Research School Network: That’s what I go to school for… What do we need to provide inside and outside of the classroom to support pupils to overcome the challenges they may face?

Writing in 2016, Ofsted referred to the most effective schools as those who had a much wider definition of disadvantage where ​‘the unique circumstances surrounding an individual child, group of children or family’. Seven years on, the complexity of understanding household circumstances has been heightened as we live with the consequences of a global pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis that is having an impact on all children not just those eligible for Pupil Premium.

Do you have a ​‘rich picture’ of how disadvantage affects your pupils and families to inform your PP strategy? What might help develop a more nuanced picture?

So, what do these children come to school for? What do we need to do to address the barriers to their achievement? We might filter our answer through the tiered model design which punctuates the DfE strategy template.

A broad strokes Case Study- School A

At this single form entry primary school, 36% of pupils are eligible for Pupil Premium. Some of these children having a relatively small sense of place, they make few, if any, journeys out of the local town and have access to limited wider experiences outside of school. Some children lack confidence and when faced with challenging work they give up, a minority of children then display negative behaviours. On entry, in line with the evidence, they have a less significant word haul when compared to some of their peers. It is also clear that there are a significant number of ​‘invisible’ children who are increasingly reliant on the school for additional provision. 

The case study above gives insight into some of the thought processes that enable completion of the DfE template.

What are the barriers for your pupils? What do they come to school for?