Pupil PremiumReviews
Policy and ProcedureJanuary 2017

As part of STAR Teaching School Alliance’s School-to-school support packages, we are now offering Pupil Premium Reviews.

Rationale

Our Pupil Premium Review Package is based on a highly successful TSC review model and will provide challenge and support for schools, whilst offering robust suggestions for a Pupil Premium strategy based upon objective, fair and based securely on evidence.

NLEs working with colleague headteachers in other TSAs have identified the following factorsas being particularly useful:

  • reassurance and evidence to back up headteacher judgements;
  • a report that identified strengths and celebrated good practice in addition to clear targets for improvement;
  • headteachers appreciated being in control and working in genuine partnership with colleagues;
  • the fact that the visits enabled heads to move their Pupil Premium strategy forward.

Aims

The aim is for headteacher colleagues to access an open, honest, supportive and constructivePupil Premium Review that will utilise professional dialogue to move schools forward with their Pupil Premium strategy.

We are also keen to identify, celebrate and share good practice.

Procedure

Pupil Premium Reviews may be requested by any school within or outside the alliance. Sometimes, this review will be commissioned by an external partnersuch as the Local Authority or RSC. It may be in response to recommendations made by Ofsted, or at the request of governors who wish to receive an objective external opinion of provision. The Alliance’s Partnership School Review leadership team will identify schools within the TSA who may benefit from a review and offer this process; however schools are also welcome to apply for a review as and when they feel that this may be beneficial. It is expected that headteachers will welcome a review visit within a month of the initial offer from the alliance. After a school has agreed to partake in the review process, the headteacher will be asked to complete a pre-visit proforma identifying strengths of the school and suggesting areas for focus during the review. This will enable the leadership team to identify a Lead Reviewer. Obviously any conflict of interest will be avoided.

The visit will take place on one day whereby staff and reviewers will share professional dialogue. It is hoped that schools will welcome this peer review model whereby colleagues will work in genuine partnership in terms of providing challenge and support to move a school forward on their improvement journey.

APupil Premium Review is not an inspection, however the process is clearly based on current Ofsted documentation.A report will be produced for the school identifying strengths and areas for development, signposting relevant support as necessary. This report will indicate recommendations for a future Pupil premium strategy.

The review team will follow the guidance in the current Ofsted School Inspection Handbook and The Common Inspection Framework: Education, Skills and Early Years, in addition to utilising the professional expertise of reviewers and various documentation from the STAR Alliance.

Review Team

It is anticipated that most reviews will be led by an NLE; however larger schools and collaborations may require a larger team. This will be arranged by the Partnership School Review Leadership Team in conjunction with the Lead Reviewer and headteacher. Collaborations may be reviewed as one school, rather than separate schools, where appropriate.

Lead Reviewers

The Lead Reviewer is crucial to the whole process. Lead Reviewers are recruited and undertake high quality training, facilitated by the Alliance utilising expertise from a registered inspector and the TSC, in order to prepare colleagues to lead a Pupil Premium Review.

The Lead Reviewer will be responsible for:

  • Setting the tone and ethos of the review to ensure the aims are met.
  • Phoning the headteacher and negotiating the timetable for the visit.
  • Liaising with the STAR Leadership team and the headteacher to formulate a review team appropriate to the needs of the school as identified in the pre-visit proforma.
  • Reading the Pupil Premium Strategy and additional informationin advance of the visit.
  • Liaising with the headteacher of the school to formulate a detailed timetable for the day to be issued at least one week in advance of the visit.
  • Leading and co-ordinating the review.
  • Providing verbal feedback to the headteacher and governors at the end of the review.
  • Writing a formal report following the review identifying strengths and areas of development. Note: The draft will be shared with the headteacher.
  • Conducting a follow-up visit to support the school in implementing recommendations and structuring a future Pupil Premium Strategy.

Additional Reviewers

Additional reviewers may be other headteachers from the Alliance or Senior leaderswith experience in developing effective strategies to support learners in receipt of the Pupil Premium. They will work extremely closely under the leadership of the Lead Reviewer.

Components – See sample timetable

The following activities will be automatically included within the review:

The Pupil Premium Strategy, summary SEF, or the school’s own self-evaluation materials, should be shared with the Lead Reviewer pre-visit.

The Lead Reviewer will review the strategy or the school’s own self-evaluation materials with the headteacher (Senior Leadership Team welcome to attend at the discretion of the headteacher).

Athorough analysisof pupil performance data – Please be prepared to share a summary of in year progress and attainment.

Learning walk with the headteacher.

Lesson observations; work scrutiny and observation of interventions.

Pupil conferencing with learners in receipt of the Pupil Premium.

Meeting with leader(s)e.g. the SENCo or Pupil Premium Leader.

Depending on the timetable and focus for the review, headteacher colleagues may also request additional activities, for example,:

Meeting with governors.

Meeting parents.

Moderation of teacher assessment.

Professional development

Headteachers and members of the senior leadership team are strongly encouraged to accompany the reviewer during aspects of the review e.g.learning walk and work scrutiny to support their own professional development. Professional dialogue with the headteacher and members of the senior leadership team is an essential part of the review.Further opportunities for professional development may also be identified as part of the report.

