Pupil Premium

Since September 2012 there is a general requirement for schools to publish details of their pupil premium grant allocation, how it is spent and the impact it has on attainment.

The Department for Education website makes it clear that the government believes that this grant, which is in addition to the main school funding, is the best way to address the current inequalities between children who are eligible for free school meals, or who have been at some time in the last six years, and their wealthier peers. The pupil premium funding is therefore targeted at the pupils who need it the most and whilst schools are free to spend the grant as they see fit, they are accountable for the use of this additional funding in support of students from low-income families.

Barriers to learning for disadvantaged students at Christ’s

At Christ’s we endeavour to ensure all our students to feel safe and ready to achieve their full potential. Some of our students come from challenging backgrounds and require additional support to do so.

Some of the more basic but fundamental barriers to learning can include:

• not having the correct uniform
• cost of equipment or resources required to access the curriculum

Many disadvantaged students also find it difficult to afford some of the educational trips which may have an impact on learning .The school works hard to identify these students and make sure that they attend at least one trip per year.  Christ’s offers a 50% reduction in cost and in exceptional circumstances will fully fund a place.

This support has had great impact in certain subjects, ie the annual PE GCSE trip which has given students the opportunity to make progress towards achieving 20% of their overall result. 

English trips have included several different theatre trips (with varying cost levels) which invariably are linked to learning and the curriculum. Again disadvantaged students are identified and encouraged to take part and efforts are made to make these visits more affordable through school subsidy. 

Some students may also find it difficult to access the internet and may not have access to computers or tablets at home. The school can provide funding to support the purchase of these items. At Christ’s we also provide daily access to computers and the internet in our after school homework club which is open to all students.

Use of Pupil Premium

The school is fully committed to the ’narrowing the gap’ agenda and views the pupil premium as an excellent opportunity to make a real difference to the life outcomes of students on the free school meal register.

Our use of the Pupil Premium is based on the following principles:

• Working with stakeholders (parents, students, governors, staff, external providers) in respect of the best use of these funds, to offer, where possible, personalised support for each individual.
• Targeting the support specifically on raising academic attainment, whilst accepting that attendance, self-esteem and self-worth contribute significantly to this goal.
• The creation of a team of specialist staff to provide comprehensive and cohesive support for all aspects of students’ needs.
• The extension of additional provision, when capacity allows, to other vulnerable students to ensure a positive impact of these resources on the largest possible number of students. Priorities are to support young carers, students/families in very difficult financial or other circumstances, those on the special educational needs register and students with a limited grasp of the English language.
• Identification of the full cohort to ensure students of higher ability, but limited means also benefit from targeted support where appropriate.

 

Pupil Premium Impact Statement 2015-16

Outcomes

Year 13

Disadvantaged funding at Key Stage 5 was used to support students in a number of ways. These interventions included; purchase of curriculum related equipment; costs towards curriculum trips; payment towards clothing/uniform; costs towards revision guides, tutorials and towards funding for specialist advice for getting into the top universities.

9 disadvantaged students all made good or outstanding progress at A2 with an overall ALPS score of 3 compared to the Year 13 cohort score of 5. 8 of the 9 Year 13 students progressed to their first or second choice Universities.

Year 11

• 56% of disadvantaged Year 11 students achieved 5 or more A*-C GCSE’s with English and Maths. The gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students was 24%.
• 87.5% of HPA disadvantaged students achieved 5 A*-C (EM) compared to 97% of non-disadvantaged
• 37% of HPA disadvantaged students achieved 5 or more A*-A compared to 57% of non-disadvantaged
• 31% of disadvantaged students achieved the EBAAC compared to 45% of non-disadvantaged
• 86% of disadvantaged students made 3 levels of progress in English (92.5% non-disadvantaged)
• 65.5% of disadvantaged students achieved 4 levels of progress in English (66% non-disadvantaged)
• 52% of disadvantaged students made 3 levels of progress in Maths (86% non-disadvantaged)
• 21% of disadvantaged students made 4 levels of progress in Maths (48% non-disadvantaged)

Functional Skills L1 entry: targeted at disadvantaged pupils. 89% pass rate.

Wider Key Skills entries for those least able to access the curriculum. 100% pass rate.

Year 11

High-Prior Attaining Pupils

Disadvantaged pupils who had high prior-attainment made sustained and better progress and attainment than non-disadvantaged pupils. Disadvantaged pupils also achieved, on average, more A*/A grades per pupil (6 v 5) than non-disadvantaged pupils.

