSM = 94%
FSM = 66%
Difference = -28%
Average points score– reading / Non FSM = 28.2
FSM = 25.8
Difference = -2.4
Average points score – writing / Non FSM = 29.9
FSM = 27.0
Difference = -2.9
Average points score – mathematics / Non FSM = 29.3
FSM = 26.2
Difference = -3.1
Achievement – expected progress in reading / Non FSM = 66%
FSM = 75%
Difference = +9%
Achievement – expected progress in writing / Non FSM = 93%
FSM = 91%
Difference = -2%
Achievement – expected progress in mathematics / Non FSM = 83%
FSM = 71%
Difference = -12%
Key Stage 2 headline figures / Source : Raise online (unvalidated 2014)
Persistent absence / Non FSM = 5.4%
FSM = 5.2%
Difference = -0.2%
Where are the gaps in other year groups?
Year 1: Indicator / Oct 2014 gap between FSM and non FSM (RAISEonline)Y1 phonics passed / Non FSM = 63%
FSM = 70%
Difference = +7%
Year 2: Indicator / Oct 2014 gap between FSM and non FSM (RAISEonline)
Average points score– reading / Non FSM = 15.6
FSM = 16.8
Difference = +1.2
Average points score – writing / Non FSM = 14.5
FSM = 15.0
Difference = +0.5
Average points score – mathematics / Non FSM = 15.4
FSM = 15.7
Difference = +0.3
Current Data Analysis
It is clear from the discussions with colleagues and the data analysis from the Autumn term that at this that the progress across all year groups Requires Improvement because all year groups are not yet meeting national expectations in terms of progress.
In Years 2 and 6 progress in reading, writing and mathematics Requires Improvementas 85% of pupils need to make 2 sub-levels of progress. There is an action plan to address this deficit and this will be monitored and the impact of this should be demonstrated in the data collection in the Spring Term.
Although current data is Requires Improvement, it does show some green shoots of accelerated progress to close the gap between Pupil Premium and Non Pupil Premium children, for example Y2 reading and writing and Y6 reading and Y6 Third Space Learning children.
The school needs to continue to look at the impact of the interventions planned in KS 2 as well as KS 1 and to focus on the progress of pupils.
By continuing to support leaders to drill into the data forensically the school will be able to highlight the names of pupils for whom progress has stalled or accelerated. If pupils are making good progress in one area , there is a need to look at the how the interventions are adapted for pupil need and how teaching is being adapted to enable progress to be accelerated. The findings from this will better inform interventions in the other subjects. The gaps between PP and non PP pupils should be checked at each pupil progress meeting and the impact of interventions evaluated. The school could make good use of the APP materials or thesample materials from ‘Not as We Know it Limited’
Establishment of Pupil Premium Programme
A co-ordinated programme has been established for PP pupils under the leadership of theAssociate Headteacher. The school has high expectations for pupil progress in Key Stage 2 and termly analysis checks the number of points progress.
Please note that careful monitoring of pupil progress is important whilst the school is subject to RI monitoring. Points progress can be set at 13.3 in KS 2 ; but targets for pupils can be set to show 14+ points of progress in KS 2.
Examination of the school data shows that the percentage of Pupil Premium pupils in the school is above the National average, EAL is well below average and SEND at School Action is above average whilst pupils supported at School Action Plus is under the National average.
There is a focus on targeting the interventions according to pupil need and the information from Pupil Progress meetings will inform this. The school has agreed to look at the impact of the Pupil Premium in each year group so that there is a decreasing need to play the Year 6 ‘catch up’ game. Tracking is forensic and looks at all vulnerable groups.
School has previously used the Venn Diagram to track progress in Key Stage 2. Governors have requested that the Venn Diagrams are used to enable a visual representation to be available to track the Pupil Premium Pupils who are also in other vulnerable groups. The school is already looking at the progress of the groups identified on the Raise online document.
Previously too many children spent too long in interventions and there was no entry and exit data available to measure the real impact. The AssociateHeadteacher is addressing this issue and is working with all teachers and support assistants to look at the impact on progress.
School must ensure that there is monitoring of impact of interventions which are targeting pupils’ reading so that the gains are mapped and tracked.
There is a comprehensive spending plan available from the school which gives clear and detailed spending analysis for the pupil premium funding. For some of the planned activities there is hard data, which is available to show the impact ; for some of the other activities there is only soft data, which can be presented.
The school will look to increase the detail of the soft data available to support the impact of the interventions and actions on the plan.
The interventions planned include :
Saturday School and holiday school, Third Learning Space, Reading Recovery, 1 to 1 tuition , Reading Cafés, Writing interventions.
There is real clarity with respect to the impact of the interventions planned. There are different expectations attached to different interventions.
The Pupil Premium money is also used to part fund a number of initiatives to improve the percentage of quality first teaching in the school.
