PUPIL PREMIUM LEAD NETWORK

TUESDAY 14 JUNE 2016, BUCKLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL

NETWORK NOTES

School / Contact / Title / Attendance
Infant Schools
Beauclerc Infant School / Chennestone Primary Sch / Gail Foot / Pastoral Co-Ordinator / Present
Hawkedale Infant School / Wendy Francis-White / Pupil Premium Lead / Apologies
Littleton Infant School / Rachael Barton / Headteacher / Apologies
Primary Schools
Ashford C of E Primary Sch / Anna Witt / SENCO / Apologies
Ashford Park Primary Sch / Lindsey Makepeace / AHT/SENCO / Apologies
Buckland Primary School / Alison Pearce-Kelly (CHAIR) / Pupil Premium Lead / Present
Beauclearc Infant School/
Chennestone Primary Sch / Sue Jackson / Headteacher / Present
Clarendon Primary School / Jo Peel / Acting DHT / Present
Echelford Primary School / Hannah Cunnah / Inclusion Manager / Apologies
Kenyngton Manor Primary / Rob Pantling / Partnership DHT / Apologies
Laleham C of E Primary / Neil Meehan / Headteacher / Present
Our Lady of the Rosary RC / Rachel Glynn / DHT / Apologies
Riverbridge Primary School / Paul Grimwood / Leadership Consultant, Lumen Learning Trust / Apologies
St Ignatius Catholic Primary / Anna Chalcraft / Pupil Premium Lead/SENCO / Present
St Michael Catholic Primary / Kelly Knipe / Pupil Premium Lead/ DHT / Apologies
Spelthorne School / Sarah Robinson / Pupil Premium Lead / Present
Stanwell Fields CE Primary / Deborah Davies / DHT / Apologies
Town Farm Primary School / Andy Hayes / AHT/Inclusion / Present
Secondary Schools
Bishop Wand CE School / Yvonne Hunt / DHT / Present
Matthew Arnold School / Laura McSharry / AHT/Inclusion / Apologies
St Paul’s Catholic College / Andrew Bull / DHT/Inclusion / Apologies
Thamesmead School / Caroline Oates (CO) / AHT/Inclusion / Apologies
Thomas Knyvett College / Jackie Dillaway / DHT/Inclusion / Apologies
Spelthorne Schools Together
Spelthorne Schools Together / Alexandra Williams (AW) / Confederation Project Mgr / Present
  1. Welcome and Apologies

AW welcomed the group, apologies are listed above.

  1. Feedback from the Babcock Growth Mind Set Conference 24 May 16 – PRESENTATION

A P-K, JP and SR gave a brief presentation to the group following their attendance of this conference. The presentation will be emailed with these notes.

  1. Collaborative Projects update

Developing a Growth Mind Set Culture (Buckland, Clarendon, Laleham, St. Michael’s, Spelthorne): the group meets regularly. Spelthorne has begun the project in school with a group from Y4. SR described how she had taken them out of class to teach them about Growth Mind Set. The children had then created cards which showed their negative reactions to challenges on one side, then, with coaching they turned the card over and turned the thought into a positive. These were laminated and could be used by the children over the following days to help them to ‘re-programme’ their thinking.

Growth and Fixed mind set hand puppets were also used for younger age groups, and a ‘Mistake of the Week’ crown which encourages viewing mistakes as how we learn.

The remaining schools will launch Growth Mindset as a whole-school initiative from September 2016. They have a joint INSET day planned for 31 October.

Developing Speech, Language and Communication (Riverbridge): PG reported that they had taken the first steps in this project. They have worked on ensuring that the classrooms at Riverbridge are language rich. They have audited staff’s understanding of Speech, Language and Communication in order to inform training needs. They have identified that some children in the nursery, and some joining reception class have very poor language skills; if not corrected, this translates to KS1 and KS2 SATs results that are below the potential of the child. They will be addressing this in this project.

