Detail

Data

School name

Brookside Primary

Number of pupils in school

200 (34 EYFS)

Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils

30%  (49/166)

Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers (3 year plans are recommended)

2021/22 2022/23, 2023/24

Date this statement was published

December 2022

Date on which it will be reviewed

November 2023

Statement authorised by

Mr D Orme (HT)

Pupil premium lead

Ms J Smith (DHT)

Governor / Trustee lead

Mrs L Menear

Detail

Amount

Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year

£94845

Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year

£6996

Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years (enter £0 if not applicable)

£0

Total budget for this academic year

If your school is an academy in a trust that pools this funding, state the amount available to your school this academic year

£101841

At Brookside Primary School, we strive for achievement for all our pupils. Our pastoral care and rigorous monitoring and tracking of all pupils helps us to identify any pupils who are at risk of not making sufficient progress and this has helped us to plan and implement good intervention strategies.

With smaller numbers of pupil premium eligible pupils, value for money is central to sustained improvements in both well-being and academic achievement. As a high achieving school set within the context of a deprivation indicator that is below the national, there is the potential challenge that less advantaged pupils do not have the same starting point, experiences or support as their peers.

Our belief is that opportunities in a wide range of experiences such as art/craft lessons and sporting opportunities are integral to opportunity and entitlement. This includes some new and discrete activities and interventions that we have always employed that are known to support pupil progress and attainment. Some have cost implications and others have required time within staff learning sessions, INSET and staff time to research theory and current pedagogical developments in education.

Challenge number

Detail of challenge

1

Assessments, observations, and discussions with pupils suggest disadvantaged pupils generally have greater difficulties with communication & language and phonics than their peers. This negatively impacts their development as readers and writers.

Children enter EYFS well below age related expectations in Language and communication. 40%+ of disadvantaged pupils are working below in Literacy throughout KS1 & 2.

2

Our assessments (including wellbeing survey Autumn 2022), observations and discussions with pupils and families have identified social and emotional issues for many pupils and a lack of enrichment opportunities during school. These challenges particularly affect disadvantaged pupils, including their attainment. Enrichment Club to be provided and other clubs after school for example and ART club. There has been an increase in requests for support from teachers, parents, and Social Services. Currently, 53 children (30 of whom are disadvantaged) are receiving support for social and emotional needs.

3

Our attendance data over the last year indicates that attendance among disadvantaged pupils is 92.74% overall.

Our assessments and observations indicate that absenteeism is negatively impacting disadvantaged pupils’ attainment.

Intended outcome

Success criteria

Improved reading attainment among disadvantaged pupils.

KS2 reading outcomes in 2024/25 show that more than 90% of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standard.

To achieve and sustain improved wellbeing for all pupils in our school, particularly our disadvantaged pupils.

Sustained high levels of wellbeing from 2024/25 demonstrated by:

• qualitative data from student voice, student and parent surveys and teacher observations
• a significant increase in participation in enrichment activities, particularly among disadvantaged pupils   

To achieve and sustain improved attendance for all pupils, particularly our disadvantaged pupils.

Sustained high attendance from 2024/25 demonstrated by:

• the overall absence rate for all pupils being no more than 4%, and the attendance gap between disadvantaged pupils and their non-disadvantaged peers being reduced by 5%.
• the percentage of all pupils who are persistently absent being below 10% and the figure among disadvantaged pupils being no more than 5% lower than their peers.

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Training for staff on going CPD to improve quality of teaching and outcomes for pupils.

Spending on developing high quality teaching may include investment in professional development training and support.

 Education Endowment Foundation | EEF

1

Purchase of a DfE validated Systematic Synthetic Phonics programme to secure stronger phonics teaching for all pupils.

Phonics approaches have a strong evidence base that indicates a positive impact on the accuracy of word reading (though not necessarily comprehension), particularly for disadvantaged pupils:

Phonics | Toolkit Strand | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF

Ruth Miskin RWI scheme

1

Enable pupils to gain cultural and enrichment experiences to build on knowledge and skills.

