Detail

Data

School name

Springfield Centre

Number of pupils in school 

75

Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils

64%

Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers 

2021/2022 to

2024/2025

Date this statement was published

December 2021

Date on which it will be reviewed

July 2022

Statement authorised by

Colin Douro, Headteacher

Pupil premium lead

Emma Gannon,

Assistant Headteacher

Governor / Trustee lead

Stuart Boothman,

Chair of the IMB

Detail

Amount

Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year

£64,940.00

Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year

£12,967

Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years (enter £0 if not applicable)

£0

Total budget for this academic year

If your school is an academy in a trust that pools this funding, state the amount available to your school this academic year

£77,907

Our aim is to use pupil premium funding to help us achieve and sustain positive outcomes for our disadvantaged pupils. Whilst socio-economic disadvantage is not always the primary challenge our pupils face, we do see a variance in outcomes for disadvantaged pupils across the school when compared to their peers (and those who join us at similar starting points), particularly in terms of:

• Academic attainment

• Progression to further and higher education

• Employability

• Social opportunities

At the heart of our approach is high-quality teaching focussed on areas that disadvantaged pupils require it most, targeted support based on robust diagnostic assessment of need, and helping pupils to access a broad and balanced curriculum. 

Although our strategy is focused on the needs of disadvantaged pupils, it will benefit all pupils in our school where funding is spent on whole-school approaches, such as high-quality teaching. Implicit in the intended outcomes detailed below, is the intention that outcomes for non-disadvantaged pupils will be improved alongside progress for their disadvantaged peers. 

We will also provide disadvantaged pupils with support to develop independent life and social skills and continue to ensure that high-quality work experience, careers guidance and further and higher education guidance is available to all. 

Our strategy is integral to wider school plans for education recovery, notably through engagement with the National Tutoring Programme for pupils that have been worst affected, including non-disadvantaged pupils.    

Our strategy will be driven by the needs and strengths of each young person, based on formal and informal assessments, not assumptions or labels. This will help us to ensure that we offer them the relevant skills and experience they require to be prepared for adulthood.

Challenge number

Detail of challenge 

1

Our assessments, observations and discussions with pupils show that disadvantaged pupils are generally more likely to have language comprehension and literacy difficulties compared to non-disadvantaged pupils in our school.

2

Through observations and conversations with pupils and their families, we find that disadvantaged pupils generally have fewer opportunities to develop cultural capital outside of school.

3

Our assessments, observations and conversations with pupils indicate that disadvantaged pupils often require additional support to develop personal skills, e.g., independent travel.

4

Our assessments, observations and discussions with pupils and families demonstrate that the education, wellbeing and wider aspects of development of many of our disadvantaged pupils have been impacted by the pandemic to a greater extent than for other pupils. These findings are backed up by several national studies.

Intended outcome

Success criteria

Improved attainment for disadvantaged pupils in all subjects, relative to their starting points as identified through baseline assessments.

Through achievement of improved performance, as demonstrated by our end of year assessments at the end of our strategy in 2024/25.

An increase in the number of disadvantaged pupils entered for GCSE subjects. For those that are entered, results show a reduction in the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers.

Improved language comprehension for disadvantaged pupils so that they can independently comprehend subject-specific texts with challenging terminology.

Assessment of pupils’ language comprehension shows a reduction in the disparity in outcomes between disadvantaged pupils and their peers in our school by the end of our strategy in 2024/25.

Pupils can use a range of communication systems to aid their understanding and to develop expressive communication skills.

Through achievement of EHC plan termly outcomes.

Disadvantaged pupils have greater confidence and independence to help them engage more with the wider community and prepare for adulthood. 

Inclusion of cultural capital opportunities scheduled in curriculum plans.  

Disadvantaged pupils feel better prepared for career progression and / or HE opportunities through mentoring, work experience and opportunity.

All disadvantaged pupils are able to access high quality work experience and careers mentoring.

By the end of 2024/25, higher number of disadvantaged pupils are progressing to higher or further education.

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Cpd session on literacy for the staff team to ensure that strategies are embedded across the curriculum to support rapid progress with reading. 

Understanding the meaning of a text requires a combination of word recognition and language comprehension: 

Learning to Read: “The Simple View of Reading” | National Center on Improving Literacy

1

CPD for teaching assistants to embed strategies to support students to access learning. 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08856257.2019.1615746

The role of teaching assistants in inclusion, education and achievement in students with special educational needs. 

3

Recruitment of a team of Teaching Assistants to enhance learning opportunities. 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08856257.2019.1615746

3

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Outreach team to support students to make rapid SEMH progress to enable reintegration into the school environment. 

One to one personalised and targeted sessions ensure that students continue to make academic progress which support is offered on SEMH strategies. 

3,4

Engaging with the National Tutoring Pro-gramme to provide a blend of tuition, mentoring and school-led tutoring for pupils whose education has been most impacted by the pandemic. A significant proportion of the pupils who receive tutoring will be disadvantaged.

Tuition targeted at specific needs and knowledge gaps can be an effective method to support low attaining pupils or those falling behind, both one-to-one:

One to one tuition | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

And in small groups:

Small group tuition | Toolkit Strand | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF

3,4

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Development of the nurture provision to address SEMH needs which act as a barrier to accessing learning and to becoming a successful member of wider society. 

1,2.

Integration of opportunities and trips to develop cultural capital, smsc, British Values and careers into all aspects of the curriculum to produce well rounded and successful members of society. 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/088303559190012H

Impact of cultural capital on disadvantages students. 

2

Our internal assessments during 2020/21 indicated that disadvantaged pupils academic and wider development outcomes were in general below what was anticipated. Despite being on track during the first year (2018/19), the outcomes we aimed to achieve in our previous strategy by the end of 2020/21 were therefore not fully realised.  

Our assessment of the reasons for these outcomes points primarily to Covid-19 impact. This disrupted the teaching of all subject areas and had a negative impact on most pupils’ development to varying degrees, particularly in limiting opportunities to progress social and communication skills and independence. Furthermore, the school had a period of closure which also impacted on progress. 

We mitigated the impact on academic outcomes by our resolution to maintain a high quality curriculum, even when pupils were not in school, via resources such as those provided by Oak National Academy. However, it was challenging to provide differentiated support to our pupils online and pupil engagement was limited. 

Our assessments and observations suggested that for many pupils, being out of school, uncertainty and concern over their future and challenges around access to support were detrimental to behaviour, wellbeing and mental health to varying degrees. We used pupil premium funding to help provide wellbeing support and targeted interventions where required. 

The impact of all of these challenges was greatest on our disadvantaged pupils, as has been evidenced across the country, and they were not able to benefit from our pupil premium funded improvements to teaching or targeted interventions to the degree that we intended.