Pupil premium

The pupil premium is additional funding for publicly funded schools in England to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities and to close the gaps between them and their peers.

Teesdale School pupil premium information

Detail	Data
School name	Teesdale School
Number of pupils in school	722
Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils	15.24%
Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers	2021 - 2024
Pupil premium funding allocation academic year 2022/23	£84,710
Recovery premium funding allocation 2022/23	£24,288
Total budget for this academic year	£108,998
Publish date	January 2023
Review date	October 2023

Disadvantaged pupil performance overview for last academic year

Progress 8	-0.14
Ebacc entry	43%
Attainment 8	42.4
Percentage of Grade 5+ in English and maths	43%
Percentage of Grade 4+ in English and maths	57%

Barriers faced by 2020-2023 cohort:

Teesdale School and Sixth Form is working to support disadvantaged pupils in all areas of their education from the moment that they arrive in school. Our aim is that every disadvantaged pupil will achieve at least as well as their peers, have every opportunity to excel and be fully prepared for the next stage in their education and future employment.

Some disadvantaged pupils face many and complex barriers which make effective learning difficult. Other pupils have very specific, individual needs and still others, have few barriers at all. Below are some of the main difficulties faced, although it must also be said that the difficulties encountered are not unique to those who are disadvantaged. We aim to meet and support pupils at their point of need, wherever possible and feasible.

Common barriers to learning for disadvantaged pupils include less support at home, especially during the pandemic, weak language and communication skills, fewer opportunities to read books, fewer resources to help with learning (e.g. text books/internet access), lack of confidence, more frequent behaviour difficulties and attendance and punctuality concerns. Some pupils have struggled with their physical and mental well-being and this has been exacerbated as a result of the pandemic. There may be complex family situations that prevent children from flourishing. Some pupils have limited opportunities to experience cultural trips and visits. Some have fewer opportunities to learn about the wide range of opportunities once they leave school for higher education and employment. The challenges are varied and there is no 'one size fits all'.

Pupil Premium and Recovery Premium Funding contribute to the work of the school in meeting the needs of disadvantaged pupils by:

ensuring that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all the pupils
ensuring that all pupils benefit from high quality teaching in the classroom
ensure all pupils have a place to study in school where they can access adult support, class texts and the internet
offering tuition in small groups or 1 to 1 where there is identified need
developing the resilience of pupils, building their self-esteem and enabling them to develop the skills that will enable them to learn effectively in the classroom environment
providing therapeutic intervention where needed through the use of personal intervention programmes and counselling where appropriate
working closely with pupils who need additional support to manage their behaviour
working with pupils and their families to identify the causes of attendance concern and support good attendance
ensuring pupils have every opportunity to access enrichment programmes
ensuring pupils receive high quality careers information, advice and guidance so that they have high aspirations for themselves and for their future
ensuring pupils personal development is well supported and that they are ready for post-16 education/training/employment
meeting individual needs where ever possible and feasible.

Challenges for 2022-2023

This section details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.

Our assessments and observations indicate that the education, wellbeing and regular attendance of many of our disadvantaged pupils have been impacted by the pandemic and school closures, to a greater extent than for other pupils. These findings are supported by national studies.

Through our observations and discussions with pupils and families, we know that many pupils struggle with social and emotional issues and heightened anxiety and that this has been significantly exacerbated by school closures during 2019-2021.

