Pupil Premium Strategy Statement
This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium (and recovery premium for the 2021 to 2022 academic year) 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.
Pupil Premium 2022 School Overview
| Detail | Data |
| School Name | Aldersley High School |
| Number of pupils in school | 1015 |
| Proportion of pupil premium eligible pupils | 48% |
| Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers | 2021/2022 to 2024/2025 |
| Date this statement published | 31st December 2021 |
| Date on which it will be reviewed | July 2022 |
| Statement authorised by | Miss Huntington Head of School |
| Pupil Premium Lead | Mr Hedges School Improvement Advisor |
| Trustee Lead | Mr Marks Trust Director |
Pupil Premium 2022 Funding Overview
| Detail | Amount |
| Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year | £450,760 |
| Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year | £69,840 |
| Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years | £0 |
| Total budget for 2021/22 | £520,600 |
Part A: Pupil premium strategy plan
Statement of intent
Aldersley high school has a very good track record of ensuring that the attainment and progress of our pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 is above national average. The A8 outcomes for our disadvantaged pupils in 2019 (the last publication date for national results) was 49.1 compared to the national A8 value for non-disadvantaged pupils of 50.3.
Our intention is that disadvantaged pupils make excellent progress during their time with us so that at the end of Key Stage 4 they have narrowed the attainment gap on entry in Year 7. We want them to achieve above national average outcomes in all their subjects, particularly in English and mathematics, so that they can access the very best post-16 pathways as they continue their learning journey. We want our pupils to be confident, happy and resilient young people who want to become active citizens in their communities and have ambitions for themselves because of the excellent next steps and careers advice and guidance they receive.
Through our curriculum we will ensure that all our pupils have access to knowledge-rich programmes of study across the full range of English Baccalaureate and other subjects at Key Stage 3 and 4, including the arts, technology, PE and PSHE, with an emphasis on vocabulary, reading, personal development and cultural capital, so that they are equipped with the skills and learning they need to achieve. Pupils will be able to enjoy and enhance their learning through joining one of our many lunchtime and/or afternoon clubs as well as going out on visits and trips through our enrichment programme.
Our subject teachers will provide high quality teaching so that all pupils learn and achieve. Pupils will be assessed regularly and holistically to celebrate what they have learnt, diagnose next steps and identify those in need of intervention through in-class support and/or small group breakfast tuition sessions. Furthermore, our attendance and pastoral teams will work closely with those pupils in need of additional support in attending school regularly and those experiencing social and emotional issues that impact on their wellbeing and achievement.
Challenges
This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.
Pupil Premium 2022 Challenges
| Challenge Number | Detail of challenge |
| 1 - Wellbeing | Pupil voice, referrals and observations show that many of our pupils have been identified as having social and emotional issues, such as anxiety, low self-esteem, and lack of social skills. During this academic year, to date, we have received 75 pupil referrals, across all Year groups, related to wellbeing. A higher percentage of our Key Stage 3 referrals are for disadvantaged pupils. Low levels of wellbeing are impacting negatively on pupils’ attendance to school, resilience, relationships with peers and attainment. |
| 2 - Lower attendance | Over the last 3 years there was a gap of 3% between the rates of attendance for disadvantaged and other pupils across all year groups. The absence for disadvantaged pupils was between 7-11% compared to 4-8% for other pupils. The difference between pupils presenting with persistent absence, however, was more pronounced. During the same period between 62-72% of persistently absent pupils were disadvantaged compared to other pupils. Our internal tracking of pupil progress, observations and discussions with Heads of Year and Academic Leads, show that poor and sporadic attendance to school impacts negatively on our pupils’ attainment and attitudes to school; and disproportionately so for disadvantaged pupils. |
| 3 - Low attainment in mathematics on entry | The mathematics attainment of disadvantaged pupils is generally lower than that of their peers. Teacher diagnostic assessments suggest that many pupils particularly struggle with problem solving tasks. Key Stage 2 Mathematics tests of our year 7 pupils in the last 3 years of external examination results indicate that between 16-23% of our disadvantaged pupils arrive below age-related expectations compared to 13-19% of their peers. Assessments on entry to year 7 in the last 2 years indicate that between 47-58% of our disadvantaged pupils arrive below age-related expectations compared to 46-50% of their peers. |
| 4 - Low attainment in English on entry | The English attainment of disadvantaged pupils is generally lower than that of their peers. Teacher diagnostic assessments suggest that many pupils particularly struggle with comprehension, spelling grammar and punctuation. Key Stage 2 English tests of our year 7 pupils in the last 3 years of external examination results indicate that between 18-28% of our disadvantaged pupils arrive below age-related expectations compared to 16-22% of their peers. Assessments on entry to year 7 in the last 2 years indicate that between 42-58% of our disadvantaged pupils arrive below age-related expectations compared to 42-45% of their peers. |
| 5 - Low reading ages on entry | In the accelerated STAR reader tests carried out in October, 68% of our current Year 7 disadvantaged pupils arrived with below age-related expectations compared to 54% of their peers. This gap was even wider when looking at the figures for significantly below age-related expectations and is typical of all our cohorts on entry. The impact of low reading ages, poor oracy and vocabulary is also evident in the attainment gaps across the full range of subjects in our first Year 7 assessment review. |
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.
