Detail

Data

School name

Ludworth Primary School

Number of pupils in school

95 inc. 2s and Nursery

Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils

56.7%

Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers (3 year plans are recommended)

September 2021 – July 2024

Date this statement was published

31.12.21

Date on which it will be reviewed

September 2024

Statement authorised by

Joanne Sones, Executive Head Teacher

Pupil premium lead

Joanne Sones

Governor / Trustee lead

David Robinson

Detail

Amount

Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year

£55,400

Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year

£5,909

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

£61,309

EYPP

£3,341

Our intention is that all pupils, irrespective of their background or the challenges they face, make good progress and achieve high attainment across all subject areas. The focus of our pupil premium strategy is to support disadvantaged pupils to achieve that goal, including progress for those who are already high attainers.  

We will consider the challenges faced by vulnerable pupils, such as those who have a social worker and young carers. The activity we have outlined in this statement is also intended to support their needs, regardless of whether they are disadvantaged or not. 

High-quality teaching is at the heart of our approach, with a focus on areas in which disadvantaged pupils require the most support. To this end, resources are invested in staff training and ongoing curriculum review. High quality first teaching and a carefully planned curriculum is proven to have the greatest impact on closing the disadvantage attainment gap and at the same time will benefit the non-disadvantaged pupils in our school. Implicit in the intended outcomes detailed below, is the intention that non-disadvantaged pupils’ attainment will be sustained and improved alongside progress for their disadvantaged peers. 

Our strategy is also integral to wider school plans for education recovery, notably in its targeted support, using teacher and teaching assistants, for pupils whose education has been worst affected, including non-disadvantaged pupils. It is our belief that improving reading is the foundation for improved educational outcomes across the curriculum. This includes both phonics and reading comprehension. We also believe that diagnostic assessment of maths and reading, followed by activities adapted to meet the needs of individual children, will support all learners, including those who are disadvantaged, in closing attainment gaps caused by Covid disruption as well as other forms of disadvantage.  

Our approach will be responsive to common challenges and individual needs, rooted in robust diagnostic assessment, not assumptions about the impact of disadvantage. The approaches we have adopted complement each other to help pupils excel. To ensure they are effective we will: 

• ensure disadvantaged pupils are challenged in the work that they’re set 
• act early to intervene at the point need is identified 
• adopt a whole school approach in which all staff take responsibility for disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes and raise expectations of what they can achieve 

Challenge number

Detail of challenge

1

Vocabulary development and oracy

Assessments and observations indicate that children start school with low levels of oracy and limited vocabulary. Our understanding of this is that children often have limited experiences outside of school and also limited access to good quality books and stories. Children also come to school with particular ‘Americanisms’, which would indicate that they spend significant periods of time watching television or tablets.

2

Phonics

Issues identified above can present as speech and language difficulties which can impact on how well children are able to access and progress in phonics teaching. Some children are also not supported to mature and progress in line with expected milestones, for example, using ‘dummies’ beyond the age expected and self-care skills. This can impact children’s readiness and ability to access phonics.

3

Attendance

Pockets of poor attendance can impede progress. This has been exacerbated by the pandemic, when is has been challenging to secure good attendance for some anxious families. Covid has also legitimately impacted attendance when children have needed to isolate. Covid related staff attendance issues has also impacted progress.

4

Motor Skills

The pandemic would appear to have impacted children’s motor skills which can make writing challenging. This is possibly because children were unable to take part in normal activities for significant amounts of time, such as visiting the park or having access to activities in school designed to support motor skills development.

5

Writing

All of the above impacts children’s writing. They need high quality teaching with an exposure to high quality literature, development of their understanding of spelling and grammar and to have stimulating contexts for writing.

6

Maths

Disruption caused by the pandemic has impacted children’s understanding of number and the number system. We can see this through teacher assessments.

7

Reading

In order to access the wider curriculum, children need to be taught how to decode (phonics etc) and how to understand what they read. They need to read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books and when reading them independently, they need to be matched accurately to the children’s reading abilities.

