Southfields Primary is totally committed to social justice and improving life chances for potentially vulnerable children. It is dedicated to sharing it’s work and findings beyond the school to improve outcomes for as many children as it can reach and has a particular specialism in Speech and Language development.

At Southfields we believe our school is a community and that it is vitally important that everyone is safe and happy within it. We aim to provide an environment in which our children are secure and confident, irrespective of race, gender and religion, with Equal Opportunities for all.

Purpose of the grant

The pupil premium grant is additional funding allocated to publicly funded schools to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and support pupils with parents in the armed forces.

The school will use the grant to support these groups, which comprise pupils with a range of different abilities, to narrow any achievement gaps between them and their peers.

 The premium is provided to enable these pupils to be supported to reach their potential and have experiences and opportunities to support this.

We also recognise that not all pupils eligible for pupil premium funding will have lower attainment than their peers. In such cases, the grant will be used to help improve pupils’ progress and attainment so that they can reach their full potential.

The Government has used pupils entitled to free school meals (FSM), children in care (CiC) and service children as indicators of disadvantage, and have provided a fixed amount of money for schools per pupil, based on the number of pupils registered for FSM over a rolling six-year period. This fixed amount of money is expected to increase every year for the course of this current Parliament. At Southfields Primary School, we will be using the indicator of those eligible for FSM as well as identified vulnerable groups as our target children to ‘diminish the difference’ regarding attainment.

Eligibility

The pupil premium is allocated to the school based on the number of eligible pupils in EYFS-Year 6.

Eligible pupils fall into the categories explained below:

Ever 6 free school meals

Pupils recorded in the most recent October school census who are known to have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years (as determined by the DfE’s latest conditions of grant guidance).

This includes pupils first known to be eligible for free school meals in the most recent October census.

It does not include pupils who received universal infant free school meals but would not have otherwise received free lunches.

Children in Care

Pupils who are in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, a local authority in England or Wales for at least 1 day. Allocations will be provisionally based on the children looked-after data return in March of the previous year, and then confirmed in December of the current year based on the children looked-after data return in March of the current year.

Children Previously in Care

Pupils recorded in the most recent October census who were looked after by an English or Welsh local authority immediately before being adopted, or who left local authority care on a special guardianship order or child arrangements order.

Ever 6 service children

Pupils recorded in the most recent October census:

• With a parent serving in the regular armed forces
• Who have been registered as a ‘service child’ in the school census at any point in the last 6 years (as determined by the DfE’s latest conditions of grant guidance), including those first recorded as such in the most recent October census
• In receipt of a child pension from the Ministry of Defence because one of their parents died while serving in the armed forces

Legislation and Guidance

This policy is based on the pupil premium allocations and conditions of grant guidance 2022 to 2023, published by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. It is also based on guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) on virtual school heads’ responsibilities concerning the pupil premium, and the service premium.

Context

When making decisions about using pupil premium funding, we have considered the context of our school and the subsequent challenges faced. Common barriers for FSM children can be less support at home, weak language and communication skills, lack of confidence, more frequent behaviour difficulties, and attendance and punctuality issues.

There may also be complex family situations that prevent children from flourishing. The challenges are varied and there is no “one size fits all”.

The use of our pupil premium aligns with the 3-tiered approach described in the EEF’s pupil premium guide, such as:

• Supporting the quality of teaching, such as staff professional development;
• Providing targeted academic support, such as boosters
• Tackling non-academic barriers to academic success, such as attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support

Key Principles

By following the key principles below, we believe we can maximise the impact of our pupil premium spending.

