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What is Pupil Premium?

The pupil premium is a grant given by the government to schools in England to decrease the attainment gap for the most disadvantaged children, whether by income or by family upheaval. For each pupil who is eligible for free school meals, their school receives £1,385 (if a primary school) or £985 (if a secondary school).

In the 2022 to 2023 financial year, schools will receive the following funding for each pupil registered as eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last 6 years:

  1. £1385 for pupils in reception to year 6
  2. £985 for pupils in year 7 to year 11
  3. Schools will receive £2,410 for any pupil identified as being in local authority care (LAC) or as having left local authority care as a result of:
  • adoption
  • a special guardianship order
  • a child arrangements order (previously known as a residence order)
  • who has been in local authority care for 1 day or more
  • recorded as both eligible for FSM in the last 6 years and as being looked after (or as having left local authority care)

To view the current strategies in place to promote the progress of pupil premium students look at the action plan at the end.

Using the Pupil Premium

Our strategy for use of pupil funding responds to a wide range of risk factors and recognises the importance of quality teaching and learning alongside outstanding pastoral support to raise achievement and engagement in learning. With this in mind, we adopt a multi-strand approach to secure positive outcomes for all our students including those deemed disadvantaged.

The foci around which we deploy Pupil Premium funding are:

  1. Raising progress and achievement
  2. Improving attendance and punctuality
  3. Providing additional support and intervention for our most vulnerable students
  4. Strengthening parental engagement
  5. Raising aspirations – including quality careers education and work related activity
  6. Building social capital and enhancing social mobility

Priorities for The Improvement of Disadvantaged Pupils

Our intent at Guru Nanak Sikh Academy is to enrich the lives of all our students, no matter their background or prior attainment. To that end, we aim to both raise achievement of all our learners, as well as ensuring that we close the gap between our student groups. At GNSA, we have a lower than national average number of students with Pupil Premium funding. It is therefore right to ensure most of their needs are increasingly met through high quality universal provision. Our model to achieve success with these students is therefore as follows:

Improve the progress of disadvantaged students through high quality teaching and learning.

a) Ensuring the targets that have been set for disadvantaged students at GNSA are aspirational based in the upper limit of FFT5.
b) Ensure that PP students are represented in all sets but in particular the higher sets across all departments.
c) Ensure all staff are using data when planning for disadvantaged students and that this is evident in seating plans.
d) Ensure that all departmental meetings and data reviews have a strong teaching and learning focus on disadvantaged pupils especially boys.
e) Develop whole school teaching and learning strategies to promote the progress of disadvantaged pupils.
f) Support the pupil premium champions in effectively delivering school wide teaching and learning strategies developed for disadvantaged pupils ensuing that they are used all year.
g) Ensure there is a constant cycle of assessment, feedback and improvement for disadvantaged pupils and that this is planned for in lessons.
h) Support parents and students in effectively using the knowledge organiser.
i) Focus on the teaching and learning disadvantaged boys are receiving at GNSA and put strategies in place to promote progress and engagement
j) Support the teaching and learning department to ensure the quality of teaching within the school is consistently good.

Effectively use data tracking points based on high quality assessment to identify PP students that a not making the required progress and target these students for interventions.

a) Ensure all faculties have in place quality assessments that result in accurate data tracking and provide information regarding gaps in knowledge.
b) Create an effective accountability cycle in which the progress of all disadvantaged students especially boys is discussed with the Subject Leaders and classroom teachers resulting in effective in and out of class interventions.
c) Use accurate data to target disadvantaged students for high quality small group interventions that rotate to ensure disadvantaged students receive support in all their subjects.
d) Monitor the effectiveness and quality of the interventions that disadvantaged pupils receive through QA and data tracking.
e) Monitor the pupil premium champions use of data to target interventions within their department.
f) Monitoring the progress of all PP students in terms of achievement, progress, behaviour and attendance after each tracking point.
g) Implement a new mentoring system using data tracking points to promote the academic progress, motivation and positive behaviour of disadvantaged students.
h) Share all findings with all relevant parties including governors and parents.

Improve engagement with disadvantaged parents in the community.

a) Focus on getting difficult to reach disadvantaged parents into school through phone calls and meeting after parents’ evenings.
b) Continue to monitor the work of the attendance officer regarding disadvantaged pupils.
c) Host family support evenings.
d) Use academic mentoring to promote parental engagement.
e) Create a parental toolkit to promote the learning of disadvantaged pupils at home.

Ensure all PP students have a wide range of extra-curricular activities available to them to support progress and enrich their education and raise aspirations.

a) Develop an enriching curriculum.
b) Provide a wide range of extracurricular activities for disadvantaged students to engage with.
c) Ensure all disadvantaged students are supported and prioritised in the decision making of their extracurricular activities.
d) Provide disadvantaged students with the opportunities to visit higher education establishments as well as work experience.
e) Provide disadvantaged students with opportunities to experience enriching activities such as the theatre and art galleries.
g) Ensure that disadvantaged students especially boys are represented on the student council, peer mentors and in any decision making within the school.
h) All disadvantaged students to meet with the career adviser at some point during KS4.

2022-23 Pupil Premium Funding Received

Each year the leadership team responsible for the education of students eligible for the pupil premium review the strategies in place. The aim is to support these students academically allowing them to achieve the best grades they can and to help them to develop into well rounded adults that are capable of contributing in their community.

Our mission is to ensure that:

  • students develop the knowledge, skills and character to live happy, healthy and successful lives
  • all are included and work hard to fulfil their potential regardless of background or starting point
  • student choices are not limited by self-belief, opportunity or circumstance.

This can be achieved at GNSA through world class learning, high expectations and through encouraging personal, moral and spiritual development