Evidenceforms

We will use a common evidence form for all reviews to ensure evidence is collected in a consistent way and shape our thinking during the review.The evidence forms will be used to identify strengths and areas for development. Ultimately they will be used to summarise key points for the verbal feedback and to write the review report.The lead reviewer will collect together all of the evidence forms at the end of the visit. Once the Headteacher has agreed the draft report and the final version has been sent to the headteacher, the lead reviewer will send electronic versions of the evidence forms to both the school and the Alliance before shredding the originals.

Disclaimer

As previously mentioned, a Pupil Premium Review is not an inspection and as such reviewers will not check, for example, the website or safeguarding documentation for compliance. We also wish to remind colleagues that reviewers will endeavour to offer robust suggestions for a Pupil Premium Strategy that are objective, fair and based securely on evidence. However, headteacher colleagues are asked to bear in mind the fact that this is a peer review and can only be based on the evidence seen within the one day visit. See the Partnership School Review disclaimer on p8.

Reporting procedures

During the professional dialogue at the end of the day, the reviewing team will share a verbal report with the headteacher. Adraft report will be sent to the school within 5 working days and once this is checked by another lead reviewer, the final report will be sent to the school within 10 working days of the review.This will include areas for development.

The headteacher is encouraged to share their report with staff, governors and their LA or Academy Adviser.

The host school is invited to feedback on the Pupil Premium Review process and if they consent this will be used as part of a research project.

Confidentiality

The review is a confidential process and the report will be owned by the school. However, were the team to identify significant child protection concerns or safeguarding issues then these would be reported to the school’s Designated Senior Person or the Local Authority Designated Officer as appropriate.

Appendices

  1. Code of Conduct
  2. Flow chart
  3. Pre-visit proforma
  4. Disclaimer to be signed by the headteacher
  5. Sample timetable
  6. Pupil Premium Review Report
  7. Pupil Premium Reviews vs. Ofsted – What are the differences?

Pupil Premium Reviews

Code of Conduct

Reviewer’s Code of Conduct

Reviewers are required to uphold the highest professional standards in their work and to ensure that everyone they encounter during a Pupil Premium Review is treated fairly and with respect. These standards are assured through a code of conduct, which is set out below.

Reviewers should:

  • evaluate objectively and be impartial
  • evaluate provision in line with frameworks and national standards
  • base all evaluations on clear and robust evidence
  • report honestly and clearly, ensuring that suggested recommendations are fair and reasonable
  • carry out their work with integrity, treating all those they meet with courtesy, respect and sensitivity
  • endeavour to minimise the stress on those involved in the review
  • act in the best interests and well-being of pupils
  • maintain purposeful and productive dialogue with those being reviewed, and communicate recommendations
  • respect the confidentiality of information, particularly about individuals and their work
  • respond appropriately to reasonable requests
  • take prompt and appropriate action on any safeguarding or health and safety issues.

School Code of Conduct

The Alliance expects schools to play their part by ensuring that reviewers can conduct their visit in an open and honest way, and evaluate the school objectively. The Alliance expects school staff, including governors, to:

  • apply their own codes of conduct in their dealings with reviewers
  • enable reviewers to conduct their visit in an open and honest way
  • enable reviewers to evaluate the school objectively
  • provide evidence that will enable the reviewers to report honestly, fairly and reliably about their provision
  • liaise with reviewers to minimise disruption, stress and bureaucracy
  • ensure that the health and safety of reviewers is not prejudiced while they are on the school’s premises
  • maintain a purposeful professional dialogue with the reviewers

Pupil Premium Review Process flow chart

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Partnership School Reviews

Pre-visit proforma

School:………………………………………………………………….

Headteacher:………………………………………………………………….

Contact phone number:………………………………………………………………….

Contact e-mail:………………………………………………………………….

Planning andpreparation template

[Insert schoolname] School’sPupilPremium Profile[Insert school year]
Totalnumberof pupilsin theschool
Numberof PP-eligiblepupils:
Amount perpupil:
Totalpupilpremiumbudget:
Evidenceof schoolperformance
KeystatementsfromOfsted report(s) relating to theperformanceof disadvantaged pupils:
Summaryof school’sperformancedata: / Does theschool’s performance dataindicatethatattainment andprogressfor disadvantagedpupils areimproving, andthatgapsareclosing,bothwithinthe schoolandcomparedtothenational average?
School’spupilpremium statement (pupil premium strategy statement from 2016-17): / Does theschool’s publishedpupil premiumstatementclearly describehowthe school isplanningto allocatefundingtoraiseattainment and progressfor disadvantaged pupils and closegaps?

This proforma will be used by the Partnership School Review Leadership team to allocate a Lead Reviewer to your school. They in turn will use the proforma to identify the additional members of the review team.

Please leave the sections for notes blank, as they will be completed by the Lead Reviewer during the phonecall to negotiate the timetable.

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Partnership School Review Disclaimer

School:………………………………………………………………….

Headteacher:………………………………………………………………….

Reviewers:………………………………………………………………….

