Our philosophy

We believe in maximising the use of the pupil premium grant (PPG) by utilising a long-term strategy aligned to the School Improvement and Development Plan. This enables us to implement a blend of short, medium and long-term interventions, and align pupil premium use with wider school improvements and improving readiness to learn.

Overcoming barriers to learning is at the heart of our PPG use. We understand that needs and costs will differ depending on the barriers to learning being addressed. As such, we do not automatically allocate personal budgets per pupil in receipt of the PPG. Instead, 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 priorities is key to maximising the use of the PPG. Our priorities are as follows:

• Ensuring an ‘outstanding’ teacher is in every class
• Closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers
• Providing targeted academic support for pupils who are not making the expected progress
• Addressing non-academic barriers to attainment such as attendance, behaviour, mental health and adverse childhood experiences/trauma
• Ensuring that the PPG reaches the pupils who need it most

Barriers to future attainment

North Walsham is a rural market town. Parts of North Walsham, especially the ward the school is located in, are among the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods in the country. The economic position of families is therefore mixed. The issues affecting the families suffering from some form of deprivation are the mixed economy of the area, rural isolation, poor academic achievement, low aspiration and poor access to support services, due to lack of transport.

Our implementation process

We believe in selecting a small number of priorities and giving them the best chance of success. We also believe in evidence-based interventions and learning from our experiences, which is why we utilise annual light-touch reviews to ensure our approach is effective and we can cease or amend interventions that are not having the intended impact.

We will:

Explore

• Identify a key priority that we can address
• Systematically explore appropriate programmes and practices
• Examine the fit and feasibility with the school

Prepare

• Develop a clear, logical and well-specified plan
• Assess the readiness of the school to deliver the plan
• Make practical preparations

Deliver

• Support staff and solve any problems using a flexible leadership approach
• Reinforce initial training with follow-on support
• Drive faithful adoption and intelligent adaption

Sustain

• Plan for sustaining and scaling the intervention from the outset
• Continually acknowledge, support and reward good implementation practices
• Treat scale-up as a new implementation process

Our review process

Annually reviewing a one-year pupil premium plan and creating a new plan each year is time-costly and ineffective. This three-year approach allows us to dedicate more time up-front and introduce light-touch reviews annually.

During a light-touch review, we will review the success of each intervention, based on evidence, and determine the most effective approach moving forwards – adapting, expanding or ceasing the intervention as required.

Individual targets are set for each pupil in receipt of the PPG and their progress towards achieving these targets is analysed at the end of interventions.

The progress of pupils in receipt of the PPG is regularly discussed with subject teachers.

Once the three-year term has been completed, a new three-year strategy will be created in light of the lessons learned during the execution of the previous strategy, and with regard to any new guidance and evidence of best practice that becomes available. The Executive Headteacher and Executive Deputy Headteacher are responsible for ensuring a pupil premium strategy is always in effect.

Accountability

Ofsted inspections will report on the attainment and progress of disadvantaged pupils in receipt of the PPG.

The school is held to account for the spending of the PPG through the focus in Ofsted inspections on the progress and attainment of the wider pupil premium eligible cohort; however, they will not look for evidence of the grant’s impact on individual pupils, or on precise interventions.

The school publishes its strategy for using the pupil premium on the school website.

The school publishes a link to the school and college performance tables and the schools’ performance tables page on the school website.