Pupil Premium 2022 Intended Outcomes
| Intended outcome | Success criteria |
| To support all of our pupils in need of additional interventions to improve and sustain high levels of wellbeing | • All pupils will actively engage with our PSHE curriculum across both key stages to further develop their understanding of wellbeing. • An increase in the number of disadvantaged pupils taking part in enrichment activities to support their wellbeing and develop their knowledge and skills in a range of curriculum activities will be evident in the figures from 2024/25. • Qualitative data will show a positive outcome for the large majority of our disadvantaged pupils regarding their wellbeing in school from 2024/25. This data will be collected from: regular pupil voice, student council feedback, wellbeing ambassador sessions, parent voice and staff observations. |
| To support our families in ensuring that all pupils maintain high levels of attendance and punctuality to school | • Due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on attendance rates it is not possible to set accurate targets related to absence and persistent absence at this time. However, we aim to achieve attendance figures for our disadvantaged pupils above national average during the duration of the pandemic. We will keep this under review. |
| To see improved levels of reading comprehension and use of a wider range of vocabulary among our disadvantaged pupils | • By the end of our current plan in 2024/25, accelerated reading test scores demonstrate improved reading ages in disadvantaged pupils so that the gap between their chronological and reading ages is narrowed and they catch up with their peers. • Teachers will see increased pupil engagement with our knowledge-rich, word-rich curriculum and improvements in their oracy and writing skills, as they acquire and use a wider and more sophisticated range of vocabulary. |
| Improved attainment in English and mathematics among disadvantaged pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 | • 2024/25 Key Stage 4 outcomes demonstrate that all pupils achieve their target grades in English and mathematics. • There is no gap in the % of disadvantaged pupils going on to take A Levels in English and mathematics compared to other pupils. (Currently there is no gap for English and a 10% gap in mathematics in current Year 12 numbers). |
| Improved attainment among disadvantaged pupils at the end of KS4 in the EBacc subjects. | • 2024/25 Key Stage 4 outcomes demonstrate that all pupils achieve their target grades in their EBACC subjects. |
Activity in this academic year
This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium and recovery funding during 2021/22 to address the challenges listed above.
