Pupil premium and catch up premium

Pupil premium funding is allocated to a school based on the number of students who are or have been in receipt of free school meals or children who are looked after by a local authority or children whose parents are in the armed forces. To find out more click here. 

Pupil premium – how the money is used at our school

In the school academic year 2016-2017 we received £335,475 in pupil premium funding. The percentage of students that qualified for the funding was 37%. This funding was distributed across the school in the following ways to close gaps in learning outcomes and raise achievement.

• 40% (£134,313) was allocated to providing high quality staff to support pupil premium students.
• 31% (£103,421) was allocated to academic support and intervention.
• 11% (£38,641) was allocated to the provision of high quality resources and experiences.
• 11% (£38,702) was allocated to communication with students and parents.
• 6% (£20,500) was allocated to specific pupil premium students to address achievement gaps.

Achievements and performance

This table shows the achievements of our students in 2017, comparing how disadvantaged students within our school compared to all non-disadvantaged students nationally as well as all students within their own year group at Ashington Academy.

Cohort	Percentage of students achieving grade 4+ in English and maths 2017	Difference from national equivalent figure
National	62
All students in Year 11 at Ashington Academy	59	-3
Disadvantaged students in Year 11 at Ashington Academy	45	-17

 

	Other 2017	Disadvantaged 2017
P8	-0.51	-0.95
A8	4.3	3.5

We recognise that there is a difference in performance between how disadvantaged students within our school perform and all non-disadvantaged students nationally perform and we continue to work to remove any differences.

We are working diligently to raise the attainment for all students and to close any gaps that exist due to social contexts. We are confident that the targeting of funding into the areas outlined will ensure that these are gaps are reduced and that all pupils are equally successful when they leave. This is an area that we will continue to monitor, evaluate and intervene as the vulnerability within this group remains.

The current year 2017-2018

We are aware that some disadvantaged students face many complex barriers during their education, which make effective learning very difficult. Other students have very specific needs and others have few barriers at all. Some of the main difficulties faced by disadvantaged students are identified below, although it must also be said that this is not an exhaustive list and that the difficulties encountered are not unique to those who are disadvantaged.

The main barriers faced by eligible students 2017-2018 are:

1. Some struggle to attend regularly and of these, some are persistently absent.
2. Some students need extensive pastoral support for a variety of reasons.
3. Some students struggle with the increased complexity of organization with a secondary environment and increased demands for independent work.
4. Some students struggle to manage their behaviour.
5. Some students face significant challenges in their lives and have social, emotional and mental health needs that prevent them from learning.
6. Some students have low levels of literacy and numeracy which impedes their learning and their confidence.
7. Some students with high prior attainment need additional help to enable them to fully achieve their potential.
8. Some students need targeted support to understand and use extended forms of spoken English.
9. Some students have little aspirations for the future and do not understand why they need to do well in their exams so they limit their own potential.
10. Some students lack access to the internet and the use of computers to support their studies.
11. Some students lack space to study with adult support.
12. Some students need to experience a wealth of enrichment experiences in order to widen their horizons and unlock future opportunities.
13. School uniform can cause significant challenges for some families as can transport.
14. Some students do not have access to a healthy diet which impacts on their general well-being.
15. All students need the highest quality of teaching in every classroom.

The current forecast for the amount of pupil premium the school will receive in the academic year 2017-2018 is £299,285. The percentage of students that currently qualify for the funding is 36%. We intend to continue with many of the strategies in place as they are designed to impact over the long term on outcomes for students.

• 48% (£144,861) is allocated to actions focused on learning in the curriculum this includes staffing and other resources related to provision and the delivery of maths and English. The focus is to improve the outcomes of those students who are at risk of dropping out of school (poor attendees) and/or have a specific need. Small group support is used to focus on addressing specific needs of students as well as additional staffing providing high quality teaching and learning – essential for all students and especially for disadvantaged students, literacy and numeracy focus across the school.
• 18% (£53,977) is allocated to actions focused on social, emotional and behavioural issues: staffing and resources relating to pastoral support including pastoral workers (non-teaching staff) helping to deal with health interventions, attendance and various year manager interventions.
• 7% (£19,824) is allocated to actions focused on enrichment beyond the curriculum: trips to raise aspirations, rewards, breakfast club, LEAP budget, house system, summer school and peripatetic music lessons.
• 13% (£39,892) is allocated to actions focused on families and communities: school comms, PEP intervention, uniform - to ensure that all students feel like they belong.
• 14% (£40,731) is allocated to actions focused on alternative learning pathways and curricula: EOTAS and pathway 4 provision.

Impact

The impact of our actions above will be reviewed on a termly basis. Some of the impact is qualitative (e.g. trips), but some is quantitative (e.g. behaviour incidents, achievement data, attendance figures). This data is gathered and analysed with daily monitoring of students put in place where needed, to ensure that intervention to support them is appropriate and timely. The ultimate aim is to raise the standards reached by disadvantaged students and prepare them for the next stage of their education/employment or training. The impact for each child at an individual level is monitored during each academic year as they progress towards their external examinations.

Our pupil premium strategy is reviewed in the Autumn term each year.

Year 7 catch-up premium

The government made a commitment to provide educational funding to schools for each Year 7 student who has not achieved the expected standard in reading and/or maths at Key Stage 2. In 2016-17 the additional grant of £56,985 was primarily used to target support in small groups.

Use of additional funding

Targeted support	Use of small group intervention and catch up techniques to re-enforce a strong skill base in reading, writing, spelling, comprehension and numeracy, giving students a toolkit of skills that allows them to access the mainstream curriculum more effectively.
Whole school literacy and numeracy	Whole school focus on student’s literacy and numeracy skills across the curriculum. All departments ensure that literacy and numeracy are developed and enhanced within their curriculum.
Whole school use of differentiation	A differentiated approach to learning to ensure that individual needs are met and that all students have access to an appropriate curriculum and are challenged to move forward.
Additional resources	Purchase of additional texts and resources to support students with low confidence and reluctance in reading, writing, spelling and numeracy.

Impact of Year 7 catch up funding

The impact of the Year 7 catch up funding was evaluated through the school's termly assessment routines when progress, effort, behaviour and homework are analysed for patterns and trends. Support was adapted at these points, if appropriate, in order to meet individual student’s needs.

Academic year 2017-2018

The catch up programme has been evaluated and the findings have been used to further develop some aspects for the new academic year. As yet the funding arrangements have not been released.