Pupil Premium & Catch Up

What is Pupil Premium?

The Pupil Premium (PP) provides additional funding for publicly funded schools in England on top of the main funding a school receives. It is targeted at pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to ensure they benefit from the same opportunities as pupils from less deprived families and consequently close the gap between them and their peers.

Summary of the Main Barriers to Educational Achievement that Disadvantaged Pupils Face at St George’s

Relative poverty is reflected in the number of pupils that are registered as being eligible for Free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last six years (exceeding one-third of the school roll). For some this means less access to support at home, less cultural capital and less ambition than is the norm. In most year groups, the proportion of pupils with high educational attainment on entry is below average. The school has a multi-cultural intake and pupil mobility is above national averages. The proportion of pupils that have English as an additional language is significantly above national average. The school is in the top quintile for deprivation. Some of our disadvantaged pupils have special educational needs and/or behavioural and/or mental health issues.

Funding

Funding for 2021/22 is £955 for every pupil in receipt of free school meals in the last 6 years (Ever 6) and £2,345 for every pupil who has been in local authority care.

The expected PP funding for this year is £250,210.

How the funding is used in our School

In addition to the ongoing policy of maintaining small class sizes, the funding has been deployed in a number of ways, with a specific focus on Maths, Literacy and Extended Learning. The school has used the funding provided under Pupil Premium to support the education of its disadvantaged pupils and provide help for those whose levels of attainment are below expectation and also in the following ways:

The Pandemic has had an adverse impact on the learning and progress of disadvantaged groups in all subjects as some students and parents were unable to access resources online during the first wave. So, although funding has been deployed in several ways, a specific focus was placed on providing students with a laptop to enable online learning and a dongle if there was no internet access. This will ensure technology is no longer a barrier to learning.

The remainder of Pupil Premium was used to support the education of its disadvantaged pupils and provide help for those whose levels of attainment are below expectation in the following ways:

Providing the highest quality of teaching and learning. (Research from The Sutton Trust shows that this has the biggest impact on the progress of disadvantaged pupils)
Giving effective feedback which is integral to high quality teaching.
Consistent data tracking to inform and strengthen parental engagement and raise standards in lessons.
Effective use of reporting and monitoring systems to identify need and to determine the necessary interventions.
Provision of after school and Saturday interventions for students selected based on COVID catch up data,
Extra tuition after school, on Saturdays and during School Holidays – subject specific and exam syllabus – including small groups and one to one session.
English classes after school, on Saturdays and during School Holidays for those with little or no English.
Cross Curricular Literacy and Numeracy programmes. Provision of literacy materials and reading books.
Support for Gifted and Talented pupils, for e.g. Gifted & Talented workshops.
Booster classes for those pupils who are achieving below expectations.

Actions focused on enrichment beyond the curriculum:

Weekly after School Youth Club with various Sport and other activities.
Daily Homework Club to allow students to complete their work in a quiet environment with staff on hand to support.
University visits and taster days including Oxford and Cambridge.

Actions focused on social, emotional, mental and behavioural issues:

Mentoring and counselling.
Dedicated 'Learning Support Centre' staff to allow disruptive pupils to learn in a supported environment until they are ready to reintegrate.
Epraise reward system to encourage effort and attainment.
Provision for 'nurture groups' ensuring small group sizes for vulnerable pupils.
Free breakfast for students arriving early to ensure that they are sufficiently nourished to aid concentration during lessons.
After school homework support with evening meal.

Progress 8 Scores for all Year 11 students was +0.46. Pupils on pupil premium attained a Progress 8 score of +0.05, indicating the progress 8 gap needs to be reduced further. In Ebacc subjects’ students on pupil premium achieved Progress 8 score of +0.3.

Percentage of Grade 5+ in English and maths for all Year 11 students was 57%. Percentage of Grade 5+ in English and maths for pupil premium students was 53%.

17.45% pupils achieved between grade 9-8
30% pupils achieved between grades 9-7

13% of pupil premium students achieved between grade 9-8
26% of pupil premium students achieved between grade 9-8

The above indicates there was only a small gap between the attainment of higher ability PP students.

The Year 7 literacy and numeracy catch-up premium gives schools additional funding to support year 7 pupils who did not achieve the expected standard in reading or maths at the end of key stage 2 (KS2). The intention is to accelerate pupil progress during year 7 so that children are achieving in line with age related expectations as quickly as possible. Schools are responsible for deciding how this funding should be spent. The funding is £500 per pupil.

The Year 7 literacy and numeracy catch-up premium received in 2017/18 was £7,047; 2018/19 was £8,268 and 2019/20 was £9,630. Each year the school uses the premium towards funding the following activities/areas to help enrich our Year 7 pupils:

Morning paired reading.
Saturday literacy class/book club.
SEN (Special Educational Needs) homework club with a particular focus on literacy and numeracy.
Provision of literacy and numeracy booklets.
Increased provision of text books and reading libraries dedicated to specific subject areas.
Provision of reading books for Year 7 for reading during holidays.
Supporting pupils with uniform and access to other services.

We are looking at systems of evaluation (both, internal and external) to assess the impact of the catch-up funding received. Teachers report that the focus on literacy and numeracy enables disadvantaged pupils to better access the secondary curriculum.

For the current academic year our pupil premium spending and our literacy and catch-up premium will be allocated under the same headings as last academic year. We are using the ‘Access Project’ in Year 10, 11 and Sixth Form to ensure that our highly able, disadvantaged students are getting additional support to close the gap on their advantaged peers.

Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 2022 - 2023 16 19 Tuition Funding