This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium (and recovery premium for the 2022 to 2023 academic year) funding to help improve the attainment of our disadvantaged pupils.
It outlines our pupil premium strategy, how we intend to spend the funding in this academic year and the effect that last year’s spending of pupil premium had within our school.
The total budgeted cost is £97,165.
School overview
School name
Cherry Orchard Primary Academy
Number of pupils in school
429 (not inc nursery)
Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils
14.2%
Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers (3 year plans are recommended)
September 2023 – September 2024
Date this statement was published
September 2023
Date on which it will be reviewed
September 2024
Statement authorised by
Julie Forsythe
Pupil premium lead
Zoe Bushnell
Governor / Trustee lead
Rundeep Bahia
Funding overview
Detail
Amount
Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year
£88,755
Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year
£8,410
Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years (enter £0 if not applicable)
£0
Total budget for this academic yea
£97,165
part a: pupil premium strategy plan
Statement of intent
At Cherry Orchard Primary Academy (COPA), we believe that every pupil can and will make progress regardless of their background; deprivation should never be a barrier to their learning. We set highly and appropriately challenging targets for every single child. All of our pupils are valued, challenged and supported to make sustained academic and personal progress whilst with us at COPA.
We intend that all pupils are in school, everyday, in order to receive high quality teaching and learning. Transportation and other difficulties parents face in getting children into school, should not be a barrier for disadvantaged pupils. We believe in removing some of these difficulties for parents as part of our holistic approach equipping pupils socially, emotionally and academically for their next steps in education and beyond.
We strive to use the Pupil Premium to address gaps in learning for those disadvantaged pupils who continue to be affected by lost learning during the pandemic, and who, for other reasons, are behind in their maths or reading skills so that the building blocks needed to learn across all other curriculum areas are in place, leading to a successful primary education for these pupils.
Challenges
This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.
Challenge number
Detail of challenge
1
Persistent absence for disadvantaged children is higher than for non-disadvantaged pupils. This results in lost learning and gaps in knowledge and understanding.
2
Access to out of school experiences and co-curricular activities for disadvantaged pupils.
3
Lack of regular reading opportunities in some home environments needed to increase fluency and comprehension in order to access the entire curriculum.
4
Lack of regular opportunities and participation in practising times tables and basic number skills at home needed to support pupils with their understanding of other mathematical concepts such as fractions.
5
Missed learning and socialisation opportunities in school for disadvantaged pupils in early years and Key Stage 1 for Year 3 pupils needed to provide them with secure foundations.
6
Increased number of children being affected by anxiety and mental health issues with an impact on their wellbeing and ability to engage in their learning. Long waiting lists to receive professional mental health support.
Intended outcomes
This explains the outcomes we are aiming for by the end of our current strategy plan, and how we will measure whether they have been achieved.
Intended Outcome
Success Criteria
Persistent absence of disadvantaged children is significantly reduced ensuring that pupils are regularly in school.
Reduce the percentage of disadvantaged pupils with persistent absence down so that it is more in line with non-disadvantaged pupils.
Access to out of school experiences and extra-curricular activities for disadvantaged pupils.
At least 60% of disadvantaged children access at least 1 activity club during the course of the year.
All disadvantaged pupils having the opportunity to take part in co-curricular activities including workshops, off-site visits and residential trips.
Pupil gaps in maths are significantly reduced and early maths skills are acquired.
Disadvantaged children have accessed targeted interventions that have allowed for gaps to be addressed and progress made in maths.
Children experience regular reading opportunities through their time in school; TAs are equipped to deliver high quality phonics and reading interventions.
Reading fluency, comprehension and a love of reading for disadvantaged pupils has increased, allowing children to have greater access and understanding of the wider curriculum. TAs deliver high quality phonics and reading interventions that have seen pupils make significant progress.
Disadvantaged children in Year 3 are supported to access and progress successfully through the Year 3 curriculum; they are also able to interact socially in an appropriate way.
All disadvantaged children in Year 3 have made significant personal progress in their academic and social skills by the end of Year 3.
To achieve and sustain improved wellbeing for all pupils in our school, particularly our disadvantaged pupils.
Children across the whole school have quick access to a professional counsellor placed within the school to ensure that their mental health needs are met or signposted to relevant professionals
Children know that they are able to talk to someone in the school about worries.
Children’s wellbeing improves allowing them to enjoy school and learning fully.
Children have access to quiet, safe spaces providing them for opportunities for self-regulation and reflection.
Activity in this academic year
This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium (and recovery premium funding) this academic year to address the challenges listed above.
Teaching (for example, CPD, recruitment and retention)
Budgeted cost: £10,000
Activity
Evidence that supports this approach
Challenge number(s) addressed
CPD for teachers and TAs around Metacognition and self-regulation
Metacognition and self-regulation strategies can be effective when taught in collaborative groups so that learners can support each other and make their thinking explicit through discussion.Explicit teaching of metacognitive and self-regulatory strategies could therefore encourage such pupils to practise and use these skills more frequently in the future. With explicit teaching and feedback, pupils are more likely to use these strategies independently and habitually, enabling them to manage their own learning and overcome challenges themselves in the future.
