The pupil premium grant provides schools with additional funding to improve the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils. All schools receive extra funding based on the number of children who have been registered for Free School Meals at any point in the last 6 years - which, for us at Bedwell, is a large group (around 37% of children on roll). As a result, this year we will receive a total of £129,495 (this is a predicted figure and the total may vary slightly due to fluctuations in pupil numbers). In addition, we will receive an additional £13,050 Recovery Premium grant, to support us in catching-up on learning that was lost during lockdowns.  

We have used guidance from a charity called the Educational Endowment Foundation to help us to use this funding in the most effective way possible. Their report (which you can check out here) recommends a tiered approach to Pupil Premium spending: 

• Teaching should be the top priority, including professional development, training and support for early career teachers and recruitment and retention. 
• Targeted support for pupils working below Age Related Expectations 
• Providing non-academic support, including improving attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support. 

Following this approach, we have developed a 3-year Pupil Premium Strategy. You can read our complete Pupil Premium Strategy Statement here.

Teaching priorities

• Embedding talk across the school day: CPD for teachers and whole staff; providing resources and ongoing training; SLT release time to implement and monitor impact 
• Enhancing phonics teaching: phonics leader running a programme of monitoring, supporting and team-teaching with all staff delivering Read Write Inc;  additional staffing to provide for small-group teaching; phonics assessment of children from Nursery – Y3 every 6 weeks; purchase of RWInc resources; training for all new staff 
• Developing the teaching of writing: CPD on writing model texts and effective use of shared writing; CPD on the use of oracy and drama activities to bring scenarios to life and provide children with experiences to write from; developing the use of feedback to provide children with focussed, timely and actionable next steps; training for TAs on providing effective support to children during whole-class teaching and at the point of writing
• Improving provision for children with SEND: Termly training for all staff, looking at effective strategies to support key areas of need (ADHD, autism, anxiety); Regular meetings between SENDCo, teachers and TA teams, discussing current practice, what is / isn’t working and suggesting new strategies and sources for external support; CPD on effective use of Assess-Plan-Do-Review (APDR) cycle.
• In school experiences and events to enhance cultural capital: themed days in each year group, linked to humanities topics; visiting theatre in education groups;  speakers / presenters / workshops for Reading Week and Science Week; release time for subject leaders and class teachers

Targetted support

• Phonics catch-up: additional one-to-one phonics sessions for those who are not on track to pass Y1 phonics screening 
• Small-group Maths Booster sessions for children in Year 6: Weekly 40 minute sessions in groups of 6-8, working with children at a similar level; Each group led by a teacher or experienced TA; Focussing on a different maths topic each week, with tasks differentiated for each group; Half-termly assessment used to refine groupings and highlight topics to focus on.
• After-school reading and maths tutoring in Y6 - targeted, small-group sessions, delivered by a teacher the children in that group know well
• Speech & language support: personalised intervention programmes delivered by specialist Speech & Language TA; use of WellComm toolkit to provide targeted support to children in EYFS; delivering Nuffield Early Language Intervention in EYFS