There is a real need to improve the quality of teaching in the school as during the learning walk the quality of teaching was variable, with currently 53% of teaching judged to be good and a target of 90% to be good or better by July.
There is also an urgent need to check the quality of teachers’ spelling and there were a number of errors on displays and on the whiteboards in lessons seen.
The school has also employed a translator to enable the school to support parents with their work with reading at home. The school has records of attendance at the various workshops and cafés held at the school .
There is also funding available for specific SENCO time as well as the ongoing work of the Inclusion team who is now leading and monitoring the interventions in place in the school.
The school is able to show and track the impact of the interventions and this is clearly demonstrated in the paper work submitted at the time of the review. Pupils who receive support for social and emotional needs are carefully selected.
The school is also keeping very accurate records of attendance of all groups of pupils and has good case studies to show the tracking of this.
It is accepted that as well as progress and attainment , the attendance of some Pupil Premium children gives cause for concern and the school acknowledges the need for good attendance to increase attainment and progress.
Leadership and management:
The Associate Headteacher has a clear action plan and is now holding teachers to account for the tracking and teaching of pupils and in particular pupils in receipt of the Pupil Premium. It is evident that systems have been put into place to ensure rapid progress. The Executive Head and Associate Head have clear direction for raising attainment and progress of Pupil Premium children. Governors share this vision and have a good understanding of Pupil Premium.
The Associate Headteacher will continue the half-termly review of pupil progress with a clear focus on the Pupil Premium Pupils in the school. The forensic analysis of this data will be shared with Senior and Middle Leaders as well as class teachers. This work will also allow the Associate Headteacher to hold all teachers to account for the progress of pupils and the renewed focus on the quality of teaching and learning will also be carefully monitored and evaluated.
The barriers to learning at the school include the high percentage of EAL pupils and the school is working more closely with the parents of this group to raise expectation and aspiration. The school is also addressing the low levels of literacy in EYFS and progressively pupils will have better literacy skills will impact on progress across KS 1 and KS 2 There has also been action taken to address the legacy of poor teaching and evidence in the school shows that there are green shoots where the progress of pupils is improving. The introduction of the Pupil Premium Conferences where the class teacher works with Pupil Premium children to diagnose need and to deliver the targeted interventions should have an impact. At this time the Pupil Premium Conferences need more careful and close monitoring to ensure that the interventions are specific according to pupil need.
LEARNING WALKS
From the learning walk and work scrutiny the following points were noted :
- New marking policy introduced in December is being adhered to
- Some books show good progress, forexample Y2, Y5 and Y6
- Mis-spellings on teachers’ boards
- Mis-spellings in displays
- Evidence of Pupils ‘doing’ rather than ‘learning’ (e.g. making sandwiches)
- Confusion with the genre of instructional text
- In lessons most pupils were engaged and on task
- Good structure of Daily Support Reading in Y1
- Good Teaching and Learning in Nurture classroom
- Some evidence of high level of challenge in Upper KS 2 Numeracy
- Good engagement by children in Third Space Learning intervention
The school has set aspirational targets for the Summer of 2015 and the school is confident that the targets can be realised.
Targets for pupil premium
Reception:
Raise % of children achieving good level of development from 42.9 to 55%
Narrow the gap between PP and non PP PSED by 50%
Phonics:
Raise % of children achieving expected standards at phonics screening test from 70% to 78%
Phonics re-take
60% of disadvantaged children achieve phonics retake
Year 2:
Subject / 2b+ (last year) / 2a+ / 3+Maths / 80% (76%) / 55% (48%) / 25% (21%)
Writing / 70% (67%) / 40% (36%) / 16% (13%)
Reading / 85% (81%) / 57% (52%) / 35% (31%)
Year 6:
Subject( % 2014) / Level 4 / Level 5 / 2 Levels of Progress / 3 Levels of Progress / APS Progress KS2 / APS gap KS2
Maths / 80% (66%) / 30% (25%) / 95% (71%) / 30% (11%) / 14 / 1.5 (3.1)
Writing / 85% (85%) / 25% (20%) / 100% (91%) / 35% (31%) / 14 / 1.2 (2.9)
Reading / 82% (66%) / 35% (25%) / 95% (75%) / 30%(18%) / 14 / 1.2 (2.4)
Combined / 75% (58%) / 20% (14%)
APPENDIX 1 : ACTION PLAN
Brimsdown Primary School Pupil Premium Action PlanAssociate Headteacher / Ms D Lang
Executive Headteacher / Mr M Kleiner-Mann
Chair of Governors / Mr S Stewart
Reviewer / Mrs J Low
Date of Review / 13 February 2015
PUPIL PREMIUM PROFILE
Number of eligible pupils / 317 (160 boys, 157 girls)
Amount per pupil / £1300 (1 LAC at £1,900)
Total pupil premium budget / £414,000
Executive Summary
- So far the school has introduced a number of interventions to support pupils and to close the gap.