The average impact of metacognition and self-regulation strategies is an additional seven months’ progress over the course of a year. (EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit)
3, 4, 5 & 6
Implementation of Forest School Training, including resources
The impact of collaborative approaches on learning is consistently positive, with pupils making an additional 5 months’ progress, on average, over the course of an academic year. Most of the positive approaches include the promotion of talk and interaction between learners. (EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit)
Peer tutoring approaches have been shown to have a positive impact on learning, with an average positive effect equivalent to approximately five additional months’ progress within one academic year. (EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit)
1, 2, 5 & 6
CPD for teachers and teaching assistants to support pupils effectively within interventions and in the classroom for all pupils.
The high average impact hides a large variation between the different approaches to teaching assistant deployment. Targeted deployment, where teaching assistants are trained to deliver an intervention to small groups or individuals has a higher impact.(EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit)
3, 4, 5 & 6
Reading support for pupils through the employment of a reading champion librarian who understands the reading system (Accelerated Reader) to support pupils’ rapid progress in and love of reading.
The use of Accelerated Reader as a tool to improve fluency and comprehension at the right level.
Fluent reading supports comprehension because pupils’ cognitive resources are freed from focusing on word recognition and can be redirected towards comprehending the text. Rapid provision of support is important, but it is critical to ensure it is the right support. Diagnostic assessment can be used to inform professional judgement about the best next steps. Diagnostic assessment makes teaching more efficient by ensuring that effort is not wasted on rehearsing skills or content that a pupil already knows well. (EEF Guidance reports)
3, 4 & 5
Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support structured interventions)
Budgeted cost: £37,165
Activity
Evidence that supports this approach
Challenge number(s) addressed
Before and after school interventions in phonics and / or reading at KS1 and KS2
Phonics is a ‘high impact’ activity with Teaching Assistant led interventions being ‘moderate’ interventions (EEF Teacher Toolkit); Professional development should be used to raise the quality of practitioners’ knowledge of mathematics, of children’s mathematical development, and of effective mathematical pedagogy.(EEF Guidance Reports)
The key is to ensure that learning in interventions is consistent with, and extends, work inside the classroom and that pupils understand the links between them. (EEF Guidance Reports)
3, 4, 5 & 6
Lexia online intervention for KS1 & KS2 pupils.
Research has identified remedial and tutorial use of technology as being particularly practical for lower attaining pupils, those with special educational needs or those from disadvantaged backgrounds in providing intensive support to enable them to catch up with their peers. Technology can be particularly useful in personalising learning to match pupils’ individual abilities and needs given the potential for such programmes to adapt and focus on the child’s learning needs. (EEF)
3, 4, 5 & 6
Before and after school interventions in maths at KS2
Seize chances to reinforce mathematical vocabulary.Create opportunities for extended discussion of mathematical ideas with children. Teaching builds on what children already know; It is important to assess what children do, and do not, know in order to extend learning for all children. (Interventions are addressing gaps identified through teaching); (EEF Guidance Reports).
Professional development should be used to raise the quality of practitioners’ knowledge of mathematics, of children’s mathematical development, and of effective mathematical pedagogy. (EEF Guidance Reports)
4, 5 & 6
Nurture Group run to support the social and emotional needs, allowing disadvantaged pupils to make academic progress in KS1 and KS2
Improving Social and Emotional Learning in Primary Schools reviews the best available research to offer school leaders six practical recommendations to support good SEL for all children. It stresses this is especially important for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and other vulnerable groups, who, on average, have weaker SEL skills at all ages than their better-off classmates. Evidence from the EEF’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit suggests that effective SEL can lead to learning gains of +4 months over the course of a year.
3, 4 & 5
Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)
Budgeted cost: £45,000
Activity
Evidence that supports this approach
Challenge number(s) addressed
Walking Bus to improve attendance and punctuality of identified students
Evidence has highlighted that not only is there a negative association between attendance rates and attainment , but that the association is particularly strong compared to all other factors introduced.
(Being Present, the Power of Attendance and Stability for Pupil Premium Pupils; NFER; 2019)
1 & 6
Minibus for transport of pupils to various co and extra-curricular events
Evidence suggests that by participating in extracurricular activities has positive effects on students’ success. More than
80% of youth participate in extracurricular activities (Fredricks, 2011, p. 379). Being involved in extracurricular activities offers important opportunities for adolescent development (Blomfield & Barber, 2009), such as peer relations, appropriate social conduct, and basic skills for academic
achievement (Metsapelto & Pulkkinen, 2012).
2 & 6
Support for disadvantaged students to attend after school clubs to increase attendance
Evidence has highlighted that not only is there a negative association between attendance rates and attainment , but that the association is particularly strong compared to all other factors introduced.
