Pupil Premium

Pupil Premium Funding Statement – December 2021

This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium funding to help improve the attainment of our disadvantaged pupils. It outlines our pupil premium strategy, how we intend to spend the funding in this academic year and the effect that last year’s spending of pupil premium had within our school.

School overview

Detail	Data
School name	Sir Thomas Fremantle School
Number of pupils in school	583
Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils	15.5%
Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers	2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-25
Date this statement was published	1^st December 2022
Date on which it will be reviewed	1^st September 2023
Statement authorised by	Mr Francis Murphy (Headteacher) and Mrs Sarah Driscoll (Chair of Governors)
Pupil premium lead	Mr Matthew Pike
Governor lead	Ms Jill Bailey

Funding overview

Detail	Amount
Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year	£70,920
Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years (enter £0 if not applicable)	£0
Total budget for this academic year If your school is an academy in a trust that pools this funding, state the amount available to your school this academic year.	£70,920

Part A: Pupil premium strategy plan

Statement of intent

The focus of our pupil premium strategy is to support disadvantaged pupils to sustained progress, across the whole ability spectrum. We will focus on removing barriers to learning, or mitigating the impact of some barriers beyond the sphere of influence for the school. We place equal value on pupil wellbeing and self-efficacy, and see these as foundational to secure and sustained progress. .
We will consider the challenges faced by vulnerable pupils, including those who have a social worker or who are young carers.
An ongoing commitment to the development and deployment of quality first teaching remains at the heart of our approach to improving outcomes for all students, including those who experience disadvantage. As is suggested in the EEF (Education Endowment Foundation) Attainment Gap report, the greatest impact on closing the disadvantage attainment gap is driven by the experience of excellent teaching (“What happens in the classroom makes the biggest difference “. EEF 2018). Our strategy therefore places appropriate emphasis on developing teaching quality through a commitment to high quality professional development.
Implicit in the intended outcomes detailed below is the intention that non-disadvantaged pupils’ attainment will be sustained and improved alongside their disadvantaged peers.
Our approach will be responsive to shared challenges and individual needs, not assumptions about the impact of disadvantage. Our approach takes account of the views of the parents, and carers of students who qualify for pupil premium funding or who are experiencing disadvantage. Their views have been considered when formulating a plan for pupil premium.
The approaches we have adopted complement each other to help pupils excel. To ensure they are effective we will:

Identify and act to mitigate barriers to learning caused by the experience of disadvantage.
Ensure students experiencing disadvantage are challenged in the work that they are set, enabled in undertaking it, and supported in addressing areas of misconception.

Adopt a whole school approach in which all staff take responsibility for disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes, by implementing the strategies within this plan.

Challenges

This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.

Challenge number

Detail of challenge

A significant and growing number of students are entering the school with below expected ability in maths, reading, and spelling, punctuation and grammar. Below are the proportion of scaled scores for SPAG, reading and maths drawn from CATS tests 2020 -21 & 2021-22 & from SATS (2019). The school needs to plan for improving foundational mathematics and literacy both within the core subjects of Mathematics and English, but also across the curriculum.

PP - Year 7 2021 (Based on CATS) - Whole Cohort in brackets

Standard	Maths	SPAG	Reading
Above	0% (11%)	0% (16%)	0% (7%)
Expected	45% (57%)	45% (63%)	33% (68%)
Below	55% (32%)	55% (21%)	67% (25%)

Year 7 2020 (Based on CATS) - Whole Cohort in brackets

Standard	Maths	SPAG	Reading
Above	0% (6%)	33% (22%)	16% (12%)
Expected	58% (55%)	42% (60%)	50% (68%)
Below	41% (39%)	25% (18%)	34% (20%)

Year 7 2019 (SATS) - Whole Cohort in brackets

Standard	Maths	SPAG	Reading
Above	0% (13%)	28% (31%)	22% (31%)
Expected	72% (64%)	39% (47%)	50% (52%)
Below	28% (23%)	33% (22%)	28% (17%)

Attendance. There is a disparity in attendance between disadvantaged, and non-disadvantaged, and cohorts. In 2021-2022, students experiencing disadvantage attended 9% fewer sessions than their non-disadvantaged peers. Absenteeism has been shown to have a significant negative impact on outcomes.

Supra curricular experiences. Access to cultural capital, wider curricular experiences, and enrichment is limited for students experiencing disadvantage. Parents and students have indicated a need for the school to support pupil premium students in accessing these experiences, including support for music lessons, extracurricular trips, and access to sports and arts clubs.

Wellbeing - Our assessments (including wellbeing & pupil premium survey), observations and discussions with pupils and families have identified social and emotional issues for many pupils, such as anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. These impacts have been felt acutely by all groups of pupils, including those experiencing disadvantage.

