Pupil Premium & Extra School Funding
Please read the information below which gives details of our Pupil Premium Grant and how we allocate the funding.
-
Department for Education
Articles and advice for children and young people.
Southover CE Primary School
Pupil premium strategy statement
2025-26
This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium funding for the 2025 to 2026 academic year to help improve the attainment of our disadvantaged pupils.
It outlines our pupil premium strategy, how we intend to spend the funding in this academic year and the effect that last year’s spending of pupil premium had within our school.
School overview
|
Detail |
Data |
|
School name: |
Southover CE Primary School |
|
Number of pupils in school |
286 |
|
Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils |
19% |
|
Academic years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers |
2025- 2028 |
|
Date this statement was published |
November 25 |
|
Date on which it will be reviewed |
November 26 |
|
Statement authorised by |
Noel Fadden Headteacher |
|
Pupil premium lead |
Zoe Short Deputy Headteacher |
|
Governor |
Rebecca Coles Link Governor Disadvantaged Pupils |
Funding overview
|
Detail |
Amount |
|
Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year |
£75,874 |
|
Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years (enter £0 if not applicable) |
£0 |
|
|
|
|
Total budget for this academic year
|
£75,874 |
Part A: Pupil premium strategy plan
Statement of intent
|
The Pupil Premium grant is designed to close any potential education attainment gap between children considered disadvantaged and those who are not. This group includes children in receipt of free school meals (or has been in the last six years) and looked after and adopted children. We also consider children who are vulnerable in other ways such as children who have a social worker or have experienced family trauma. 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. At Southover, high-quality teaching is at the heart of our approach, with a focus on all children becoming proficient in reading, writing and mathematics. We invest in ‘Quality First Teaching’ and ensure our teachers are up to date and well trained in these key areas. This is proven to have the greatest impact on closing the disadvantage attainment gap. At Southover, we believe that social, emotional, and mental health and academic progress are intrinsically linked and therefore invest highly in MHEW to overcome any barriers to learning such as, but not exclusively: anxiety, low self-esteem, low-confidence, attachment and trauma. “Evidence suggests that children from disadvantaged backgrounds have weaker social and emotional skills at all ages than their more affluent peers and these skills are likely to influence a range of outcomes for pupils: lower social and emotional learning skills are linked with poorer mental health and lower academic attainment.” (Education Endowment Foundation) Our whole school Empowerment Approach ensures an ethos of children feeling valued, listened to and safe. Our nurture facility and Thrive practitioners, alongside one to one play/art therapy and counselling mean that children are identified early and are given timely support by trained and experienced staff. We strive to ensure that no child misses out on extra-curricular opportunities because of their economic circumstances. We also provide additional support in relation to access to technology to ensure children are not disadvantaged because of lack of hardware. We use time-limited, researched based, specific intervention to impact the attainment of disadvantaged children who need additional support. We invest highly in language development for the children at an early age and continue this support for children who need it. Targeted support is provided for all children who are identified as having a language need. “Research shows that oral language skills, the foundations of which are developed by age four, are strongly associated with children’s literacy, numeracy and educational attainment. However, there exists a gap between the language skills of disadvantaged children and their more advantaged counterparts. Early intervention has great potential to narrow this gap…” (Education Endowment Foundation) Our robust monitoring and assessment schedule and procedures and knowing our children and families well, mean that we are responsive to common challenges and individual needs. We recognise the impact of wider issues in our community and work closely with families to offer broader support to help our children. We have high expectations for all children and act early to address needs. We adopt a whole school approach in which all staff take responsibility for disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes. For more information about the Pupil Premium Grant see: |
Challenges
This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.
|
Challenge number |
Detail of challenge |
|
1 |
Assessments and observations, and discussions with pupils, indicate underdeveloped language understanding. Children’s speech difficulties are also impacting on all areas of development, including social, emotional, phonics development. |
|
2 |
Assessments, observations, and discussions with pupils suggest disadvantaged pupils generally have greater difficulties with phonics than their peers. This negatively impacts their development as readers. |
|
3 |
Assessment data indicates that maths attainment among disadvantaged pupils is below age-related expectations across the school. |
|
4 |
Our assessments, observations and discussions with pupils and families have identified social and emotional and mental health issues for many pupils. These challenges affect disadvantaged pupils, including their attainment and subsequent attendance. |
|
5 |
The cost of extra-curricular activities, music instrument teaching and residential trips would be prohibitive for some of our disadvantaged children’s families without school support. |
Intended outcomes
This explains the outcomes we are aiming for by the end of our current strategy plan, and how we will measure whether they have been achieved.
|
Intended outcome |
Success criteria |
|
Improved speech and language skills for our disadvantaged pupils. |
Assessments and observations will indicate improved language understanding among disadvantaged pupils. This is evident when triangulated with other sources of evidence, including engagement in lessons, reading comprehension and ongoing formative assessment. Speech Link assessments and will indicate improvement in speech skills. |
|
|
|
|
Improved reading attainment among disadvantaged pupils. |
End of KS1 reading outcomes in 2026 will show disadvantaged pupils have made accelerated progress from their Year 1 Autumn 1 assessment data KS2 reading outcomes in 2026 will show that more than 50% of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standard. 89% will make at least expected progress and 60% will make accelerated progress from their starting points |
|
Improved maths attainment for disadvantaged pupils at the end of KS2. |
KS2 maths outcomes in 2026 will show that more than 50% of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standard. 89% will make at least expected progress and 60% will make accelerated progress from their starting points
|
|
To achieve and sustain improved mental health and wellbeing for all pupils in our school, particularly our disadvantaged pupils. |
Sustained high levels of good mental health and wellbeing demonstrated by:
|
Activity in this academic year
This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium this academic year to address the challenges listed above.