- The main focus has had to be on improving the reading and writing of pupils and much of the intervention is being targeted in the year group with higher number of pupil premium pupils.
- The school is monitoring all interventions carefully and each intervention has a clear expectation. This differentiated approach to the use of interventions should accelerate progress of pupil premium pupils and should also close the gap.
- The school is also making good use of the attainment on entry of pupils to forensically analyse the pupils’ attainment and progress (whether accelerating or stalling) to ensure that the interventions are bespoke according to need.
- The action plan aims
- to reduce the attainment gap between the school’s disadvantaged pupils and others nationally.
- to raise the in-school and attainment and progress of both disadvantaged pupils and their peers.
- to increase the attendance of the school’s disadvantaged pupils
- to ensure equality of opportunity for the school’s disadvantaged pupils
- to develop new approaches to learning to ensure that all pupils in the school have the skills and knowledge to enable them to deal with the transfer to the next stage of their education
Strategy / Outcomes and Success Criteria / Owner / Milestones / Completed / Review Date / Cost per pupil / Total Cost
Update website with spending plan tabled at review / Clear paper work which complies with DfE guideline / Associate Head / Paper work on website / Feb half term / 1 Mar 2015 / Nil / Already costed in plan
Provision Mapping / Improved use of Pupil Asset / Associate Head / Secure Paper work in place
Investigate use of Bluehills software / 2 March 2015 / 20 March 2015 / Time from Associate HT / Already costed in plan
Links with KS 1 teachers / Verification and checking of Attainment on Entry
Moderated judgements provide evidence of accuracy
Skills and knowledge required for all pupils to be successful at KS 2 : closing gap and improved engagement / KS 2 Lead
Literacy and Numeracy Leads / Meeting with Infant School
Agreed skills and knowledge for all pupils : emerging , secure , mastery .
Paper work and tracking sheet designed and agreed / June 2015 / 10 June 2015 / Time for meetings / Already costed in plan
Observations of Interventions : in particular the Pupil Premium Conferences / Accelerate progress in reading and writing
Improved engagement of pupils in interventions
Fewer interventions in place
Modelling of interventions / Associate Head
HLTA / TA
Associate Head/ KS 2 teachers / Development and training of TA’s
TA’s attendance at Pupil Progress meetings
By April 2015 80% of pupils are making good or better progress ; 25% are making more than expected progress
By July 2015 90% of pupils are making good or better progress
Gaps in progress are no greater than those nationally. / 10 March 2015
March 2015
April 2015
July 2015
July 2015 / 16 April 2015
30 April 2015
6 July 2015
6 July 2015 / Already costed in plan
Strategic monitoring of Pupil Premium plan and actions / M+E timeline in place
Clarity of the monitoring of Pupil Premium
Impact of interventions and actions evident in reduction of gaps between pp and non pp pupils
Teacher Planning checks
Pupil Voice / Associate Head / Strategic role developed
Paper work published
Pupil Progress meetings show increasing progress and gaps narrowing
Meetings with Pupil Premium pupils are on calendar to check and verify impact of teaching and interventions
By April 2015 80% of pupils are making good or better progress ; 25% are making more than expected progress
By July 2015 90% of pupils are making good or better progress
Gaps in progress are no greater than those nationally. / Timeline published Feb half-term
Monitoring will be ongoing
Monitoring will be ongoing / July 2015 / Time for Associate Head / Already costed in plan
Case Studies to build using Raise Scatterplot / Paper work in Place for Ofsted
Understanding of staff regarding ‘outliers’ on Raise / Associate Head/ Senco / Paper work ready for monitoring visit
Fewer pupils as ‘outliers’ in next Raise / June 2015
Oct 2015 / July 2015 / Time for Senco
Training time for staff / Already costed in plan
Attendance / Gap between Pupil Premium and non Pupil Premium reducing / Link Team
Attendance Team / Half termly monitoring of attendance
Attendance workshops / Ongoing
Ongoing / July 2015 / Already costed in plan
Develop Venn Diagram to show membership of other vulnerable groups / High visibility of pupils receiving Pupil Premium who are also in other groups / Associate Head / Diagram shows membership and checks progress / Ongoing / July 2015 / Already costed in plan
Extend and improve Reading Cafés / Increasing attendance of parents and children at the evening events / Literacy Lead / Paper work to show attendance as well as reading age scores to increase / Ongoing / July 2015 / Already costed in plan
Use of Third Learning Space to boost Numeracy / Gap between non FSM and FSM children is closing and is no greater than national / Numeracy Lead / Attendance records
Pupil progress records
Feedback from pupil / Ongoing / May 2015 / Already costed in plan
APPENDIX TWO : SELF EVALUATION , completed by school prior to Review