Original initiatives continue and have been reinvigorated. TAs are being recruited for September. Talk Boost (ICAN Meath) has been successful in Y1. They have had an SL&C audit from Babcock. Jan Ronicle is running this project.

Coaching and Mentoring for Learning (Chennestone, Beauclearc and Bishop Wand): the group is looking at creating their own test similar to the BPSD test which gives a numerical value to ‘soft’ outcomes such as attitude, mood etc. GF has worked on coaching props with some of the children. Parents have also been talked to about the project. GF stressed the importance of treating the children as individuals and designing your support accordingly. Some Y4 and Y5 children had visited Bishop Wand; they had loved being in the secondary environment and the experience had enabled these children to understand the road ahead a lot better, and to mentally prepare for this.

  1. Sharing Best Practice: Measuring the impact, especially with Qualitative Data

JP said that residential trips have a huge impact on pupils, but it is very difficult to measure that impact using data only. Pupil voice is one way of showing impact for ‘soft’ outcomes. Videos, written comments and case studies are useful. SJ says at Chennestone they like to ‘capture a moment from the classroom’ or a ‘parent response’ on film.

PG said that at Lumen they use ELSA; having baseline data at the start of ELSA and an increased mark at the end. The BPSD form can be adapted for the needs of the school, this gives a numerical score. Other similar tests are widely available.

  1. Sharing Best Practice: Audit Trail – How do your account for your Pupil Premium Funding?

AH said that they have a ‘Responsive Spend’ fund taken from Pupil Premium to cover unexpected expenses throughout the year (eg. trip subsidies, which are capped at £250 per PP pupil who needs support for their time at Town Farm), resources etc. Town Farm analyses interventions each term and use those which have had most impact again. They have a 3-year strategic plan for the school which assumes a decline in funding.

At Spelthorne school, they break down the PP funding as they would with a SEN Provision Map, allocating funds to HSLW, Support staff, SEN/PP cross-over etc.

SJ said that at Chennestone and Beauclerc they have a Pupil Premium spending plan which identifies 4 major areas: Strategic, Learning, Removing Barriers, Opportunities; PP is allocated to these areas. SJ said that they have interventions that would not run if they did not have the PP funding.

YH said that Bishop Wand has two areas: Pastoral and Teaching and Learning which PP funds are allocated to. Borderline pupils are supported too.

NM asked the group how they responded to parent questions; sometimes there is a misunderstanding that your child should receive exactly the PP amount of that year, but government guidelines say it is not allocated in this way. AH said they have a standard letter they give to parents explaining how PP is allocated. AH has shared this with the Network already; it can be accessed here: Challenge the Gap/PP Lead Parental Engagement (ctrl + click).

  1. OFSTED Update: Has anyone recently had OFSTED at school? What did they ask about Pupil Premium? How did you answer?

AH recently had OFSTED at Town Farm. He stressed the importance of having all the necessary data easily and quickly available for the inspectors. At Town Farm, they had folders prepared in advance, with analysis of every area of spend. All data led back to ensuring benefit for the children – progress for those eligible for Pupil Premium funding.

AH said they have Learning Mentors at Town Farm, they could clearly demonstrate the Learning Mentors on behaviour. AH said a question that OFSTED did pose was “What does Town Farm provide for white British pupils eligible for Pupil Premium?” The data they have was able to demonstrate this aspect.

He told he group that having prepared to answer questions on PP for OFSTED, the inspectors actually asked other members of staff about it rather than the PP Lead. This shows the importance of ensuring that all relevant staff are aware of which pupils in their class are in receipt of PP, and how that funding is used to narrow the gap in their school.

The group discussed SEND and PP entitlement; some schools had big overlaps here, but some did not. The group commented on how this shows that each cohort has its own characteristics.

  1. Updates from the SST and an opportunity for schools to update on any items required

No further updates.

  1. Agree Agenda for Next Meeting(s)

No Future Agenda items agreed. Date of next meeting: Tuesday 4 October at 1.30pm at Spelthorne School*(*subsequently changed to Buckland Primary School).