(Being Present, the Power of Attendance and Stability for Pupil Premium Pupils; NFER; 2019)
1, 2 & 6
Part-fund costs for pupils in receipt of pupil premium for extra curricular activities and co-curricular opportunities
Fully funded iRock music lessons and specialist Spanish teacher
A large body of research exists that addresses the role of extra-curricular activities on a range of cognitive and noncognitive outcomes.
(An Unequal Playing Field: Extra-Curricular Activities, Soft Skills and Social Mobility; Social Mobility Commission; 2019)
2 & 6
22-23 – Employment of a Place2Be school counsellor to be able to meet the growing mental health needs within the school community.
The average impact of successful SEL interventions is an additional four months’ progress over the course of a year. Alongside academic outcomes, SEL interventions have an identifiable and valuable impact on attitudes to learning and social relationships in school. (EEF Toolkit)
6
Create a quiet area outside to be used during breaktime, lunchtime and outdoor learning activities to support pupils needing space for socialisation, self-regulation and reflection.
A number of studies suggest that improving the self-regulation skills of children in the early years is likely to have a lasting positive impact on later learning at school, and also have a positive impact on wider outcomes such as behaviour and persistence. Many of the pupils in school have missed out on this in EYFS due to Covid 19 and the effects are still being felt. (EEF guidance).
5 & 6
part b: review of outcomes in the previous academic year
pupil premium strategy outcomes
This details the impact that our pupil premium activity had on pupils in the 2022 to 2023.
The achievement of disadvantaged pupils in the end of KS2 SATs was very pleasing.
The percentage of KS2 disadvantaged pupils achieving age expected compares favourably with national data (in 2022) for disadvantaged pupils.
At COPA disadvantaged pupils achieved:
reading – 60% age expected (compared with 62% nationally)
maths – 80% age expected (compared with 56% nationally)
writing – 73% age expected (compared with 55% nationally)
Combined maths, reading and writing was 60% for disadvantaged pupils at COPA compared to just 43% nationally.
Progress in 2023 was exceptionally good for disadvantaged pupils.
End of KS2 Progress scores for disadvantaged pupils were better than those for non-disadvantaged pupils at COPA in all areas:
Reading: Disadvantaged pupils 5.4, compared to 4.8 non disadvantaged
Writing: Disadvantaged pupils 6.3, compared to 5.4 non disadvantaged
Maths: Disadvantaged pupils 8.3, compared to 4.1 non-disadvantaged
These very positive progress scores are evidence that disadvantaged pupils at COPA, on average, do far better at KS2 than those disadvantaged pupils with similar prior attainment nationally.
Teaching has been supported through the provision of TT Education and National Online Safety resources. This has been used by subject leads and staff to further develop expertise. Training has been given in person by TT Education on delivering the curriculum, which has enhanced pedagogical skills for both teachers and teaching assistants. Read Write Inc and Fresh Start training has been given to teachers and teaching assistants to support pupils with the acquisition of phonics and writing skills. A librarian was employed to ensure the successful setting up of an extensive range of books across the school, he promoted his love of reading and ran a reading club. Accelerated Reader has allowed pupils to access high quality texts that are at the correct level for developing reading fluency and language acquisition. This tool has allowed teachers to assess regularly and to monitor engagement and progression in reading.
During this academic year, targeted academic support has been given through the provision of interventions before and after school, CPD to support teaching assistants delivery of interventions, and a nurture group to allow disadvantaged pupils to receive social and emotional support, ensuring that they can access the curriculum and make progress. We have also employed a teacher to work with disadvantaged pupils in small groups and on a 1:1 basis one day a week. This has been beneficial to these pupils and will continue in 23-24 to allow for momentum of impact of this provision to continue. The catch up interventions that were run after school targeted disadvantaged pupils within each year group. Teachers, support staff, SLT and FLO worked with parents to encourage the attendance of these pupils, speaking positively of the impact on learning that they were seeing in lessons.
Last year, the use of the new mini bus supported all pupils, including our disadvantaged pupils in co-curricular activities. 20 disadvantaged families took advantage of the financial support of extra and co-curricular trips, including after school clubs, visits to the theatre, zoo, local school farm and a residential visit. The minibus was regularly used to transport disadvantaged pupils to a number of extra-curricular opportunities and events such as art exhibitions and sporting tournaments.
Overall attendance data for disadvantaged pupils for 22/23 was 93.9% which has improved from the previous year when it was 92.8%. This compares very favourably to national data for disadvantaged pupils (across all key stages) which was 88.6%.
There was a significant decrease in the number of disadvantaged pupils falling into persistent absence (PA) from 24.7% in 2021/22 to 18.7% in 2022/23.
We now have a member of staff on role who will be driving the minibus in the mornings to collect pupils who are persistently absent. Unfortunately, this offer was not taken up by as many families as hoped. Instead, we employed a key member of pastoral team to support and liaise with disadvantaged families around attendance. This saw significant impact and as such has formed part of our 23-24 provision to ensure that the attendance of our disadvantaged pupils continues to increase, allowing for greater progress to be made.