We can therefore conclude that intervention targeted at these pupils, in A/A* intervention and teaching was effective:

	Progress 8	Attainment 8
Disadvantaged	+0.59	69.8
Non-disadvantaged	+0.19	65.5

 

Mid-Prior Attaining Pupils

There was no significant difference in achievement and progress outcomes between the two groups. Given that most pupils in this group from a disadvantaged background were in the targeted intervention groups, we can conclude that these interventions were at least partly successful.

	Progress 8	Attainment 8
Disadvantaged	+0.68	55.8
Non-disadvantaged	+0.69	57.8

 

Low-Prior Attaining Pupils

With only two disadvantaged pupils who had low prior attainment, it would be statistically difficult to analyse group results. The following data therefore widens low prior attainment to include the bottom of the mid-prior attaining research group. Progress for the disadvantaged group was still positive but significantly below the non-disadvantaged group. Beyond the classroom intervention was less effective when targeted at the disadvantaged group because these were mainly boys who were significantly more reluctant to engage.

	Progress 8	Attainment 8
Disadvantaged	+0.29	40.7
Non-disadvantaged	+0.78	44.7

 

All pupils who warranted ‘case study status’ (whether from disadvantaged or non-disadvantaged groups) were not counted in the following results data. These pupils were disproportionately from ‘disadvantaged’ backgrounds.

The reasoning for removing them, in this instance, is that each of these pupils had special circumstances, including being educated off-site, pregnancy, or severe behavioural, emotional or social difficulties that severely impacted progress and required multi-agency and stakeholder input beyond individual teachers and departments ( see Case Studies for further information and destination data for disadvantaged students)

 

Curriculum Support Department intervention

A minority of our more vulnerable students from disadvantaged backgrounds, who had specific emotional and social challenges, received regular support from the Curriculum Support Department (CSD) whilst at Christ’s. Of the 10 students in this “cohort” that worked closely with the CSD the overwhelming majority enjoyed significant successes in terms of academic outcomes and destinations:

• 1  student made outstanding progress at GCSE and returned to Christ’s Sixth Form
• 2 students also achieved good GCSE results and now attends Strodes Sixth Form College
• 4 students have enrolled onto a range of different courses at Kingston College
• 1 student has enrolled at college onto a Legal Secretary course
• 1 student has successfully enrolled into a League 1 Football Academy

 

Key Stage 3

Literacy Interventions and impact

Pupils who have taken part in paired reading were tested using the Access Reading Test in October 2015 and have been re-tested in April 2016. These pupils were identified by either coming in to Christ`s with low prior attendance or by data from the Access Reading Test

• 64% of pupils have made accelerated progress
• Number of Low prior attaining pupils on or above target has increased by 10% since previous tracking round

Numeracy Interventions and impact

A group of students with significantly low prior attainment was identified and invited to attend numeracy intervention group once per week which started in September 2015. Some of these students were from disadvantaged group. Parents of these students were informed and asked to encourage their child to attend this intervention.

As a result,

• 71% of the students that attended regularly were on or above their target while
• 50% of students made an accelerated progress by the end of the year.

In addition,

• Disadvantaged students received regular intervention in Mathematics lessons throughout the year. 
• Overall percentage of disadvantaged students that made accelerated or expected progress was: 66% in year 7, 63% in year 8 and 72% in year 9.

 

Homework Club

Introduced in January 2016; a daily, after school opportunity to receive support to complete homework. Supervised by two members of staff. Key disadvantaged students received personal invitations; parents contacted.

Attendance at Homework Club

 

Key Stage 3 data

Subject	% non-disadvantaged  On or above Target	% Disadvantaged on or above target	%Gap
English
Year 7	55%	80%	-25%
Year 8	70%	79%	-9%
Year 9	64%	74%	-10%
Maths
Year 7	84%	90%	-6%
Year 8	83%	88%	-5%
Year 9	74%	88%	-14%

 

Attendance (up to Summer Half-Term 2016)

In early 2016 Christ’s appointed a new Attendance Officer and amended the role so that more time would be spent on attendance issues, and specifically on intervening with students whose attendance was a cause for concern. A number of new strategies have been employed by the school alongside the Educational Welfare Officer which has made a positive impact on attendance, including that of disadvantaged students in general.

 

Persistent Absence (Up to Summer Half-Term 46+)

 

Internal Exclusions – whole year

 

Internal Exclusions 2015-16

In 2015-16 PPG students are accountable for 61% of all Internal Exclusions.

 

Internal Exclusions 2014-15

In 2014-15 PPG students were accountable for 54.8% of all Internal Exclusions.

 

Internal Exclusions 2013-14

In 2013-14 PPG students were accountable for 61.1% of all Internal Exclusions.

For further information in respect of how Christ's school has utilised the pupil premium grant read the attached document.

The school will be reviewing the provision for disadvantaged students through an external audit which will take place on December 5th 2016.