Pupil Premium

The Pupil Premium Grant is additional funding allocated to schools so that they can support their disadvantaged students and close the gap between them and their peers in relation to attainment and progress.

The objective of our spending of Pupil Premium funding is to improve the attainment and progress of students eligible for the pupil premium, relative to those students that are not eligible (both in-school and nationally). We have used research compiled by the ‘Education Endowment Foundation’ to best steer our approach and budget allocation (the best results come from promoting metacognition, improving feedback and utilising pastoral interventions).

No student, regardless of their socio-economic background, should be denied the right to maximise their potential. We aim to use the pupil premium funding (and recovery premium) to remove barriers- to raise the aspirations and achievement of, and the opportunities for disadvantaged students. Some of the barriers that we endeavour to overcome include low prior attainment, access to books and reading material, access to computers and the Internet, key resources (e.g. calculators), funding for trips.

Aim of the Pupil Premium

The aim of the Pupil Premium is to identify and implement strategies in order to increase social mobility and reduce the attainment gap between the highest and lowest achieving pupils nationally.

To ensure that the Pupil Premium Grant is targeted at the students it is intended for, the school produces an annual plan to spend the budget with a clear aim to significantly improve the achievement and life chances of disadvantaged students attending Great Wyrley Academy by narrowing the gap in achievement between them and their peers in school and nationally.

This will be achieved by:

• providing educational support which raises the achievement of these students so that it is in line with their —in-school peers and national expectations.
• providing emotional and social support where appropriate.
• addressing any inequalities in opportunity faced by these students.

Pupil Premium 2023-2024 Income and Spending Plan Review

For the academic year 2023/24, 170 students were registered as ‘Pupil Premium’. This will create estimated funding for the school of £178,481. This money was allocated to provide the following:

• A whole school focus on outstanding learning and teaching
• Enhanced staffing in Maths, English, Science and other curriculum areas in order to reduce class size and allow teachers to focus more closely on strategies for improving the progress of disadvantaged students
• Additional classroom support from teaching assistants with specialist skills in Maths, English and Science
• Additional lesson time in Maths and English to ensure more rapid progress in these key areas
• Targeted literacy coaching to improve reading ages of students where this remains a barrier to learning
• One to one or small group Maths tuition for students where their performance in Maths requires additional support
• Pastoral support from Heads of Year, Pastoral Managers and  the Attendance Officer, in order to improve attendance, reduce exclusions and ensure the social and emotional well-being of our disadvantaged students
• Careers interviews in order to raise aspirations and increase motivation for disadvantaged students
• A Pupil Premium support budget to facilitate participation in curriculum enrichment activities and remove barriers to learning/involvement in the curriculum