Pupil Premium Statement 2015-16.

Introduction to the Pupil Premium.

The Pupil Premium is additional funding given to schools so that they can support particular groups of pupils who are known to be at risk of underachievement and close the attainment gap between them and their peers.

The Pupil Premium is allocated to schools for pupils, in Years R to 11, that are known to be eligible for free school meals (FSM) or who have been eligible for FSM in the past six years (Ever 6).

In the 2014 to 2015 financial year, schools received£1,300 for each child registered as eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years.

In the 2015 to 2016 financial year, schools will receive the following funding for each child registered as eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years:

  • £1,320 for primary-aged pupils .

Schools will also receive £1,900 for each looked-after pupil who:

  • has been looked after for 1 day or more.
  • was adopted from care on or after 30 December 2005, or left care under.
  • a special guardianship order.
  • a residence order.

More information is available on the Department for Education website.

Our School.

The pupil premium is used to have a positive impact on the children who meet the criteria. As at 10th March 2016:

  • the school has a role of 207pupils;
  • of which 47students are currently identified to beeligible forpupil premium funding.

At Westwood Academy:

  • We aim to create inclusive programmes of study that meet the needs of all pupils.
  • We regularly monitor data relating to all vulnerable groups so that we are able to adapt our provision to ensure the biggest impact on every child’s learning and close the gap to their peers.
  • Pupil premium funding is allocated across a range of strategies designed to support the progress of all the children in the group.

What we received last year.

For April 2014-15, the Academy received £36,700 to support 28 children who met the pupil premium criteria.

How we spent the money last year (and why).

This funding was allocated across a wide range of strategies, selections of which were used to meet the needs of all of the children in the disadvantaged group. We continue to use a provision map to monitorthe impact of these strategies.

All our work with the pupil premium group is directed at accelerating progress and thus minimising or eliminating gaps between their attainment and that of their peers.

Pupil premium resources are used to support the whole group, whatever their ability. The provision is not aimed at children with statements/education health and care plans or SEN support exclusively.

Among the range of strategies used to accelerate the progress of the disadvantaged group, we use:

  • Marking conferences – to boost progress through direct, regular feedback with individual pupils (from EEF toolkit
  • Access to a Learning Mentor – to support children reduce barriers to learning and increase metacognition skills.
  • 1-1 interventions and tuition – delivering specific learning to meet individuals needs).
  • Increased Class Teacher time – to maximise exposure to quality first teaching.
  • Provision of before/after school club – ensuring pupils have quality nutrition and care if parents work.
  • Improving attendance – ensuring that attendance improvement plans are implemented and disadvantaged pupils attendance is supported.
  • Enrichment activities paid for – so that disadvantaged children have access to the highest quality experiences that support their learning.

The impact of the spending on the pupils for whom pupil premium was paid.

2014-15 KS1 disadvantaged comparison data

Reading APS / Writing APS / Maths APS
Disadvantaged (all)– Westwood. / 15.0 / 15.0 / 18.0
Other pupils - national / 17.1 / 15.8 / 16.9
All Pupils - National / 16.6 / 15.3 / 16.4

The disadvantaged cohort in year two consisted of just two pupils, making the progress figure unrepresentative of performance overall. In practice, one child made above average progress (6.0 APS in year 2) to gain high attainment, achieving level 3’s in reading, writing and maths whilst another child made less progress and attainment in reading and writing particularly.

The effect of this is that in comparison to the “national/other” group, the disadvantaged group at Westwood has closed the gap and gone beyond their peers in mathematics. For writing, the APS score is broadly similar, whilst for reading the APS is 2 points lower than for “national/other”. This figure is a result of one child, who reaches a number of our “vulnerable groups” criteria affecting the performance information disproportionately in a small cohort.

The table below shows the amount of progress made by the disadvantaged group in year two only, showing the impact of the most recent provision. This shows a very high level of progress throughout the cohort, although the small sample of disadvantaged pupils again has a distorted effect:

Y2 Reading APS / Y2 Writing APS / Y2 Maths APS
Disadvantaged (all)– Westwood. / 4.0 / 5.0 / 5.0
Other pupils – Westwood. / 6.2 / 6.0 / 6.4

2014-15 KS2 disadvantagedcomparison data

Reading APS / Writing APS / Maths APS
Disadvantaged (all) – Westwood. / 29.4 / 28.2 / 29.4
Disadvantaged (excluding pupil with statement) – Westwood. / 30.5 / 31.5 / 31.5
Other pupils - national / 29.6 / 28.9 / 29.8
All Pupils - National / 29.0 / 28.2 / 29.0

There was significant improvement over last years APS scores for Westwood’s disadvantaged group in 2015: reading rose by 6.4, writing by 6.2 and maths by 5.5. When considering all five of the disadvantaged children in the cohort, there are now only small (although much closer than last year) gaps to their peers in the “national/other” group.

However, when the performance information for one child (who had complex SEN with a statement and joined the school midway through year five) is not considered, the performance of the Westwood disadvantaged cohort is above the “national/other” group in reading (+0.9), writing (+2.6) and maths (+1.7) significantly. This shows that in most cases, the strategies and interventions used for the disadvantaged group at Westwood had successfully closed the gap to their peers as their progress moved significantly faster. This is born out when considering how many of the disadvantaged group made expected progress or exceeded expected progress:

2+ LEVELS PROGRESS
(WESTWOOD - DISADVANTAGED) / 2+ LEVELS PROGRESS
(NATIONAL – OTHER) / 3+ LEVELS PROGRESS
(WESTWOOD - DISADVANTAGED) / 3+ LEVELS PROGRESS
(WESTWOOD - DISADVANTAGED)
Reading / 100 / 92 / 40 / 33
Writing / 80 / 95 / 40 / 37
Maths / 100 / 91 / 40 / 37

With the exception of the pupil with a statement who joined midway through year 5, all the disadvantaged group made at least expected progress of 2 levels in reading, writing and maths (the pupil with a statement did make 2 levels progress in maths and reading).

For the exceeding measure (3 levels of above) the disadvantaged cohort at Westwood were above their peers across the board in reading, writing and maths – further evidence of closing the gap to peers nationally by delivering the learning children need effectively, often accelerating their attainment and progress.

How much Pupil Premium we will receive this year.

In April 2015, the school received£48,840 for use supporting the education of 37eligible children through until March 2016.

How we spend the money.

On a half-termly basis, the progress made by all children in the group will be monitored through the schools’ Pupil Progress Meeting processes. This is informed by use of our pupil premium provision map and an analysis is carried out on the impact of the strategies used and decisions taken about whether to continue, adapt or completely change the strategies on an individual basis.

As we know that the disadvantaged group have been closing the gaps to children nationally, we intend to continue to offer a range of strategies through our provision mapping approach, constantly evaluating the results and changing the personalised provision where necessary through our Pupil Progress Meetings. We particularly use strategies that have been proven to work in similar contexts, drawing on the research compiled in the Education Endowment Foundation toolkit.

The results of the Pupil Progress Meetings are reported to Governors on a termly basis. This includes an outline of changes in the provision of pupil premium group support where it arises.