For 2018-2019, the amount allocated per primary age pupil was as follows:

• Ever 6 FSM - £1,320

• Looked-after children (LAC) - £2,300

• Children who have ceased to be looked after by a local authority in England and Wales because of adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order or a residence order - £2,300

• Service children - £300

For 2018-2019, The Vineyard School has predicted a PP funding of £54,260, but this is subject to mobility.

We, together with many other schools, make informed use of this funding following careful analysis of the particular needs of the children eligible for the pupil premium. We also pay attention to the good practice guidance published by the Department for Education where impact of the funding nationally is regularly reviewed.

Our aim is to focus support through these financial resources on particular areas, in order to ensure that attainment gaps and holistic outcomes for pupils are being constantly and effectively addressed.

Currently, our needs analysis for this group of pupils highlights some key barriers to attainment. This means that many but not all pupils eligible for PP funding require support in one or more of the following areas:

• Special educational needs – 27% of pupils eligible for PP are also deemed to have special educational needs where the figure is 7% for all pupils;
• Punctuality, which directly impacts both access to the first quality teaching for core subjects and readiness to learn;
• Challenging behaviours for a small number of pupils eligible for PP across the school that are likely to be linked to early life experience.

To do our best to meet the identified needs and support these children and families, The Vineyard School has used the PP funding for 2018-2019 to supply the following targeted interventions:

• Funding of a well-being practitioner from the Child & Mental Health Service to be in school once a week to offer support for parents with managing children‘s anxiety & challenging behaviour. Priority is given to families where pupils are eligible for PP;
• Provision of a homework club with priority given to key pupils;
• Additional time and opportunities for parents to access in-school support and advice;
• Attendance for key staff at targeted training aimed at supporting children who have had experience of the care system;
• Staff attendance at key multi-agency meetings to support vulnerable pupils;
• Additional funding to support the access to the educational psychology service that is often required by pupils eligible for PP;
• Some funding of wraparound care to support punctuality and attendance;
• Release staff to support attendance at activities and experiences offered by the wider community to pupils in receipt of PP;
• Release a member of staff to be trained to deliver parenting workshops within school which will be available for parents to access from January 2019;
• Release and training costs for a second member of staff to become a qualified emotional literacy assistant.

These spending decisions have been made in line with research evidence of current good practice in impacting outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. 

The impact of the funding decisions will be measured in both summative and formative ways:

• Data on both pupils’ attainment and progress will be monitored termly via progress meetings and reviewed overall at the end of the academic year. The intended outcome is that the majority of pupils eligible for PP funding will have made 6 steps of progress in reading, writing and maths;

• Data on punctuality will be reviewed termly; where pupils are particularly at risk of poor punctuality, individualised approaches and responses will be implemented, together with more frequent monitoring. The intended outcome is that the frequency of late attendance for pupils eligible for PP funding will be more in line with figures for all pupils;

• Attendance at homework club and links to success with home learning tasks will be monitored;

• Evaluation of targeted training to be completed by staff (has this made an impact on staff confidence?);

• Decrease in incidence of challenging behaviour and /or time away from class for pupils eligible for PP funding;

• Engagement and attendance of key families at school information and consultation events.

In 2018-2019 The Vineyard used it’s allocation of PP funding to support the following:

• Bursaries for extra curricular activities and trips as well as after school care
• Additional teaching assistant support for learners eligible for PP who also have special educational and/or social/ emotional needs
• Additional time and opportunities for parents to access in-school support and advice
• Access to the educational psychologist
• Provision of a homework club with priority given to key pupils
• Commissioning additional training for staff to support them to meet the needs of previously looked after children

The attainment outcomes (2018-2019): 

In 2018-2019:

• 38% of pupils eligible for PP achieved or exceeded the expected level for reading
• 28.6% of pupils eligible for PP achieved the expected level for writing
• 24 % of pupils eligible for PP achieved the expected level for maths
• 14% of pupils eligible for PP achieved the expected level in all three subjects

The progress outcomes 2018-2019

At The Vineyard, the progress of pupils is monitored using the Target Tracker programme and the aim is that all learners make 6 steps of progress over the academic year.

In 2018-2019

• 52% of pupils eligible for PP made 6 or more steps of progress in reading
• 62% of pupils eligible for PP made 6 or more steps of progress in writing
• 62% of pupils eligible for PP made 6 or more steps of progress in maths

It should be noted that the numbers for PP at The Vineyard are low and therefore statistical data is drawn from very small groups.

All pupils in receipt of pupil premium funding are a priority for the school and for class teachers and the focus for teaching remains narrowing the attainment gap for these learners.

September 2019