Removing barriers. We have engaged with parents and carers, as well as with disadvantaged students, to understand barriers that they experience in fulfilling their potential in their education. These are often material (the provision of equipment, IT access, or uniform), but also extend to the ability to access extra or supra curricular opportunities which enhance wellbeing and self-efficacy. We intend to use funds to support access to all the above.

Intended outcomes

This explains the outcomes we are aiming for by the end of our current strategy plan, and how we will measure whether they have been achieved.

Intended outcome	Success criteria
Supporting improved attainment, particularly for students experiencing disadvantage	In-class assessments, recorded as part of assessment point data, will demonstrate progress in eliminating the disparity between the attainment grades of disadvantaged pupils and their non-disadvantaged peers. Across the full breadth of this strategy, we will eliminate the disparity in outcomes for disadvantaged students and their peers in public examinations at GCSE. Teachers will be confident in working alongside students and families experiencing disadvantage, will understand how to promote improved attainment, and will be adept at adapting teaching and homework to meet the needs of all students. This will be demonstrated in learning walks, book scrutiny and in outcomes from assessments. We will provide appropriate resources to remove barriers to learning including access to equipment, technology, and uniform, all of which enable access to learning.
To achieve and sustain improved attendance for all pupils, particularly our disadvantaged pupils.	Sustained high attendance from 2024/25 demonstrated by: The overall attendance figures for all students, including students experiencing disadvantage will be in line with national averages. Students will be provided with the correct uniform, kit and study materials/resources, to resolve any barriers attendance at school.
To achieve and sustain improved wellbeing and improved access to cultural capital for all pupils, including those who are disadvantaged.	Access to cultural capital will be supported by ensuring access to resources and opportunities such as sports clubs, music lessons, and trips and visits for all students, including those experiencing disadvantage. These trips and experiences will aid with both academic development, for example promoting greater attainment in music by improving the performance elements of assessments. Sustained high levels of wellbeing from 2024/25 demonstrated by responses in student and parent voice activities.

Activity in this academic year (2022-23)

This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium (and recovery premium funding) this academic year to address the challenges listed above.

Teaching (for example, CPD (Continuing Professional Development), recruitment and retention)

Budgeted cost: £14,485

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Investing in developing teaching & learning across the school in line with EEF toolkit recommended strategies

£8123

The EEF Toolkit indicates that improving the quality of teaching and learning is central to improving the experience for students experiencing disadvantage, alongside their peers. As such, we will invest in access to high quality teaching and learning development as part of our commitment to professional learning.

We will use funding to provide supply cover for staff to enable paired observation. We have costed supply cover to facilitate this.

We will invest in Walkthrus (£1675) and Leadership Matters (£948) to enable staff to follow a clear, evidence-based pathway in both pedagogy and leadership.

We will invest in members of Challenge Partners (£3000) to support our internal quality assurance procedures, and to provide access to local and regional training opportunities aimed at improving leadership of teaching and learning, and to provide support and challenge to us.

We will further invest in subject specific professional development, as directed by teachers, who have been given option of tailoring their own CPD programme to support personal targets, including the development of pedagogy and subject knowledge.

We have allocated an initial budget of £2500 for subject specific CPD which can be used to support progress of disadvantaged students. Subject leads will identify and secure appropriate training opportunities.

Teachers will be given time away from teaching commitments to observe other teachers and to share and develop examples of good practice and to tackle areas for development.

1,2

Improving literacy in all subject areas in line with recommendations in the EEF Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools guidance.

£3120

Acquiring disciplinary literacy is key for students as they learn new, more complex concepts in each subject. (EEF, 2018). As part of our commitment to developing high quality teaching and learning, we will provide INSET training on how to develop subject specific terminology in all students, and set aside INSET time to build this into subject level planning, to ensure that students develop their literacy skills across the curriculum.

A programme of literacy focussed activities, designed by the Head of English and will be delivered in tutor times, focussing on literacy across the curriculum.

Literacy development across the school will be in line with, but not the preserve of, English. The English department will disseminate best practice in the development of literacy within and across sequences of learning. Colleagues will be supported to observe this best practice, and INSET time allocated to support implementation of it.

Best practice strategies which include:

displaying and consistently revisiting key words for each topic
explicitly teach reading skills
Approaching the physical act of reading in diverse ways: teacher-led, student-led, groups, silently.
The embedding of reading skills in all intervention programmes

Enhancement of our maths teaching and curriculum planning using a Mastery curriculum

£3120

We will source training, from external and internal sources, to support the development of all teachers within the Maths team to enhance their teaching at Key Stage 3.

We will work alongside partner primaries to develop a shared understanding of progression in mathematics, including for those students experiencing disadvantage, and share knowledge and expertise as appropriate. This will be supported with teacher release time as needed.