Intended outcome

Success criteria

Improved oral language skills and vocabulary among disadvantaged pupils

Assessments and observations indicate significantly improved oral language among disadvantaged pupils. This is evident when triangulated with other sources of evidence, including engagement in lessons, book scrutiny and ongoing formative assessment. 

Improved reading attainment among disadvantaged pupils.

KS2 reading outcomes in 2024/25 show that more than 80% of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standards.

Improved writing attainment among disadvantaged pupils.

KS2 writing teacher assessed outcomes in 2024/25 show that more than 80% of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standards.

Improved writing attainment among disadvantaged pupils.

KS2 writing outcomes in 2024/25 show that more than 80% of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standards.

Improved Phonics scores in Y1

Y1 Phonics check in 22/23 shows that the phonics attainment of disadvantaged children is equal to others nationally and in the school.

To achieve and sustain improved attendance for all pupils, particularly our disadvantaged pupils

Sustained high attendance from 2024/25 demonstrated by: 

• the overall absence rate for all pupils being no more than 6%, and the attendance gap between disadvantaged pupils and their non-disadvantaged peers being reduced so that it is within 5% of others. 
• the percentage of all pupils who are persistently absent being below 10% and the figure among disadvantaged pupils being within 5% of others.

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Accelerated Reader subscription, including staff training (including Star Maths) (£3,474.00)

Accelerated Reader and Star Maths include diagnostic testing so that teachers know where gaps in learning are and can accurately track progress. Accelerated Reader also provides teachers with a tool to assess the effectiveness of their own teaching of reading comprehension strategies, which our school does in line with Fischer Family Trust Framework for Reading Comprehension.

Standardised tests | Assessing and Monitoring Pupil Progress | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF

Reading comprehension strategies | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

1, 6 and 7

Freckle subscription, including training (included in the above total)

Freckle is an adaptive programme. It uses information from children’s Star Maths tests to adapt activities to individual children so that they can work on areas that they most need to.

6

Times Table Rockstars Subscription (£100)

TTRS supports children in learning and understanding their times tables. A study published by Ofsted, says pupils without instant recall of multiplication tables struggle at maths.

6

CPD: (£4,124)

2021/22

Early Child Development

To develop a systematic approach to quizzing of subjects to diagnose gaps and ensure learning is secure.

To develop diagnostic assessment of reading fluency using multi-dimensional reading rubric

To explore ways of making sure that learning sticks and use this to review planning and activities children are asked to do.

Developing vocabulary

2022/23

CPD (£4,124)

To explore best practice pedagogy for foundation teaching subjects so that leaders can ensure that curriculum plans are implemented to a high, subject specific standard.

2023/24

CPD (£4,124)

To continue to explore best practice pedagogy, this year with a specific focus on Maths alongside continuing work on foundation subjects

Training for all staff so that they gain an increased understanding of early child development and how to ensure firm foundations are in place so that all subject areas have a secure basis on which to build, including oracy, vocabulary development, early reading, early maths and movement development.

Systematic quizzing across all subjects helps children to revisit learning and know what they have remembered and what they need to remember. This can also support teaching to fill gaps. CPD to explore other ways to ensure that learning sticks is key to ensuring teaching is effective in ensuring that children know and remember more. Vocabulary development is essential in ensuring that children understand the spoken and written word.

A lot of work has been done on curriculum development, including effective sequencing of knowledge and exploring how children can be supported to know and remember more. We need not to have a sharper focus on pedagogy, e.g. what do we believe to be a ‘good’ science / history / geography /art / D&T lesson? This year we will focus on History, Science and Art.

1,2,4,5,6 and 7

Success for All subscription (£1,472.50 p/a)

Resources for SfA / AR (£1,000)

Fidelity to a synthetic phonics programme in which all staff are trained is a vital part of teaching children to be expert readers.