	Challenge
1.	Some students need extensive pastoral support for a variety of reasons (exacerbated by the pandemic).
2.	Some students struggle to manage their behaviour (exacerbated by the pandemic).
3.	Some pupils struggle to attend regularly, some are often late and some are persistently absent (exacerbated by the pandemic).
4.	Some students struggle with the increased complexity of organisation with a secondary environment and increased demands for independent work.
5.	Some students face significant challenges in their lives and have social, emotional and mental health needs that prevent them from learning (exacerbated by the pandemic).
6.	Some students need additional adult support to help to enable them to fully achieve their potential both during the school day and after school with managing homework.
7.	Some students need individual tuition and/or teaching in small groups to enable them to achieve (exacerbated by the pandemic).
8.	Some students have little aspiration for the future and are in need of additional adult support and additional careers guidance so that they do not limit their own potential. Some pupils have very low expectations of themselves. In order to respond to the school’s high expectations, and this needs constant re-enforcement and encouragement. Some families need support so that they are able to raise their expectations for their children and this may require targeted intervention and support.
9.	Some students have low levels of literacy and numeracy which impedes their learning and their confidence.
10.	Some students lack access to the internet and the use of computers to support their studies.
11.	Some students lack space to study with adult support.
12.	Some students need to experience a wealth of enrichment experiences in-order to widen their horizons and unlock future opportunities.
13.	School uniform can cause significant challenges for some families.
14.	Some students do not have access to a healthy diet which impacts on their general well-being. Some do not participate regularly in sports and need proactive, individual support in order to overcome barriers (exacerbated by the pandemic).
15.	All pupils need the highest quality of teaching in every classroom. High-quality teaching is at the heart of our approach, with a focus on areas in which disadvantaged pupils require the most support. This is proven to have the greatest impact on closing the disadvantage attainment gap and at the same time will benefit the non-disadvantaged pupils in our school.
16.	Some pupils need additional personal development so that they have the resilience to cope with every day challenges, form strong, positive relationships and are ready emotionally for key transitions (exacerbated by the pandemic).
17	Narrowing the attainment gap across reading, writing, maths and science.

Activity in this academic year

Teaching (for example, CPD, recruitment and retention)

Budgeted cost: £54,500

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
High-quality professional development for all staff to secure high-quality teaching strategies underpinned by metacognitive strategies, planning for interleaving and retrieval practice and grounded through a rich knowledge-based curriculum	EEF guide to pupil premium – tiered approach – teaching is the top priority, including CPD EEF guide to improving working memory EEF: Metacognition and self-regulated learning	15, 17
Staffing costs to provide coaching support and lead professional development.	EEF guide to pupil premium – tiered approach – teaching is the top priority, including CPD Sutton Trust – quality first teaching has direct impact on student outcomes.	15
Deepen teacher’s understanding of pedagogy across each curriculum area by engagement with subject specialists in their field.	EEF : Effective Professional Development EEF: Teaching and Learning Toolkit Ofsted: Subject Curriculum research reviews	12
Staff training to improve tier 2/3 vocabulary acquisition across the curriculum so that pupils are able to access the full curriculum and articulate their understanding.	EEF: Preparing for Literacy EEF: Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools	9, 17
Learning resources: Expenditure on textbooks and training to support bespoke subjects Expenditure on development and Maintenance of online learning platforms for pupils to support learning (POD/Teams/EASI/OneDrive/SharePoint)	EEF: Teaching and Learning Toolkit The EEF guidance is based on a range of the best available evidence: Improving Mathematics in Key Stages 2 and 3	10, 17

Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support structured interventions)