We will also promote collaboration between Science and Maths, encouraging these subject teams to spend time together, exploring the viability of the development of common approaches and strategies in the teaching of core skills.

We will additionally ensure that all disadvantaged students have access to scientific calculators, a pair of compasses and other necessary equipment.

1,3,5

Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support structured interventions)

Budgeted cost: £16,500

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
Investing in the continuation of the chrome book rollout £4000 £696	Recent studies and the DFE (Department for Education) response to the pandemic demonstrate that students at a disadvantage are significantly less likely to have access to a device and, subsequently, are unable to access remote learning. We will provide subsidised Chromebooks (50%) for students as we roll out Chromebooks across the year groups. Devices support access to resources and the completion of homework. We have allocated pupil premium funding to pay for a proportion of subscription packages to encourage effective use of the Chromebooks. Hegarty Maths: £480 GCSE Science: £180 GCSE Physics: £36	1, 3, 5
Investing in intervention in English £3510	Interventions in English run across three sessions each week, and focus on Key Stages 3 and 4. All students have a mix of pupil premium and non-pupil premium members. The foci are different according to the specific year group, and students have been selected in conjunction with colleagues involved in planning transition and from the SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) team. Finally, mastery day, aimed at Pupil Premium students will be offered for KS4 students. We have allocated time to the Head of English to facilitate these interventions.	1
Investing in intervention in Maths £3510	We have allocated time and funds to allow a Maths specialist to identify and provide interventions for students in need of additional support, including those experiencing disadvantage. These sessions run three days per week. There are preventative/ early intervention sessions for students in Key Stage 3 and 4, offered to students who are experiencing disadvantage, who have an EHCP, or who require SEND support. In Year 11, these sessions are aimed at students who require additional support to secure a pass in mathematics, and these students are targeted in focussed rotational sessions.	1
Investing in intervention in science £3510	Interventions in science run three times weekly and are targeted and specific groups on a rotational basis. We have allocated time to the Head of Science to facilitate these. Students who will benefit from intervention include students experiencing disadvantage. There are intervention groups for students in aimed raising aspirations and building capacity in science. A final group has been selected based on an analysis of examination data, and the need to put in place interventions to support achievement in Key Stage 4.	1
Investing in careers curriculum £1,200	Using professional agencies to increase student access to careers advice and guidance. We will initially use UniFrog for Key Stage 3-5	1, 3, 4

Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)

Budgeted cost: £39,000

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) address

Provision of mental health support

The EIF report found that ‘Findings from … studies do suggest promising impact on mental health and behavioural outcomes when delivered at both universal and targeted level.

Adolescent mental health: A systematic review on the effectiveness of school-based interventions | Early Intervention Foundation (eif.org.uk)

We will allocate 20% of the time of a school nurse to allow her time to focus on mental health support of the student body. We have allocated funds from PP to cover this cost, and to cover the cost of high-quality training to support this.

1, 2

Improvement of attendance

We will appoint an attendance officer and allocate time for learning leaders and tutors to embed the new approach to attendance monitoring and action within the school. A proportion of the salary of the attendance offer is to be funded from the pupil premium grant.

1, 2, 3, 4

Removing barriers.

£9000

We have engaged with parents and carers, as well as with disadvantaged students, to understand barriers that they experience in fulfilling their potential in their education. We are allocating £4000 to cover the supply of stationary, uniform supplies, and equipment.

We are allocating £5000 in contributions towards the costs of supporting extracurricular trips, sports and arts clubs, music lessons.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Part B: Review of outcomes in the previous academic year

Pupil premium strategy outcomes

This details the impact that our pupil premium activity had on pupils in the 2021 to 2022 academic year.

GCSE Outcomes from Summer 2022

Students	Value Added
All Students	TBC when published
Pupil Premium	TBC when published
Non-Pupil Premium	TBC when published

GCSE Outcomes from Summer 2021

Students	Value Added
All Students	+0.29
Pupil Premium	-0.22
Non-Pupil Premium	+0.33

Initial funding was provided to support staff development, with the aspiration of improving the experience of teaching and learning for colleagues, and we continued our support for students across the school to access music lessons, art, sport and cultural events. We provided uniform, and have made progress in the development of Maths mastery at Key Stage 3. The gap between pupil premium students was eradicated in some areas, because of our investment. For example, in music, students experiencing disadvantage exceeded predictions and analysis of the results can draw a correlation for support of extra-curricular opportunities provided to students taking the GCSE and the outcomes achieved.

There remains significant work to do in improving attendance across the cohorts, particularly with students experiencing disadvantage, and we need to remain responsive to the challenges' posed by lower levels of literacy, and numeracy.