Building Belief

We will provide a culture where:

• Staff believe in ALL children
• There are “no excuses” made for underperformance
• Staff adopt a “solution-focused” approach to overcoming barriers staff support children to develop growth mind-sets towards learning

Analysing Data

We will ensure that:

• All staff are involved in the analysis of data so that they are fully aware of strengths and weaknesses across the school
• We use research (such as that completed by the Education Endowment Foundation) to support us in determining the strategies that will be most effective

Identification of Pupils

We will ensure that:

• ALL teaching staff and support staff are involved in the analysis of data and identification of pupils
• ALL staff are aware of who pupil premium and vulnerable children are
• ALL pupil premium children benefit from the funding, not just those who are underperforming
• Underachievement at all levels is targeted
• Children’s individual needs are considered carefully so that we provide tailored support in order to accelerate progress and overcome barriers to learning

Improving Day to Day Teaching

We will continue to ensure that all children across the school receive good teaching, with increasing percentages of outstanding teaching achieved by using our leaders to:

• Set high expectations
• Address any within-school variance
• Ensure consistent implementation of the non-negotiables, e.g. marking
• Share good practice within the school and draw on external expertise
• Provide high quality CPD
• Improve assessment through joint levelling and moderation
• Increasing learning time of basic skills

We will maximise the time children have to “catch up” through:

• Improving attendance and punctuality
• Providing earlier intervention (KS1 and EYFS)
• Extended opportunities for learning
• Booster groups and small group learning
• Enrichment opportunities for life-long learning

Individualising support

“There’s no stigma attached to being in an intervention in this school. Everyone needs something, whatever that might be.”

We will ensure that the additional support we provide is effective by:

• Looking at the individual needs of each child and identifying their barriers to learning
• Regular and thorough communication
• Providing high quality interventions
• Working with other agencies to bring in additional expertise
• Providing extensive support for parents to develop their own skills to support their children’s learning within the curriculum
• To manage and support in times of crisis
• Tailoring interventions to the individual needs of the child
• Recognising and building on children’s strengths and achievements to further boost confidence
• Going the Extra Mile

In our determination to ensure that ALL children succeed, we recognise the need for and are committed to providing completely individualised interventions for set periods of time to support children in times of crisis.

Monitoring and Evaluation

We will ensure that:

• A wide range of data is used – achievement data, pupils’ work, observations, learning walks, case studies, and staff, parent and pupil voice
• Assessment Data is collected termly so that the impact of interventions can be monitored regularly
• Assessments are closely moderated to ensure they are accurate
• Teaching staff and support staff attend and contribute to pupil progress meetings each term and the identification of children is reviewed
• Regular feedback about performance is given to children and parents
• Interventions are adapted or changed if they are not working
• We regularly evaluate the impact of pastoral interventions, such as on attendance and behaviour
• A designated member of the SLT maintains an overview of pupil premium spending
• A governor is given responsibility for pupil premium

Reporting

We will report on the impact of pupil premium spending to the governing board on an ongoing basis.

The Governing Body will consider the information provided and will ensure that there is an annual statement to the parents on the school website outlining how the Pupil Premium funding has been used to address the issue of diminishing the difference for pupils eligible for Pupil Premium. This task will be carried out in line with the requirements published by the Department for Education.

Service Children

At Southfields Primary, we provide ongoing support for service children and families. We are aware of the difficulties and challenges that service children may face, and we endeavour to support these children during times of hardship. We understand that all service children have different experiences, may move home frequently and face disruption to education, friendships and social networks. Moving home could mean that they miss key parts of the curriculum. As a school, we ensure that we are supporting transition and covering areas in which the children have missed. This could be as a class, in small groups or through 1:1 support. We know the emotional and communication challenges that service children and their families may be faced with, and work to reduce anxieties, provide support during difficult emotional times and improve well-being for all. Service children can spend extended periods of time away from serving parents/carers, meaning that not only will they miss their absent adult and worry about their safety, their adult will also not be able to attend school events. We provide pastoral support when needed, as well as offering extra support during deployment.  Lessons and activities are planned with compassion and an awareness of each child's circumstances.

Rapid Graspers

Southfields Primary School is committed to ensuring that all children are fully challenged and achieve their potential through quality first teaching. Due to the allocation of additional funding and the accountability this brings, the school will ensure that disadvantaged pupils who are ‘rapid graspers’ are provided with opportunities to not only access and embrace the curriculum, but to experience learning and life skills that will develop their whole being as a child. Experiences can include additional sports, music, Arts or simply new experiences that may not be available to help them because of their circumstances. Our aim is to help our children nurture existing talents, and help them to identify new ones. These opportunities can be provided in and/or outside of school hours.