- Click here to view our pupil premium strategy for 2022-23.
Pupil Premium Strategy
What is Pupil Premium?
Pupil Premium is funding allocated to schools for the specific purpose of boosting the attainment of pupils from low-income families. Funding is based on children who have registered for a free school meal at any point in the last 6 years, children who are in care or adopted, and children whose parents are currently serving in the armed forces.
Our Philosophy
At The Mease Spencer Academy we value the abilities and achievements of all our pupils, and are committed to providing each pupil with the best possible environment for learning. We recognise that each child is unique and will have different needs, which may well vary throughout their time in our school. We have planned to spend our Pupil Premium funding to try to give them all the support that they need to achieve “Life-Long Learning”. We believe in maximising the use of the pupil premium grant (PPG) by utilising a long-term strategy aligned to the School Development Plan. This enables us to implement a blend of short, medium and long-term interventions, and align pupil premium use with wider school improvements and improving readiness to learn.
Overcoming barriers to learning is at the heart of our PPG use. We understand that needs and costs will differ depending on the barriers to learning being addressed. As such, we do not automatically allocate personal budgets per pupil in receipt of the PPG. Instead, we identify the barrier to be addressed and the interventions required, whether in small groups, large groups, the whole school or as individuals, and allocate a budget accordingly.
Our Priorities
Setting priorities is key to maximising the use of the PPG. Our priorities are as follows:
- Ensuring an ‘outstanding’ teacher is in every class
- Closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers
- Providing targeted academic support for pupils who are not making the expected progress
- Addressing non-academic barriers to attainment such as attendance and behaviour
- Ensuring that the PPG reaches the pupils who need it most
Our Tiered Approach
To prioritise spending, we have adopted a tiered approach to define our priorities and ensure balance. Our tiered approach comprises three categories:
- Teaching
- Targeted academic support
- Wider strategies
Within each category, we have chosen between one and four interventions. This focused approach ensures the best chance of success for each intervention.
Quality of Teaching
Good and Outstanding teaching is the most important lever schools have to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. Using the PPG to improve teaching quality benefits all pupils and has a particularly positive effect on children eligible for Pupil Premium.
Our priority at The Mease Spencer Academy is to ensure that a highly effective teacher is in front of every class, and that every teacher is supported to keep improving.
- Encouraging self-led professional development: Facilitating weekly CPD opportunities for all teaching staff.
- Professional development: Weekly individual and group coaching sessions to support teachers/TAs, with a particular emphasis on maths, literacy/vocabulary and curriculum development.
Professional Development for staff by attending targeted training courses and INSET.
Targeted Academic Support
At The Mease Spencer Academy we consider carefully how staff are deployed to provide specific targeted academic support either in a one to one or small group situation.
- Structured interventions: Introducing speech and language interventions for pupils with poor oral language and communication skills.
- Small group tuition: Introducing targeted English and maths teaching for pupils who are below age-related expectations. Creating additional teaching and learning opportunities using TAs.
Wider Strategies
At The Mease we aim to focus on the most significant non-academic barriers to success in school, including attendance, behaviour and social/emotional support.
- Attendance: working with parents to ensure that attendance is outstanding.
- Providing a wide variety of enrichment experiences for all pupils.
Our Review Process
As a new school, with three very different cohorts, it is difficult to ascertain what our pupil premium will look like each year so we currently have a one year plan. Regularly throughout the year we will review the success of each intervention, based on evidence, and determine the most effective approach moving forwards – adapting, expanding or ceasing the intervention as required.
Individual targets are set for each pupil in receipt of the PPG and their progress towards achieving these targets is analysed at the end of interventions.
The progress of pupils in receipt of the PPG is regularly discussed with class teachers.
How will the school measure the impact of Pupil Premium Funding?
- Pupil Asset and FFT assessment tools are used by class teachers to measure attainment and progress at termly intervals through the year
- All teachers are responsible for tracking the progress of all vulnerable groups, including Pupil Premium, SEND and EAL. This information is then collated and monitored by the Principal.
- Pupil Progress meetings are held every 3 weeks between class teachers and the Principal to monitor impact and identify any concerns to be addressed.
- Attendance data is collected and monitored by the Principal
- When selecting pupils for intervention groups and support, this will not be limited to children who are in receipt of Pupil Premium funding, but will include other pupils who have similar needs, and who we believe will benefit from the support / intervention.
- Pupil Premium funding and its impact is a regular agenda item for the School Governor’s meetings.
- Designated staff member in charge: Julia Hart (Principal)
- Monitoring, assessment and tracking: Julia Hart (Principal), Amanda Iredale (SENDCO)
- Pupil Premium Responsible Governor: Terry Irvine
Accountability
Ofsted inspections will report on the attainment and progress of disadvantaged pupils in receipt of the PPG.
The school is held to account for the spending of the PPG through the focus in Ofsted inspections on the progress and attainment of the wider pupil premium eligible cohort; however, they will not look for evidence of the grant’s impact on individual pupils, or on precise interventions.
The Mease publishes its strategy for using the pupil premium on the website.