As part of the Pupil Premium Review, members of the review team will look at the school’s website. The purpose of this is to gather general information about the school before they conduct the review. Reviewers will not undertake checks to ensure the school adheres to the guidance from the DfE about what the website should contain; nor will they review and consider on-line policies such as child protection or compliance with safeguarding requirements, unless this is specifically agreedfocus for the review requested by the headteacher. However, if in the course of gathering general information, the reviewers note any obvious omissions or points for improvement they will make every effort to bring these to the headteacher’s attention, during the course of the review.

Please note that the review team will endeavour to offer robust recommendations for a Pupil Premium Strategy that are objective, fair and based securely on evidence. However, headteacher colleagues are asked to bear in mind the fact that this is a peer review and can only be based on the evidence seen within the one-day visit.

I have read, understand and accept the points above.

Headteacher signature:…………………………………………Date: ………………….

Pupil Premium ReviewSample Timetable

Namesof keypeopleto speak to and outline itinerary
8:30 / Arrive at school & ask HT to sign disclaimer
Meeting with the HT; Tour of school/ clarification about timetable arrangements
8:45 – 9:10 / Talk with parents outside and observe children coming in to school
9:10 – 9:40 / Documentation and meeting with Headteacher: Pupil Premium Strategy, tracking data, SEF and documentation
9:40 – 10:30 / Learning walk throughout school, focus upon support for learners in receipt of PP
10:30 – 10:50 / Break & collating evidence forms
10:50 – 12:00 / Observation Y2 Literacy – (with HT. 20 mins) 40 mins in class and 30 mins pupil conferencing with books
12:00 – 12:20 / Feedback to teacher
12:20 – 12:30 / Documentation
12:30 – 13:00 / Team meeting and lunch
13:00 - 13:30 / Meeting with SENCo/ PP Leader/ PP governor
- attainment and progress of PP children,assessment and tracking,
documentation inc. Transition
13:30 – 14:15 / Pupil conference: speaking to PP children about their learning, and support
14:15 – 14:40 / Meeting with English & maths subject leaders
14:40 – 15:00 / Team meeting – beginning to write notes for ROV & collate feedback
15:00 – 15:30 / Feedback to HT and Chair of Governors

This will be an extremely busy day. Please do help us to keep to time.

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Pupil Premium Review Report

School:………………………………………………………………….

Headteacher:………………………………………………………………….

Reviewer:………………………………………………………………….

Schoolvisit [insert date]
Summaryof school’s existingareasof focus and approaches / Areaone:
Focus:
Strategies:
Success criteria:
Areatwo:
Focus:
Strategies:
Success criteria:
Summaryof how effectivelyschooluses evidenceto identify effective approaches / Areaone:
Areatwo:
Area(including sources of evidence) / Strengths / Areasfor development
Pupilcharacteristics
  • Interview with pupil premiumco-ordinator (PPCo) or member of staff with PP responsibility
  • Published data

Achievement
  • Interview with PPCo
  • Publisheddata
  • Current progress data
  • Lesson observation andwork scrutiny

Area(including sources of evidence) / Strengths / Areasfor development
LeadershipManagement
  • Interview withHead Teacher (HT) and Chair ofGovernors (CoG)
  • Interview with PPCo
  • Scrutinyofpupil premium policy documents
  • ScrutinyofSEF
  • MostrecentOfsted report
  • Publishedand currentdata

Area(including sources of evidence) / Strengths / Areasfor development
Teaching
  • Lesson observation/ learningwalks,to includework scrutiny anddiscussionwith teachers
  • Observationofoutof class interventions
  • Current progress data

Behavioursafety
  • Learningwalk and discussionwith PPCo
  • Scrutinyofbehaviour records

Evaluation of impact, drafting action planand next steps
  • DiscussionwithHT/ CoG/PPCo

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Pupil Premium Reviews vs. Ofsted

What are the key differences?

Pupil Premium Review / Ofsted
The review is carried out in genuine partnership with the school with the aim of providing both challenge and support. It does not carry the authority of Ofsted. / The school undergoes a formal inspection commissioned by the government as an independent external authoritative audit including checking compliance e.g. safeguarding and website audit.
The review team are all serving practitioners. / There might be a serving headteacher on the team.
The report is owned by the school and shared at the discretion of the headteacher. / The report is public.
The scope is children in receipt of the Pupil Premium but the focus is flexible and the review team can be tailored to the needs of the school. / There are strictly pre-defined criteria.
The review provides professional development for all involved. / May involve some professional development for the headteacher.
The report provides suggested practical support for improvement. / Sets targets for improvement but does not offer support.
Shares specific examples of best practice throughout the Alliance. / Publishes generalised areas of best practice in the report.
The timetable is negotiated with the headteacher to meet the needs of the school. / Timing is controlled by the inspection team.
Forms part of a two yearly cycle of evaluation for all schools. / Inspect different grades of school on different timescales and does not inspect Outstanding schools.

Many thanks to the following headteachers:

  • Mrs Kate Williamson – South Otterington CE Primary (Northallerton Small School’s Group)
  • Mr Ian Yapp – Tadcaster Riverside Community Primary School
  • Mr Mike White – Brompton on Swale CE Primary School

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