Pupil Premium

Pupil Premium update

Pupil Premium is additional funding for schools in England, by the government to support children in receipt of free school meals (FSM) and or when pupils have been in care or are adopted. The intention is to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities and to close/ narrow the achievement gap between them and their peers. At Simon Marks we target our interventions to bring about both measurable academic progress and broader enrichment for the development of the whole child as an inclusive practice. All pupil groups are tracked termly and we match interventions to needs as identified. We recognise needs change over the year and interventions are altered accordingly.

Here are our key aims for the funding which are in line with our whole school development plan:

• Improve standards of reading comprehension
• Improve stamina for writing across the school
• Ensure that pupils leave each stage of their school life at a standard which will allows them to confidently tackle the next stage of their learning successfully

The following is a breakdown of how pupil premium grant was used to support our priorities and aims in 2017/2018:

• One-to-one tuition or small group booster classes designed to narrow the achievement gap and which the research shows to be one of the most effective uses for these funds.
• Senior leaders to support classes with additional daily support for reading and writing
• Senior leader support for application of skills in mathematics
• Emotional and well-being support for individuals and small groups of pupils using our learning mentor
• Social skills and language and communication support for individuals and small groups through both our speech therapist and trained teaching assistants
• Homework club
• School attendance officer services to support families with additional difficulties and signposting to various support agencies
• Subsidy for residential experiences which otherwise would not be available for children in hard-pressed circumstances, as well as subsidised coach travel.
• Subsidised extended school and out of hours activities open to a range of children. Whilst some out of hours activities are free, most are supplied by private organisations. The school supports children not in receipt of other programmes, enabling them to access the breadth of experiences on offer including music tuition.