Budgeted cost: £26,500

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
Gaps in maths and English identified by teaching staff. Maths and English tuition leads plan for bespoke intervention to enable pupils to catch up on earlier work that is missed or poorly understood, due to the pandemic. Deliver series of lessons (1-1 or small group) to enable pupils to consolidate insecure learning and catch up with the schemes of learning. Where appropriate and possible, classes to be reduced in size to increase individual support and facilitate recovery of learning (this is a whole school priority that encompasses all pupils).	EEF: Teaching and Learning Toolkit - One to one tuition & Small Group Tuition	7, 9, 15, 17
In all other subjects, Heads of Department to identify pupils who need bespoke curricular intervention Pupils should be taught in small groups where there are common areas or individual 1-1 tuition arranged as appropriate.	EEF: Teaching and Learning Toolkit - One to one tuition & Small Group Tuition	7, 15, 17
Professional development for all staff in developing a love of reading for pleasure and for learning within their specialist subject areas. Identified pupils - 1-1 regular reading planned into curriculum. Support for pupils to learn is provided through the library and Laurea Centre	EEF: Preparing for Literacy EEF: Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools	7, 8, 9, 17
To provide students with adult mentoring support, access to workspace and IT facilities to support their learning.	EEF: Mentoring	1, 6, 10, 11
To identify students with low levels of literacy and numeracy which impedes their learning and their confidence and facilitate/enable bespoke provision to meet the identified needs.	EEF: Preparing for Literacy EEF: Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools	7, 9, 15, 17
Reintroduction of drama in KS3 to improve S&L, paired reading with Year 7/6^th form to improve oracy, guidance sought from S&L referrals/ therapist for those most in need.	EEF – oral language interventions consistently show positive impact on learning	15
Provision and deployment of teaching assistants appropriately is essential to supporting learning ‘in the moment’ and being able to respond to pupils who need additional support to keep up and catch up.	EEF: Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants	6, 15, 17
Provision and staffing of safe spaces available to targeted children throughout the day.	NFER: Recovery during a pandemic	1, 16
Social and Emotional Learning – interventions to support children with a range of skills including for example, emotional regulation, managing grief. Deployment of Emotional Wellbeing Practitioner/employment of additional pastoral staff.	EEF: Improving Social and Emotional Learning in Primary Schools NFER: Recovery during a pandemic	1, 5, 16

Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)

Budgeted cost: £27,500

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
Support for families from the attendance team - attendance team to work with families to reduce the absence of pupils who struggle to attend regularly.	EEF: Guide to the pupil premium DfE: Improving school attendance: support for schools and local authorities Sutton Trust: Learning in Lockdown	3
Pastoral teams to support pupils who struggle to manage their behaviour including provision of personal intervention programmes.	EEF: Teaching and Learning Toolkit – Learning behaviours EEF: Improving Behaviour in Schools	1, 2, 5, 16
To provide the pastoral support to pupils who need additional help, including those who face significant challenges in their lives and have social, emotional and mental health needs that prevent them from learning well (this includes support for those who have experienced bereavement) Provision of fitness activities / extracurricular for identified pupils to engage with sports and improve their health and fitness. Provision for school uniform support/ subject equipment and fulfilment of Government food voucher schemes.	EEF: Improving Social and Emotional Learning in Primary Schools EEF: Guide to the pupil premium EEF: Healthy Minds DFE: Promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges	1, 4 , 5, 13, 14, 16
Encourage pupils to take part in extra-curricular activities (onsite) to widen their experiences and broaden their horizons. Facilitate pupils in taking part in range of enrichment experiences (off site) in-order to widen their horizons and unlock future opportunities.	EEF: Guide to the pupil premium	6, 8, 12, 14
Support for parents to become engaged with their children’s learning through a range of activities including reading clubs / provision of cooking clubs to promote healthy eating / after school masterclasses / revision strategies / stress management techniques / meet the tutor evenings.	EEF: Parental Engagement	5, 8, 14

Total budgeted cost: £109000

Review of outcomes in 2021-2022

Following disruption due to lockdown period during Y9 and Y10, our Y11 leavers for 2022 have performed strongly in their public examinations, with performance for PP students broadly in line with non-PP peers.

Data analysis from the 2022 outcomes demonstrates that PP students made progress between Autumn 2021 Mock Exams and Summer 2022 Exams in line with non-PP peers. Overall percentage of 9-7 grades reported in the November Mock Exams improved by12.8% in non-PP students, whilst 13.3% in PP students. Likewise, the percentage of grade 9-5 attained in the summer examinations demonstrated an improvement from the November Mock Exam capture of 9.7% - non-PP - whilst 9.5% - PP peers. End of Year assessments in Year 11 indicate that overall, disadvantaged students achieved an average A8 score of 46.7 and P8 score of -0.06.

All pupils received bespoke support - both pastorally and academically - during the return to a 'normal academic year'. Pupil Premium students were provided with the necessary revision resources and additional support in choosing their Post-16 next steps ensuring that all pupils have progressed to post-16 education, employment or training.

The deployment of pupil premium funding has been utterly crucial in supporting our pupils throughout the pandemic and ensuring a successful return to national examinations.