Detail

Data

School name

St. Bernard’s Catholic Primary School

Number of pupils in school

217

Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils

48 children  22%

Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers (3 year plans are recommended)

2024-2026

Date this statement was published

Sept  2024

Date on which it will be reviewed

Sept 2025

Statement authorised by

Governing Body

Pupil premium lead

Roy Turner

Governor / Trustee lead

Angela Harding

Detail

Amount

Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year

£61703

Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year

£

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

n/a

 It is the intent of our school to narrow and ultimately remove the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their non-disadvantaged peers as they progress through school. Our intention is that all pupils, irrespective of their background or the challenges they face, make good progress and achieve high attainment across all subject areas. The focus of our pupil premium strategy is to support disadvantaged pupils to achieve that goal, including progress for those who are already high attainers.

The Pupil Premium is aimed at addressing the current underlying inequalities which exist between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their more affluent peers. The Pupil Premium also provides funding for children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months and the children of service personnel.

We will consider the challenges faced by vulnerable pupils, such as those who have a social worker and young carers. The activity we have outlined in this statement is also intended to support their needs, regardless of whether they are disadvantaged or not.

High-quality teaching is at the heart of our approach, with a focus on areas in which disadvantaged pupils require the most support. This is proven to have the greatest impact on closing the disadvantage attainment gap and at the same time will benefit the non-disadvantaged pupils in our school. Implicit in the intended outcomes detailed below, is the intention that non-disadvantaged pupils’ attainment will be sustained and improved alongside progress for their disadvantaged peers.

Our strategy is also integral to wider school plans for education recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, notably in its targeted support through the National Tutoring Programme for pupils whose education has been worst affected, including non-disadvantaged pupils.   

Our approach will be responsive to common challenges and individual needs, rooted in robust diagnostic assessment, not assumptions about the impact of disadvantage. The approaches we have adopted complement each other to help pupils excel. To ensure they are effective we will:

• ensure disadvantaged pupils are challenged in the work that they’re set
• act early to intervene at the point need is identified

• adopt a whole school approach in which all staff take responsibility for disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes and raise expectations of what they can achieve

Overcoming barriers to learning is at the heart of our Pupil Premium Grant use.

We understand that needs and costs will differ depending on the barriers to learning being addressed. 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 is key to maximising the use of the Pupil Premium Grant. Our priorities are as follows:

• Closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers
• Ensuring all children receive quality first teaching each lesson
• Providing targeted academic support for children who are not making the expected progress
•  Addressing non-academic barriers to attainment such as attendance, behaviour, well -being and cultural capital
• Ensuring that the Pupil Premium Grant reaches the pupils who need it most

Challenge number

Detail of challenge

1

Poor communication and language skills, vocabulary gap

2

Punctuality/attendance issues

3

Aspirations /expectations

4

Behaviour /attitude to learning

5

Social and emotional difficulties

6

Complex home circumstances

7

Gaps in learning

Intended outcome

Success criteria

Good progress made by all pupils eligible for pupil premium including in the development of language skills

All PP children make good or better progress particularly in Communication and Language in EYFS

Narrow the gap between pupils eligible for PP and other children

% of PP children reaching expecting standard is closer to the % of other children reaching standard

Meet social and emotional needs of PP children so that they can thrive in the playground and in the classroom.

PP children interacting well within social groups

PP children less frequently on report

PP children becoming more independent over time from nurture staff

PP children able to share feelings and emotions with school staff

Increased opportunities and aspirations for PP children

Increasing take up of opportunities offered

Increase in self-esteem/self-belief of identified PP children

Developed vocabulary in PP children particularly in the EYFS

Wider vocabulary used by PP children

Punctuality/attendance issues improved

Decrease in the number of PP children who arrive late for school

Individual behaviour plans have a positive impact. Behaviour supports learning

Less children needing behaviour support plans in time. Improved access to learning for children with behavioural difficulties.

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Quality first teaching CPD for teaching staff  including metacognition, key learning, sticky learning and assessment

Standardised tests | Assessing and Monitoring Pupil Progress | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/metacognition

1,3,4 and 7

Additional TA support in each class to ensure access for PP children to quality first teaching

Previous impact supported by data evidence in school.

EEF  learningcultures.org/news/teaching-assistants

1

1, 3, 4,and  7

Sequential and cyclical teaching including CPD and use of assessment to ensure knowledge is retained.

Professional discussions

Formative and summative assessment.

Ofsted

Sandylands research and practice

1, 3 , 4 and 7

CPD phonics phase 1 training for Nursery staff and staff working with children at an early stage of development in other years

Research, practice, impact in school

Studies in England have shown that pupils eligible for free school meals typically receive similar or slightly greater benefit from phonics interventions and approaches. This is likely to be due to the explicit nature of the instruction and the intensive support provided.

4

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

One to one support after school Y5 + Y6 pupils

Accelerated progress evidenced by teacher assessment and SATS

EEF research

1, 3,4 7

In school interventions

One to one /small group

A wide variety of interventions

Accelerated progress evidenced by teacher assessment and SATS

EEF research

1, 3, 4, 7

Phonics interventions

Progress made in 2022 – 2023

EEF 

1,3,4 and 7

Spelling interventions through Red Rose

Phonics approaches have a strong evidence base that indicates a positive impact on the accuracy of word reading, particularly for disadvantaged pupils:

Phonics | Teaching and Learning Toolkit | EEF

1,3,4 and 7

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Nurture staff support small groups

Nurture Group research evidence

Previous success

.

2,3,4 ,5, 6

ELSA

There is extensive evidence associating childhood social and emotional skills with improved outcomes at school and in later life (e.g., improved academic performance, attitudes, behaviour and relationships with peers):

Improving_Social_and_Emotional_  Learning in Primary Schools | EEF

3,4,5,6

Family Support Workers

 Effective EHA plans,  reduced CIN and CP

2,3,4,5,6

Residential Trips

Wellbeing of pupils who can attend residentials with collegues

1,3,4,5

EYFS

80% of PP children achieved expected level of development in:

 Communication and Language

 Personal and Social Development,

 Literacy – Comprehension, Fine motor skills

Understanding of the world

100% of PP children achieved expected level in :

Physical Development – gross motor skills,

Understanding of the world

Creating with materials

YEAR 1

67% of PP children met the expected standard in phonics compared to 80% of non PP children.

Key Stage 1

50% of PP children achieved expected level of development in Reading

50% of PP children achieved expected level of development in Maths

Key Stage 2 Year 6

75% of PP children reached expected in Reading, Writing and Maths combined. . National data for all children was 61%

88% of PP children achieved expected in Maths compared to 73% of all children nationally

88% of PP children reached expected level in Reading compared to 74% of all children nationally

75% of PP children reached expected in Writing compared to 72% of all children nationally

Gap between PP and non PP children reversed in both Reading and Writing and was the same for Maths.

Programme

Provider

Toe by Toe

Keda Cowling, Harry Cowling

Word Wasp

Harry Cowling, Marie Cowling

NELI

Nuffield

Acceleread/accelewrite

Clifford & Miles

Bear Necessities

Sound Foundations

Project X

Oxford University Press

Number Mastery

NCTEM

Measure

Details

How did you spend your service pupil premium allocation last academic year?

Nurture provision

What was the impact of that spending on service pupil premium eligible pupils?

Some impact but plan to continue this academic year