Wallasey School
Reporting of Pupil Premium Funding 2012- 13
Reporting of Pupil Premium Funding
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Purpose of Pupil Premium •
The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their wealthier peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.
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In most cases the Pupil Premium is allocated to schools and is clearly identifiable. It is for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium, allocated to schools per FSM pupil, is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.
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Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit. However they will be held accountable for how they have used the additional funding to support pupils from low-income families. New measures will be included in the performance tables that will capture the achievement of those disadvantaged pupils covered by the Pupil Premium.
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From September 2012, schools are required to publish online information about how they have used the Premium. This will ensure that parents and others are made fully aware of the attainment of pupils covered by the Premium.
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The DfE will also provide schools with information about strategies and interventions which can improve the progress and attainment of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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The key priority is to narrow the disadvantage gap by addressing inequalities and raising the attainment of those students in low-income families.
Source of Information: Department for Education website (www.education.gov.uk)
Key facts •
The Pupil Premium is allocated to schools to support children from lowincome families who are currently known to be eligible for FSM in both mainstream and non-mainstream settings and for children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months.
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Total funding through the Premium has increased from £625m in 2011-12 to £1.25bn in 2012-13.
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The level of the premium in 2011-12 was £488 per pupil for pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) and for pupils in care who have been continuously looked after for six months. This has increased to £600 per pupil in 2012-13.
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The Pupil Premium was introduced in April 2011, and paid to local authorities by means of a specific grant based on January 2011 school census figures for pupils registered as eligible for FSM in reception to Year 11.
Reporting of Pupil Premium Funding
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The Government has decided that eligibility for the Pupil Premium in 2012-13 will be extended to pupils who have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last 6 years. In the early part of 2012, the Government consulted on options for extending the coverage of the Pupil Premium. As a group, children who have been eligible for FSM at any point in time have consistently lower educational attainment than those who have never been eligible for FSM.
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Up to £50m of the £1.25bn will be used to support a Summer School programme to help the most disadvantaged pupils make the transition from primary to secondary school. This approach received the highest support in the recent consultation with 44% of those responding backing its introduction.
Source of Information: Department for Education website (www.education.gov.uk)
Impact on Wallasey School For the financial year 2012-13, Wallasey School will receive a total of £165,920 and this money is being received in regular monthly instalments via the Local Authority. These funds are in addition to the main school budget (the general annual grant). Curriculum Support: £85,000 •
Mid-term and Easter Booster sessions for Year 11 and Year 10 (for those with early exam entries) were held. Staffing costs and refreshments for students were funded from Pupil Premium.
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Consultants from i2i were engaged to work with a targeted small group of borderline GCSE C/D students.
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A Consultant was employed to work with staff and students with the aim of raising attainment and closing the achievement gap – a number of strategies were developed in support of this.
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Revision guides were provided to students in English, Maths and Science; new textbooks and revision resources were also provided to support the change of syllabus in subjects.
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2 x Drama productions were held in the summer term to support English students (Heroes and An Inspector Calls)
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2 x additional TA’s were engaged in small group work to assist for 3 months in English & Maths
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Our KS4 Learning Mentor has been deployed to work closely with “hard to reach” students in the lead up to examinations, visiting students at home to support learning. The Learning Mentor will continue to work with students who have social, emotional and behavioural needs through the academic year from September 2012.
Reporting of Pupil Premium Funding
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Careers Advice and Guidance for Year 10: £1,500 All Year 10 students have received individual guidance to support them with their chosen career path and they all attended a practical Careers day (“Enterprise Day”) where activities were run and presentations were given by motivational speakers working in industry. This is an annual event that is well received by students. SEN: Nurture Group: £17,000 From September, we have appointed a HLTA who has the responsibility to facilitate the learning of a core group of students who have experienced difficulties in mainstream lessons due to a variety of factors. The students learn in a safe and stimulating environment more specifically tailored to their needs. The HLTA has access to the range of support which students individually require, eg. SENCO, behaviour support etc. Additional resources have also been purchased to support the work of the HLTA. This provision has been further supported through other sources of funding. Learning Mentor Support and Resources: £45,000 In September 2012, we purchased the “Lifeboat” literacy intervention programme which supports students with depressed reading / spelling ages. It also encourages students to develop their skills around handwriting, comprehension and vocabulary. We have appointed two additional Key Stage 3 Learning Mentors to deliver this provision, which is currently being provided on a 1:1 student / mentor basis to students in Years 7, 8 and 9. Through the programme, students are also to work through strategies to help with low self-esteem, anger management and social skills. Small groups of Year 7 students who struggle with confidence have also been encouraged to return to their Primary school to share their experiences of “big” school with Year 6 students. We have also purchased the Stile literacy programme which is running separately to the Lifeboat scheme. From October 2012, the Learning Mentors will also run a CAS Self Esteem programme to support targeted students in Key Stage 3. To support whole school literacy, Book boxes have also been purchased in each classroom which are used as an additional aid through Form Time activity.
Reporting of Pupil Premium Funding
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Not in Employment or Education (NEET) Programme: £10,000 To ensure that we are meeting the needs of all students, an intensive programme is underway to support the NEET Agenda. This may mean that some students receive alternative provision through an external course / provider (eg. Cornerstones training, Rocket training etc.). We are confident that by allowing our students to follow a different route, they will avoid the “NEET” pathway. Hardship Fund / Support for Educational Visits: £7,000 We believe that all children are entitled to a balanced and exciting curriculum and should not be disadvantaged through personal circumstances. Therefore, a small pot of money has been set aside to give consideration to families that are struggling to support their child/ren’s education. Each case is reviewed on an individual basis and awards are made on an ad-hoc basis. Identification of Need and Allocation of Additional Support: £20,000 A Multi-Agency group meet every half term which is the main conduit for discussions on our students with a wide range of Additional Educational and Social Needs, including students with safeguarding needs. This meeting is supplemented by an ongoing referral route through our Progress Leaders who follow a range of referral routes including Team around the Child meeting (TAC), other social care referrals and a range of internal procedures such as concern / incident form, referral to SEN / Learning Mentor team as well as incidents referred directly to the Senior Leadership team who can respond and refer to an appropriate provision. The Multi-Agency group consists of a number of key school staff as well as representatives from Wirral Social Care, Wirral Child and Family, Wirral Youth Offending Team, Merseyside Police, Educational Social Worker and Connexions. Other teams (such as Wirral Anti-Social Behaviour team) are also called upon when specific cases are identified. Internal staff time has been budgeted through Pupil Premium to allow this additional support to take place. A need was identified for a further Student Support Manager to support students with emotional, social and behavioural problems. This additional support has been in place since September 2012. ************************************************************************************************* It should be noted that in order for us to fulfil our specific needs, as detailed above, the school is utilising other funding from our main school grant to support the interventions outlined above.
Reporting of Pupil Premium Funding
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