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educational or career pathways
•
Little experience of tertiary or higher education, affecting confidence in planning for and taking the
necessary steps to secure the skills and qualifications needed to access these
•
Additional responsibilities at home such as looking after younger siblings
•
For the most gifted pupils, the lack of the challenge that can be presented by being surrounded by a greater
number of equally or more gifted pupils can impede access to the highest possible grades.
•
Parents and teachers who may view ‘passing’ as being good enough rather than encouraging the pupil to
strive for the highest possible grade.
•
Less access to the (prohibitively expensive) ‘extras’ that can bring learning to life, such as going to the
theatre.
In order to maximise the impact of this funding upon progress and
attainment, the academy has adopted a highly individualised
approach to supporting the ‘pupil premium cohort’, which is based
on the rigorous use of data at 6 ‘assessment points’ throughout the
year. We supplement bespoke interventions for individuals,
targeted towards addressing the deficiencies in their learning
(identified through their ‘AP Assessments’ and from ‘question level
analysis’ in mock examinations) with ‘overarching strategies’ that
are designed to impact upon larger groups of pupils.
The academy has made significant progress in using the Pupil Premium to support disadvantaged pupils and is proud
of the improvements in the ‘Progress 8’ measure for all of our pupils (-0.27 in 2015-16 to +0.68 in 2016-17), but most
especially for those who are classified as ‘disadvantaged’ (-0.48 in 2015-16 to +0.56 in 2016-17).
We believe that it is good practice to focus on ensuring that every pupil receives a consistent diet of high quality
teaching rather than relying on interventions to compensate. The academy’s ‘STEPs’ Assessment Model ensures that
there is a systematic focus on clear pupil feedback and advice for improving their work and that any
underperformance is quickly identified and interventions are both dynamic and quickly put into place.
In addition to the Pupil Premium spending outlined below, the academy has invested a significant amount of money
in order to be able to provide all KS4 pupils with an ‘extended’ timetable (30 hours of contact time as opposed to 25
hours previously). The academy also provides KS4 pupils with additional opportunities for 1:1, small group and
whole group tuition both before school from 7:30 am and after school until 18:00 each day. In addition to this,
Saturday school operates from 8:30am until 12:30pm each Saturday and is attended by an average of 80 pupils each
week. The academy’s creative and rigorous approach to deploying and assessing the impact of the pupil premium
means that disadvantaged pupils at the academy are now outperforming both their peers and ‘non-disadvantaged’
pupils nationally in a number of measures.
Taking into account the above, the academy’s wider key priorities for 2017-18 Pupil Premium spending are:
Spend
Improvement Focus
Amount
Allocated
Purpose
Conway trips -
ensuring
attainment
KS4 attainment and
progress focus
£27,500
Funding for Year 11 pupils in receipt of FSM to attend 2
x 3 day study residentials in English and maths to
support their progress and attainment in those
subjects.
