Research School Network: Pupil Premium Strategy stress! Pupil Premium Strategy

Can’t we just use the last one? How can I review a strategy I didn’t write? Why me!? These were just some of the questions that leapt out at me when I began my current post as Deputy Head and appointed PP lead last year. My school had just come to the end of their previous three-year strategy and I joined having no knowledge of the pupils, staff or previous focuses of the school in order to support their most disadvantage children. Of course, I understood the importance of Pupil premium funding and the great influence we as educators have on the life chances of those pupils whose disadvantaged background threatens to affect their potential successes but I didn’t have the first clue of where to begin. The strategy I inherited was a large mass of costs and good intentions but did these have impact? Are interventions the only way of justifying spend? How can I justify this spend or that cost? Did it work? More and more questions sprang up as if from nowhere and I very quickly became overwhelmed as I know other colleagues have felt in this situation as well. I don’t have all the answers to my ever-growing list of questions but my experiences over the year have led to some useful realisations and resources that may help anyone else currently swirling in strategy stress!

A good start is to look at the previous strategy and identify if the main areas of focus of the strategy are still relevant today, or even, if they ever were! Discussion with staff and SLT is key in understanding this if you are new to a school as they will have the knowledge and experience of the support these pupils often require. Data both academic and pastoral are also essential in identifying trends and areas of development. National trends are always a good outline if you are unsure of threads to pull at- attendance, communication and language and low self esteem are often linked to Pupil Premium cohorts but is this the lived experience in your school? Establishing this is key as, ultimately, a good strategy should focus on closing gaps in learning or experiences for disadvantaged pupils and Identifying ​‘the gaps’ is the first step to ensure everything put in place over the next three years is purposeful and measurable. The Derby Research School provides a useful disadvantaged calculator to enable schools to identify pupils who are likely to need the most support.

‘I’ve got my areas of focus; I have set my goals……. How many interventions can I fit into the timetable?’ It was at this point I began to feel overconfident and began filling out the DFE template with all manner of interventions whilst I tasked staff with giving me list after list of extra provisions that they were providing for the pupils so that I could greedily count the cost and add it to my ever-growing spreadsheet. Of course, I am sure you will know that this was a completely futile errand and one which focused on justifying cost with little thought on impact: the idea that interventions and time will benefit disadvantaged pupils with no thought or justification for which intervention and when is not the best focus of resources to ensure maximum impact. The EEF highlight this in their Pie Chart outlining the three-tiered approach to support disadvantaged pupils. Quite rightly, they outline the fact that Quality first teaching is going to have the biggest impact followed by key targeted interventions based on quality assessment- a general reading intervention to support a child who struggles with reading may work but, equally, it may have absolutely no impact- identifying which area of reading is key, Comprehension, fluency or decoding? Then having clear paths for intervention after diagnosing the learning gap will ensure that the right support is put in place. The EEF’s Reading House is a great port of call for identifying the best interventions for reading based on evidence.

You already are! is the short answer. Schools have a budget which you may or may not have control of or even knowledge of but The DFE’s template for the three-year strategy does not require an itemised cost of everything you do as a school. Instead focus on ensuring that staff are as well trained as they can be to deliver quality first teaching and provision as this will have the biggest impact for disadvantaged pupils. TAs and Teachers time is costly and will ultimately be the biggest expense on the pupil premium budget, not necessarily in one-to-one or small group interventions but on the training and resources that they need to deliver high quality teaching for all pupils- not just those who are disadvantaged. Approaches based on evidence and impact or whole school pedagogical approaches such as feedback or metacognition take time and, inevitably, funding to embed but they are proven to have high impact on pupil outcomes and progress. The EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit is a great place to identify the most cost-effective strategies to inform your decision making. Dylian William states- A bad curriculum well taught is invariably a better experience for students than a good curriculum badly taught: pedagogy trumps curriculum. Ensuring staff are able to deliver high quality teaching will benefit disadvantaged pupils so put it on your strategy!

Ultimately, I still have many questions around the Pupil Premium Strategy: ​‘am I doing the right thing?’ is the most predominant however That is exactly the right question to ask when reviewing. Although it is a Three-year strategy, there will be things that you don’t get to in a year and things that do not work; that’s fine and review this every year. Make changes based on what you find and be honest; If it doesn’t work, don’t repeat it: change it and go again the next year. The three-year strategy is not set in stone and is a working document. You will still have questions just now that you will find the answers through proper review.