Research School Network: Words into Actions: Purposeful Pupil Premium Strategies – part 1 Phil Stock’s new blog series considers where we can strengthen our Pupil Premium strategies ahead of the December deadline.

Writing a Pupil Premium strategy is tough. The December deadline arrives at one of the busiest times of the year, and while the template looks straightforward, the thinking behind each section is far more complex.

It demands deep knowledge about disadvantage, evidence, and effective implementation. It’s hardly surprising that many strategies struggle to achieve the coherency and precision needed to improve outcomes for our most vulnerable pupils.

Having read many strategies across both the primary and secondary sectors, I often see similar issues: uncertainty about what each section is really asking, and difficulty in pulling the whole document together into a purposeful strategy.

Even with DfE guidance, worked examples, and excellent exemplification from the EEF and the Research School Network, leaders still grapple with how to identify root challenges, define meaningful and measurable outcomes, and use robust evidence effectively to shape classroom practice and whole-school provision.

Evolving and building on your Pupil Premium Strategy

To support schools with this work, I’ve developed a 10-module programme called Words into Action. It draws on national guidance, practical experience, and evidence around effective implementation to help leaders craft more coherent, purposeful strategies.

The aim is simple: to move beyond words on a page and create strategies that live and breathe through the deliberate actions of everyone in the school community.

Too often, though, the important work of shaping a strategic vision is handed to colleagues without the depth of experience or positional authority to embed it across the school. Sometimes the strategy isn’t even linked to the School Development and Improvement Plan (SDIP), leaving it disconnected from the bigger picture: more of a bolt-on than a core priority.

My hope is that this will shift with the new Ofsted framework, which explicitly calls for a PP strategy that is ​‘well thought through, and based on evidence of what works well to support the achievement of eligible pupils’.

We must remember that if we get things right for our most disadvantaged pupils, we are highly likely to get things right for all pupils. In most cases, the Pupil Premium strategy is the school improvement strategy.

Support through blogs and our Words into Action programme

To help leaders strengthen their plans – and most importantly, their impact on pupils – I’m going to write a short series of blogs. Each one will zoom in on a different section of the strategy document, from the initial statement of intent and outline of challenges through to the teaching priorities and wider school interventions.

Of course, I’d love everyone to sign up for our four-part Words into Action programme, but I know budgets are tight and not everyone can make it over to Sutton!

The blog series will focus on the following:

1. Statement of Intent: Why a clear vision matters
2. Challenges: Getting under the hood
3. Intended outcomes: From woolly sentiments to precise ambitions
4. High Quality Teaching: The strongest lever there is
5. Academic Support and Wider Strategies: Beyond the Classroom
6. Review and Impact: Meaningful evaluation not box-ticking

This work is not about compliance or filling out templates; it is about shaping strategies that genuinely change outcomes for pupils who need strategic leaders.

My hope is that this series will offer both clarity and challenge, supporting leaders to write strategies that are ambitious, precise and alive in the daily practice of their schools. The task is demanding, but if we get it right, the rewards for our disadvantaged pupils (and indeed for all pupils) are profound.