Using the Pupil Premium to narrow the gap

12th October 2015

Alison Appleyard

Introduction

Process for schools to adopt/adapt

Further thoughts

INTRODUCTION

John DunfordNational Pupil Premium Champion

VIP

Values Serving the disadvantagedInnovation Be creative – can do anything with PP money,

but you are accountable for the impactPartnership Work in partnership

John DunfordNational Pupil Premium Champion

The priorities are:

Excellence Raising achievementandEquity Closing the Gap

Excellence and Equity = Raising attainment for all whilst closing the learning gap

Which strategies are you currently using that are helping most to raise the attainment of PP-eligible students?e.g. Quality first teaching

Forest school

National Trust membership

National Trust – 50 things to do before you’re 11

Reading Recovery

Improving the engagement of parents

Sharing data/information/communication between staff and parents

Speech and language development

Focus on the needs of bright PP children – theatre trips

PP pupil experiences

NB There is no such thing as a typical PP child.

Nationally there are big variations between schools and between LAs.The Gap gets wider as pupils get older.

Focus relentlessly on the quality of teaching for learning.Poor teaching in a school results in even poorer learning for PP Pupils, therefore it is legitimate to spend PP on raising the quality of teaching.

Pupil Premium and Ofsted Inspection

What Inspectors are looking for

• Before the inspection, RAISE Online is studied for evidence on gaps:• How well did FSM pupils attain last year in comparison to other pupils in the school and

nationally?• How much progress did FSM pupils make last year compared to other pupils in the school and

nationally?• How well have FSM pupils been performing over time? Is attainment rising? Is the gap

narrowing?

• PP pupil tracking by inspector• Discussions with PP pupils, parents, staff and governors• Study of effectiveness of PP spending strategies• Study of effectiveness of leadership in monitoring and evaluation• Governor involvement

Factors considered by Inspectors

• Quality of the school’s analysis of the performance and needs of PP pupils• School rationale for spending PP funding• Appropriateness and level of challenge of school’s success criteria• Robustness of monitoring and evaluation• Level of involvement of governors• Level of involvement of pupils, parents and carers• Impact on narrowing the gap

Accountability to parents

• Obligation to report to parents on PP policies and the impact of them• Publish an online account of PP amount and plans to spend it• At the end of the year, publish what you spent the PP money on and the impact

that it hadNB There are lots of school templates on the Internet

A PROCESS FOR SCHOOLS TO ADOPT

Overcoming the barriers

1. Identify barriers to learning for PP pupils2. Decide on your desired outcomes3. Identify success criteria for each outcome4. Choose your PP strategies5. Implement strategies with in-depth training6. Evaluate strategies regularly7. Tell the story: create an audit trail

NB This process and your strategies can benefit other children too – every child matters – but your school is held accountable for the progress of PP children.

1 Identify barriers to learning for PP pupils

What are the barriers to learning for your PP pupils?e.g. Low aspirations (staff, parents, pupil)

Low expectationsLack of emotional resilience, self-confidence, self-respectPoor attendanceGeographical isolation

NB Barriers to learning often have more to do with non-school issues than school-based issues

Identify barriers to learning for PP pupils

Identify the barriers to learning for PP pupils through:• Learning walks• PP student shadowing• PP student voice• Achievement and attendance analysis• Parent views• SLT, staff and governor views

NB Listening to disadvantaged pupils is an excellent way of finding out more details about barriers to learning

2 Decide on your desired outcomes

Make your own list for your school and therefore define your own agenda.e.g. Desired PP Outcomes Success Criteria Advice

Improving FSM attainment In success criteria put data over the years to show progress with a target

Reducing gaps

Improving attendance

Accelerating progress Don’t put % here as this is about individual pupils.Put, “Every PP child to make GOOD progress.”

Reducing exclusions

Improving engagement of families What does success look like? Engagement?No PP pupil should become NEET (Sec example)

Developing skills and personal qualities

3 Identify success criteria and 4 choose your school strategies

What strategies will produce these desired outcomes and help you to achieve your success criteria?Use evidence that worksLook at the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Toolkit.

This sorts into effectiveness a range of interventions, showing impact on the disadvantaged and less able pupils.Use those that score 8+ and are therefore the most effective.Click on an intervention and it tells you how to do it.

Choose your strategies.

Examples of strategies:

• Note the top EEF strategies

• Improve the quality of teaching

• Data monitoring

• Drill down into individual pupil data

• Early interventions

• Broaden opportunities

• Individual support eg buying alarm clocks

• Mark PP books first

• Purchase washing machine to wash PE kit for those who ‘forget’ their own

• Pay for talented student to attend a football academy or music school

• Pay for obese children to attend weight watchers

• Pay for Scout/Girl Guides uniforms or trips etc

• Yoga classes

• Mindfulness classes

• Breakfast Club

• University links

• Lego therapy

• Parents’ literacy classes

• Encourage parents into school for mini events eg bake-off competitions

• Keep some money back for staff to bid for

5 Implement strategies with in-depth training

Train staff in depth on chosen strategiesStart with a skills audit against required interventions

6 Evaluate strategies regularly

Monitor progress of pupils frequently and bring in rapid interventions.This is most important for PP success.Evaluate the impact of strategies.Website to support self-review: http://tscouncil.org.uk/guide-effective-pupil-premium-reviews/Compare your school’s PP performance with like schools:http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/families-of-schools/

Also visit the Successful School Site and “borrow” ideas. (Currently secondary only; primary available late 2015)

Choosing your school strategies: getting the balance right

• Short term• Long term• Needs of individual pupils• Whole-school strategies• Teaching and Learning strategies• Improving numeracy and literacy• Improving test and exam results• Raising aspirations• Pastoral support strategies• Is the balance right for your school? Consider the balance across year groups

NB Is the balance the same as your school/non-school Barriers to learning?

