Pupil Premium 

Pupil Premium is government funding which is allocated to schools for children who are, or have been in the past 6 years, eligible for free school meals (FSM), service children, adopted children and any child who have been looked after by the local authority.

You will remember the letters have been sent to you over the past few years encouraging you to apply for free school meals even if you do not want your child to have a school lunch. The reason for this is to ensure that our school receives the maximum amount of funding possible. In the pupil premium strategy statement below you can see how we have used the money to support the children and raise standards for all the pupils at South Parade Primary School.

You can see how important it is that we access this money so that we can continue to focus on raising the achievement of all the pupils at our school. We are passionate about our children achieving the highest academic standards in order to prepare them well for the next stage of their educational journey. We can also support families by using some of this money to support the purchasing of uniforms, for children to go on school visits and residentials or to support extra curricular clubs. 

Each year we will publish a report explaining how we are planning to spend the money, what our main focus is and what the impact of the support has been. You will also be able to see the impact of this money as it supports our continued efforts to raise standards and help the children become confident and well rounded individuals.

Here at South Parade Primary School. we organised a Pupil Premium Review with an external consultant. This took place on 26th April , 2017 after a series of pre-visits and preparation meetings. We received a long, in depth report as a result of the review. This was overall a very positive report highlighting lots of practice that is going well. We are now working on the 'what could be better' feedback. Below is a summary of the report:

What is going well?

• The Headteacher and Deputy Head provide strong and confident leadership, lead by example and are accurate in judging the school’s priorities for the current academic year. They set the tone for the school with their positive, “can do” approach and with the value they ascribe to working with all stakeholders.

• The Headteacher and Deputy Head have introduced clear tracking systems which have an appropriate focus on different groups, including disadvantaged pupils, and which hold staff to account for pupil progress. They also ensure that their data informs future actions so that school’s work is well-informed and focused on having an impact on the progress of disadvantaged pupils.

• South Parade is a caring school which is highly inclusive and in which staff know and respond to children’s individual needs. There is a whole school ethos of attainment for all and a very positive, nurturing approach across the school.

• Children are very well-behaved, polite and keen to help. Attendance is improving and school has strong tracking systems and knows which children need support in attending more regularly.

• The school has strong and well-informed senior and middle leaders who all lead by example and have children’s learning at the centre of their work. There has been appropriate investment in developing all staff and the school has a strong team ethic.

• The Chair of governors is very knowledgeable, well-informed and offers appropriate challenge in relation to Pupil Premium provision, spending and impact. The Chair of governors has also brought good practice from another school where she is a governor and shared it with the staff at South Parade which has been of benefit to staff and pupils alike.

• There is strong performance across school in Maths and a numerate environment inside and outside in Early Years.

• The school has developed excellent practice in creating a Pupil Premium working party which meets once a term. This has ensured that the Pupil Premium agenda has continued to be given a high priority at the school and has maintained high levels of staff openness and accountability in relation to the provision for the school’s disadvantaged pupils

What could be better?

• To give writing a higher priority to promote its importance, showcase children's achievement and to support the drive to accelerate the progress of disadvantaged pupils in this area. 
• To ensure that staff develop clear, consistent expectations in relation to how children will respond to marking so that feedback has as much impact as possible on chidren's learning. 
• To track the Persistent Absenteeism of all disadvantaged pupils across school more effectively to help school's ongoing work to reduce this barrier to learning.

We are already acting upon the feedback from the review. 

- Writing is on our School Improvement plan for 2017-2018. We are using our INSET day on 8th June to do training and development around writing and also feedback.

- The Learning Mentor has started to produce a termly report for Persistent Absenteeism which she will bring to each Working Group meeting

We have a Pupil Premium Working group that meet at least every term to review spending and impact, to review actions and to improve practice. This group has representation from various members of the school community and includes our dedicated Pupil Premium governor, Bev Riley as well as Tony Bowering, vice chair of governors. After every pupil premium working group, feedback is given to the full governing body. 

If you have any questions about pupil premium or whether you feel that you might be eligible, please do not hesitate to contact school and speak to Mrs Argent in the office or Mrs E Fieldhouse. We are also more than happy to provide support with form filling if you wish. 

Government information on Pupil Premium: 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and-alternative-provision-settings