1 Teaching
Budgeted cost: £220,000
Pupil Premium 2022 Activity Teaching
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| Ongoing word-rich CPD for all staff in developing new knowledge books, for all subjects, focusing explicitly on word pyramids, etymology and Tier 2 and 3 words. | Based on recommendations from ‘Improving literacy in secondary schools’. Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) ‘Bringing words to life’ Beck, McKeown and Kucan | 4 + 5 |
| Recruitment and retention of a Reading co-ordinator. CPD training on accelerated reading. | Based on recommendations from ‘Improving literacy in secondary schools’. EEF | 5 |
| Ongoing CPD for all staff in the use of dual coding and strategies to encourage reading across the curriculum such as FASE to build up pupils’ fluency and text comprehension. | Based on recommendations from ‘Improving literacy in secondary schools’. EEF | 4 + 5 |
| Mathematics staff given primary link time to develop a shared understanding of curriculum, teaching and learning. | Based on recommendations from ‘Improving mathematics in KS2 and KS3’. Supporting pupils to make a successful transition between primary and secondary school. EEF | 3 |
| Year 7 pupils given CATs on entry which are used together with primary teacher assessments and autumn term tests to identify pupils in need of targeted support and future planning. | Based on recommendations from ‘Improving mathematics in KS2 and KS3’. Use assessment to build on pupils’ existing knowledge and understanding. EEF | 3 + 4 |
| Purchase of KS4 revision guides, work books and online Pinpoint subscription to support and target individual pupil weaknesses. | Based on recommendations from ‘Improving mathematics in KS2 and KS3’. Use tasks and resources to challenge and support pupils’ mathematics. EEF | 3 |
| Recruitment and retention of 1 additional teacher in each of the EBacc subjects (English, science, MFL, Humanities, mathematics). | Based on research that reducing class size increases the quantity and quality of pupil feedback. EEF Impact of up to 2 months additional progress across the year. | 3 + 4 |
2 Targeted academic support
Budgeted cost: £ 90,000
Pupil Premium 2022 Activity - Targeted Academic Support
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| Provision of a comprehensive range of afterschool and lunchtime enrichment activities including: dance, film, robotics, strategic games and international cooking. | Based on evidence on Life skills and enrichment from the Teaching and learning Toolkit and EEF projects. EEF | 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 |
| Small group English, mathematics and science tuition for Year 11 during a Residential visit to an outdoor adventure centre ahead of mock examinations. | Based on the evidence from the EEF Small group - Impact of 4 months additional progress over a year. Outdoor adventure learning impacts on collaborative learning and physical and emotional challenge. | 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 |
| Ongoing weekly targeted, high-quality, teacher led 1 : 1 and small group tuition in English and mathematics (and a range of other EBACC and vocational subjects) across all Year groups. These are 30 minute x Breakfast tuition / Form time sessions. Pupils in need of addition support are identified after each data capture submission point. Support programmes based on diagnostic assessment of need. | Based on the evidence from the EEF Small group - Impact of 4 months additional progress over a year. 1 : 1 – Impact of 5 months additional progress over a year. | 3 + 4 |
| Ongoing weekly targeted small group tuition in reading/decoding. These are 30 minute Form time sessions. Pupils in need of additional support identified from accelerated reading scores. Purchase of accelerated reading progamme and tuition resources. | Based on the evidence from the EEF Reading comprehension strategies – Impact of 6 months additional progress over a year. | 5 |
| Year 7 and 8 pupils will have one dedicated period of reading within English each week using fast paced resources. FASE reading strategies used for targeted reading aloud. | Based on the evidence from the EEF Oral language interventions – Impact of 6 months additional progress over a year. | 4 + 5 |
3 Wider strategies
Budgeted cost: £210,600
Pupil Premium 2022 Activity - Wider Strategies
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| Ongoing deployment of Wellbeing Champion, Intervention Lead and 5 Heads of Year to provide our pupils with 1:1 sessions, wellbeing empowerment programmes and day-to-day pastoral care and support so that emotional, social and behavioural problems can be dealt with as soon as they occur. | Recommendations based on the evidence available set out in Social and emotional wellbeing in secondary education NICE guidance. The link between pupil health and wellbeing and attainment Public Health England | 1 |
| Ongoing deployment of an additional Attendance officer to support pupils and their families to identify and overcome barriers to attendance. | Embedding principles of good practice set out in DfE’s Improving School Attendance advice. Our published 2018/19 pupil data for overall absence (4.9%) and persistent absence (12.7%) is lower than national average and suggests that this intervention is successful. | 2 |
Total budgeted cost: £520,600
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 2020 to 2021 academic year.