The Evidence

There are three recommended ways of doing this:• 1 Seek out excellent practice in other schools (Note that schools on this first

contact can be telephoned)• http://apps.nationalcollege.org.uk/closing_the_gap/index.cfm

www.pupilpremiumawards.co.uk • 2 Using the Education Endowment Foundation toolkit

http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/ • 3 Using conclusions from Ofsted surveys• http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/pupil-premium-how-schools-are-spending-fund

ing-successfully-maximise-achievement

• http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/unseen-children-access-and-achievement-20-years

7 Creating a Good Audit Trail

The Audit Trail:• PP funding £?• Strategies adopted• Implementation• Monitoring mechanisms and results• Measured impact• Evaluating each strategy: “What does this mean?”• Improving: “What do we do now?”

Audit trail to use on the school website

Person Responsible Cost Evaluation Impact

Improve Feedback

OWN STRATEGIES

state progress compared with what pupils were making before

1:1 Tuition

Attendance Officer

Peer tutoring

Etc INCLUDE CASE STUDIES

FURTHER THOUGHTS

• Schools currently have an opportunity to do what is right for your pupils

• Don’t wait for politicians to tell you what to do. Schools have to decide on the best way to spend their PP money

• Look outwards to excellent practice in other schools

• Encourage staff to build professional networks

Using Teaching Assistants effectively

• How well are your teaching assistants doing?• How do you know how effective they are? • TAs should be trained• Teachers should be trained on using TasUseful sites:• The Deployment and Impact of Support Staff (DISS) project: www.oxfordprimary.co.uk• http://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/oxed/primary/literacy/osi_teaching_assistants_r

eport_web.pdf?region=uk

• EEF report on Making the Best Use of Teaching Assistants:• http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/uploads/pdf/TA_Guidance_Report_Inter

active.pdf (March 2015)

Evidence from Ofsted

Reports on Pupil Premium September 2012, February 2013, July 2014 give both successful and unsuccessful approaches.Successful approaches found by Ofsted include the following:• PP funding ring-fenced to spend on target group• Maintained high expectations of target group• Thorough analysis of which pupils are underachieving and why• Used evidence to allocate funding to big-impact strategies• High-quality teaching, not interventions to compensate for poor teaching• Used achievement data to check interventions were effective and made adjustments where necessary• Highly trained support staff• A senior leader has oversight of how PP funding is being spent – a single priority• Teachers know which pupils are eligible for PP• A school can demonstrate impact• Governors are involved

Examples of Strategies to close the Learning Gap

Whole school strategies....which benefit all pupils

Targetted strategies for

pupils eligible for FSM....which

specifically benefit FSM pupils

Whole school strategies might include:

• Quality teaching and learning, consistent across the whole school, supported by a strong CPD culture, observation/moderation and coaching• An engaging and relevant curriculum, personalised to pupil needs• Pupil level tracking, assessment and monitoring• Quality assessment• Effective reward, behaviour and attendance policies• An inclusive and positive school culture• An effective Senior Leadership Team, focused on PP agenda

Targeted strategies for under-performing pupils might include:

• Early intervention and targeted learning interventions• One-to-one support and other catch-up provision• Rigorous monitoring and evaluation of targeted interventions• Extended services and multi-agency support• Targeted parental engagements• In-school dedicated pastoral and wellbeing support and outreach• Developing confidence and self-esteem through pupil voice, empowering student

mentors, sport, music or other programmes such as SEAL.

Targeted strategies for FSM Pupils might include:

• Incentives and targeting of extended services and parental support• Subsidising school trips and other learning resources• Additional residential and summer camps• Interventions to manage key transitions between stages/schools• Dedicated senior leadership champion

Accountability

• Think of accountability as a tool to deliver what we want to do• Set own data sets, set own aims and hold yourself to account – exam results

don’t tell the whole story• Are your pupils making at least good progress?• How many children go on trips? Look at sub groups etc• Create a good audit trail and put it on the school website• It is statutory to report to parents• We are not doing this for Ofsted – but for the children

An internal perspective

“Today schooling needs to be much more about ways of thinking, involving creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and decision making.”

Andreas Schleicher – OECD TES 16 November 2012

Using Curriculum Freedoms

The school curriculum is much bigger than the national curriculum

SCHOOL CURRICULUM

NATIONAL CURRICULUM

Using Curriculum Freedoms to close the gap

• What curriculum does a young person need?• What curriculum does most for the disadvantaged?• Aim to give all young people a ‘whole education’• Develop in them skills and personal qualities which support the gaining of

knowledge• How can you develop the curriculum to help close the gap in your school?

NB “Whole Education” by John Dunford

The Moral purpose

“Our data shows that it doesn’t matter if you go to a school in Britain, Finland or Japan, students from a privileged background tend to do well everywhere. What really distinguishes education systems is their capacity to deploy resources where

they can make the biggest difference.Your effect as a teacher is a lot bigger for a student who doesn’t have a privileged

background than for a student who has lots of educational resources.”

Andreas Schleicher, TES 2013

The System in Practice

Get buy-in at schoolUse evidence to decide strategyTraining in depth

Change Practice Make an impact Evaluate effectiveness

Pupil Premium Awards

• PP Awards have been made in 2013, 2014 and 2015 to schools making the biggest impact with their PP Funding.• In 2015, up to 500 schools won a share of £4m with the top secondary winning

£250k and the top primary £11k.• For more information see http://www.pupilpremiumawards.co.uk

NB You can also look at the website to find out more about what previous winners are doing to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.