Children continue to benefit from a whole school approach to teaching reading comprehension using a systematic approach and high quality texts. This also includes a systematic approach to developing vocabulary.

1, 2, 7

EYPP

Subscription to Early Excellence Network and quality resources for environment. (£3,341)

Ensuring that EYFS staff have continual CPD to maintain good practice is essential to ensuring that provision in the Early Years meets the needs of all learners and that notice, recognise and respond to individuals. A high quality environment is crucial to this.

EYPP

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Teaching assistant support to ensure that children can access:

-Small group work

-Intervention

-Some 1:1 tuition

EEF recognises that using teaching assistants is effective where they do not replace teachers but are deployed to provide structured intervention. Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

1,2,4,5,6 and 7

Teacher led 1:1 Tuition and small group intervention outside of school hours.

The EEF identify that ‘one to one tuition is very effective at improving pupil outcomes’, and that it is more likely to make an impact if it is, ‘additional and explicitly linked with normal lessons’.

1,2,4,5,6 and 7

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Implement attendance escalation and reward policies, including working with external agencies, purchasing rewards

Clear policies including escalation of actions and systematic rewards for both children and their families raise the profile of attendance and encourage families to improve children’s attendance.

3

Ensure there is no difference between those who are financially better off and those who are not as well off.

Children’s perception of themselves as ‘disadvantaged’ is the most limiting factor for progress and outcomes. They need to see themselves as the same as everyone else and therefore capable of the same in terms of their future life chances. Therefore, money will be allocated to:

Reduce the cost of trips and experiences for all children, while completely subsidising expenses for those who are less well-off so that all children have equality of experience in education and school.

Subsidise uniform for families who are struggling.

Provide milk and fruit for all children so that there is no observable difference between disadvantaged children and others.

Ensure all children have the equipment they need, including stationary items, to carry out homework tasks and remote learning.

1-7

 During 2020/21, all classes were organised into bubbles and support staff allocated to every bubble. This meant that children had consistency of support throughout the whole of the school week and so teachers were able to plan effectively to promote progress and positive outcomes. Children were able to work in smaller groups to support this. 2020/21 end of year data shows that very high proportions of children made progress, despite the disruption caused by the pandemic.

SEND allocation was mainly spent in procuring assessments from external sources so that teachers had a clear understanding of children’s needs and ways in which they could be supported. As a result, SEN children made progress in their learning, as demonstrated by school analysis of data.

30 children were supported with equipment through the national lockdown and class isolation periods. This meant that they could access online teaching and follow up activities. School data demonstrates that children did not fall back in their learning during the national lockdown.

All children use school PE kits so that there are no perceivable differences in school leading to assumptions about wealth.

Some families were supported through the purchasing of uniform.

All children had access to appropriate stationary items through both national lockdown periods and class isolations.

Money subsidised a residential trip to Robinwood activity centre, ensuring that the trip was affordable for all families.

2021/22

There continues to be a strong focus on vocabulary throughout the school and across the curriculum. One indicator that this focus is beneficial, is that children in KS2 achieved good reading comprehension scored (Y6). In order to understand texts well, children need to know what words mean.

2021/22 had continuing Covid disruption due to children and staff absence. However, phonics teaching is good and resources have been purchased and reviewed in line with the updated SFA phonics programme. It is hoped that less disruption will support improved phonics outcomes for disadvantaged children.

2021/22 attendance was still impacted by COVID.

2022/23

Phonics scheme has been reviewed by the providers and all staff have attended several training events. The subscription supported monitoring of the implementation of the reviewed scheme and follow up training. Y1 phonics was in line with National.

KS1 reading, writing and maths percentages improved on last year’s outcomes.

Proportions of children achieving expected standard in Reading and Maths improved on last year.

Programme

Provider

Success for All Phonics and Reading

Success for All

Read Write Inc Spelling

Read Write Inc

Accelerated Reader, including Star Maths

Renaissance

Freckle Adaptive Maths

Renaissance