Compared to the 2019 exam results our 2020 Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs) produced an overall Attainment 8 figure for our disadvantaged pupils of 49.66, an increase of 1.79 points. We are delighted with this outcome in the truly unprecedented circumstances that these pupils found themselves, and the resilience and forbearance they displayed, both during the periods of remote learning, and afterwards when they were back in school faced with the many changes that had been put in place to keep them safe. In preparation for the return to school we formulated and introduced our ‘Get Ahead’ strategy whereby teaching groups were reorganised, staffing redistributed and subject curricula modified to provide the additional support to pupils most impacted by the pandemic.
Some of the planned 2019/20 pupil premium activities, of necessity, did not go ahead e.g. the Residential Basics event (Priority 1), Breakfast club sessions (Priority 2) and career events (Priority 1). However, targeted academic and pastoral pupil support interventions (Priority 1) were in place, along with the Forest School/DoE programme in the summer term (Priority 2). The teaching team also continued to develop the Knowledge Books for teaching in the autumn term 2021.
The impact of the ‘Get Ahead’ strategy and planned pupil premium activities resulted in the percentage of disadvantaged pupils gaining a strong pass (grade 5 or higher) and a standard pass (grade 4) in English and mathematics increasing by 6% and 8%, respectively, on the 2019 figures, to 46% and 74% of the cohort. Furthermore, the gap between the % of disadvantaged gaining a standard pass, compared to other pupils narrowed by 4%. Overall the average point score for mathematics increased by 0.32 points to 4.57/grade 4 and the attainment gap remained unchanged. The average point score for English Language increased by 0.24 points to 5.12/grade 5, although the attainment gap widened slightly.
The impact of these activities resulted in the average point score for the English Baccalaureate (EBACC) subjects increasing by 0.35 points to 4.72 for disadvantaged pupils whilst the attainment gap remained unchanged. Feeding into this performance measure were increased average point scores for disadvantaged pupils in History (up 0.74 points to 5.28/grade 5); French (up 1.49 points to 5.44/grade 5); Spanish (up 0.49 points to 4.42/grade 4) and Science (Trilogy) (up 0.57 points to 4.46/grade 4). In each case the attainment gap between disadvantaged and other pupils narrowed. There were also increased average point scores for disadvantaged pupils in Computer Science (up 2.11 points to 5.67/grade 5) and Physics (up 0.20 points to 6.50/grade 6), although the attainment gap for both subjects widened slightly. There was no change to the average point score for Chemistry and Geography, but the attainment gap for both subjects widened. The attainment gap also widened slightly in Biology, although attainment overall was similar to Chemistry and Physics at 6.30/grade 6.
The Attainment 8 value for the Open subjects remained unchanged at 15.24 compared to the 2019 figure. It is difficult to make a direct comparison as there have been a number of subject changes made since 2019 e.g. Child Care, Hospitality and Catering and GCSE Business are now offered and i-Media and Drama are no longer offered. In some cases the subject is the same but the qualification is different as in PE. However, the impact of our activities can be seen in Art (up 1.33 points to 6.00/grade 6). There were also increased average point scores for disadvantaged pupils in Dance (up 0.20 points to 7.00/grade 7) and Design and Technology (up 0.85 points to 4.29/grade 4), although the attainment gap widened slightly in the latter. The average point scores for Health and Social Care, Music, Photography and BTEC Business were all slightly down on 2019 figures as Covid-19 impacted negatively on the overall quantity and quality of coursework completed during the lockdowns and periods of pupil absence.
30 Year 10 pupils, identified as needing additional support by Subject leads and pastoral staff, attended a 15 week Mytutor program for small group breakfast tuition in English or mathematics during the summer term and a further tranche of pupils attended a total of 600 virtual sessions during the summer holidays in English, mathematics and science. Pupils awarded these interventions with a rating of 4.1/5 and 4.2/5, respectively, for helping them understand their subject better. While it is difficult to look at the impact of any activity in isolation, our first round of Year 11 internal data suggests that these interventions had a positive effect with pupils taking part making more progress than pupils who did not e.g. in science the increase in average point score from July 2021 was 0.70 (3/4 of a grade) compared to 0.57 (1/2 of a grade).
