Pupil Premium

Pupil Premium is additional government funding for schools to help overcome the barriers faced by some young learners, and to narrow the achievement gap.

Funding is allocated based on the number of students who have been eligible for Free School Meals in the past six years, as well as children who are in the care of the local authority and children of Armed Forces personnel.

Principles

• Pupil Premium funding is a key tool in tackling disadvantage and removing barriers to achievement.

• High expectations apply to all students—we believe that all pupils can achieve excellence.

• We focus on individual needs, rather than labels, and ensure all pupils have the support they need to progress.

• Teaching and learning are designed to meet diverse needs, with additional support integrated into the curriculum.

• The school targets this additional funding to support those pupils who are eligible for the Pupil Premium; other students may also benefit from this support.

The Pupil Premium strategy is reviewed annually.

Statement of intent

At Connaught School For Girls, we are committed to ensuring all our pupils, regardless of background or barriers to learning, have equal access to high-quality teaching and enrichment opportunities. Our pupil premium strategy is rooted in evidence-based approaches to close the attainment gap, particularly in English Baccalaureate (EBacc) subjects, and support the wellbeing and future success of our disadvantaged pupils.

The focus of our pupil premium strategy is to support disadvantaged pupils to achieve that goal. We will consider the challenges faced by vulnerable pupils, such as those who have a social worker and young carers. The strategies we have outlined in this statement are also intended to support their needs, regardless of whether they are defined as being disadvantaged or not.

High-quality teaching is at the heart of our approach, with a focus on areas in which disadvantaged pupils require the most support. This focus is proven to have the greatest impact on closing the disadvantage attainment gap and, at the same time, will benefit non-disadvantaged pupils in our school. Implicit in the intended outcomes detailed below is the intention that non-disadvantaged pupils’ attainment will be sustained and improved alongside progress for their disadvantaged peers.

Our approach will be responsive to common challenges and individual needs, rooted in robust diagnostic assessment rather than assumptions about the impact of disadvantage. The approaches we have adopted complement each other to help pupils excel. To ensure they are effective we will:

• ensure disadvantaged pupils are challenged in the work that they are set
• act early to intervene at the point the need for support is identified
• adopt a whole school approach in which all staff take responsibility for disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes and raise expectations of what they can achieve

Our pupil premium strategy statement below further details the challenges, intended outcomes, targeted academic and wider support strategies and a review of outcomes.

Pupil Premium statement