Panto

Father Christmas

Trips, mini bus use, residentials…

Subscriptions

Spanish

2

Improve the quality of social and emotional (SEL) learning.

SEL approaches will be embedded into routine educational practices and supported by professional development and training for staff.

There is extensive evidence associating childhood social and emotional skills with improved outcomes at school and in later life (e.g., improved academic performance, attitudes, behaviour and relationships with peers):

EEF_Social_and_Emotional_Learning.pdf(educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

Secrets of Success scheme

Kapow PSHE scheme

Assemblies

Pastoral manager support

2

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Small group support

Interventions

1:1 support

Evidence consistently shows the positive impact that targeted academic support can have, including those who are not making academic progress.

Education Endowment Foundation | EEF

1

Additional phonics sessions targeted at disadvantaged pupils who require further phonics support (lowest 20%). This will be delivered in collaboration with our local English hub. 

Phonics approaches have a strong evidence base indicating a positive impact on pupils, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds. Targeted phonics interventions have been shown to be more effective when delivered as regular sessions over a period up to 12 weeks:

Phonics | Toolkit Strand | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF

Ruth Miskin RWI

1

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Staff training on behaviour management and anti-bullying approaches with the aim of developing our school ethos and improving behaviour across school.

Both targeted interventions and universal approaches can have positive overall effects:

Behaviour interventions | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

2

Embedding principles of good practice set out in the DfE’s Improving School Attendance advice.

This will involve training and release time for staff to develop and implement new procedures and appointing attendance/support officers to improve attendance.

The DfE guidance has been informed by engagement with schools that have significantly reduced levels of absence and persistent absence.

3

Contingency fund for acute issues.

Based on our experiences and those of similar schools to ours, we have identified a need to set a small amount of funding aside to respond quickly to needs that have not yet been identified.

All

Our internal data shows that on average between 40%-60% of our disadvantaged pupils are working below ARE in Reading, Writing and Maths by the end of the 2021/22 academic year. We aim to reduce this to below 20%.

Our internal assessments during 2020/21 suggested that the performance of disadvantaged pupils was lower than in 2019 in key areas of the curriculum. Despite being on track during the first year (2018/19), the outcomes we aimed to achieve in our previous strategy by the end of 2020/21 were therefore not fully realised. 

Our assessment of the reasons for these outcomes’ points primarily to Covid-19 impact, which disrupted all our subject areas to varying degrees. As evidenced in schools across the country, school closure was most detrimental to our disadvantaged pupils, and they were not able to benefit from our pupil premium funded improvements to teaching and targeted interventions to the degree we had intended. The impact was mitigated by our resolution to maintain a high-quality curriculum, including during periods of partial closure, which was aided by use of online resources such as those provided by Oak National Academy. During the year 2021/22 we have invested in new schemes of work to enhance our wider curriculum, to ensure continuity and a good progression of knowledge and skills across all year groups.

Overall attendance (94.5%) in 2020/21 was lower than in the last full school year (2018/19), and lower than the national average. At times when all pupils were expected to attend school, persistent absence among disadvantaged pupils was 3% higher than their peers. These gaps are larger than in previous years, which is why attendance is a focus of our current plan.  Our assessments and observations indicate that absenteeism due to the lockdown and Covid-related absences is negatively impacting pupils’ progress. Overall attendance (93%) in 2021/22 was again lower than the previous year. The gap has narrowed between our disadvantaged pupils (92.7) We aim to reduce this by 2.7% to be at least 95.4% in line with the National average 2021. 

Our assessments and observations indicated that pupil behaviour, wellbeing and mental health were significantly impacted last year, primarily due to COVID-19-related issues. The impact was particularly acute for disadvantaged pupils. We used pupil premium funding to provide wellbeing support for all pupils, and targeted interventions where required. We are building on that approach with the activities detailed in this plan.