Teaching (for example, CPD, recruitment and retention)
Budgeted cost: £32,586
|
Activity |
Evidence that supports this approach |
Challenge number(s) addressed |
|
Additional maths teachers for cohort specific lessons RM Easimaths Subscription Timetables Rock Stars subscription |
The best available evidence indicates that great teaching is the most important lever schools have to improve pupil attainment. Ensuring every teacher is supported in delivering high-quality teaching is essential to achieving the best outcomes for all pupils, particularly the most disadvantaged among them. |
3 |
|
Screening of all Reception children’s language through Language Link and Language Screen All children new to the school screened with Language Link. Homework Club |
Research shows that oral language skills, the foundations of which are developed by age four, are strongly associated with children’s literacy, numeracy and educational attainment. However, there exists a gap between the language skills of disadvantaged children and their more advantaged counterparts.
Research shows that homework has a positive impact on pupils. Pupils may not have a quiet place to complete homework so homework clubs make this place available. |
1
2 & 3
|
Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support structured interventions)
Budgeted cost: £18,500
|
Activity |
Evidence that supports this approach |
Challenge number(s) addressed |
|
|||
|
Precision Teaching and Phonics Intervention by fully trained teaching assistant
Dyslexia screening for diagnostic assessment Subscriptions for specific online interventions – Nessy Dyslexia Programme, |
Research has shown that high quality intervention delivered by fully trained teaching assistants has a positive benefit to children. Phonics approaches have a strong evidence base that indicates a positive impact on the accuracy of word reading (though not necessarily comprehension), particularly for disadvantaged pupils: Phonics | Toolkit Strand | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF Diagnostic assessments highlight specific difficulties so they can be addressed with more precision Evidence shows that early identification ensures children are supported effectively with their specific areas of difficulty. Testing and Evaluation - International Dyslexia Association British Dyslexia Association assured programme – specific intervention
|
2 |
|
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|
Speech and language interventions based on Speech and Language Link screening |
|
1 |
|
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|
and CITES programmes
|
Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing) Budgeted cost: £37,186 |
|
|
|||
|
Activity |
Evidence that supports this approach |
|
||||
|
Nurture Class and 1 to1s, using Thrive Approach and informed by Thrive assessments
Play/Art Therapy
Lunch Time Club |
There is extensive evidence associating childhood social and emotional skills with improved outcomes at school and in later life (e.g., improved academic performance, attitudes, behaviour and relationships with peers): EEF_Social_and_Emotional_Learning.pdf (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)
Prioritise social and emotional learning to avoid “missed opportunity” to improve children’s outcomes -EEF https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/prioritise-social-and-emotional-learning |
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Supporting children and their families in receipt of PP with activities, trips, activities, clubs and music lessons |
Evidence shows that taking part in activities after school could play a role in closing the attainment gap between children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and those with more family resources. https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/sites/default/files/files/resbr3-final.pdf Evidence suggests that learning an instrument boosts academic attainment |
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. |
Music students score better in math, science, English than nonmusical peers |
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Contingency fund for acute issues.
|
Based on our experiences and those of similar schools to ours, we have identified a need to set a small amount of funding aside to respond quickly to needs that have not yet been identified. |
|||||
Total budgeted cost: £75,874
Part B: Review of outcomes in the previous academic year
Pupil premium strategy outcomes
This details the impact that our pupil premium activity had on pupils in the 2024 to 2025 academic year.
Improved receptive language skills and vocabulary among disadvantaged pupils.
Improved oral language skills and vocabulary among disadvantaged pupils.
Improved reading attainment among disadvantaged pupils.
All children are screened in reception with Language Link as well as all children who enter the school mid-year. Children who are identified with language needs are included in group or individual intervention to work on these areas. All children in all year groups who undertook intervention made progress, evidenced through the screening. 73% of the children are now at age related expectation in language understanding (25th percentile or above). Lego Therapy and language intervention has continued to have a multitude of benefits for the children to help them in the classroom, including understanding instructions and concepts, social communication and turn taking, motor skills and raising self-esteem.
All children who received speech intervention made progress. 63% of the children who received intervention made accelerated progress and no longer require targeted support. 37% of the children who had speech intervention made progress with the sounds works on but require further support.
All children are exposed to high quality, rich texts in whole class reading sessions to develop their language skills, vocabulary and comprehension. The internal reading data for KS1 in July 25 shows 50% of children in receipt of PP achieved ARE. All of the children made progress from their starting points. In July 2025, KS2 results show 14.3% of disadvantaged children achieved ARE.
The ECAR teaching had a positive impact on the individuals who undertook this intervention. Unfortunately, this intervention did not run as planned for the whole year due to staff absence. The children on the programme were supported by teaching assistants to ensure regular reading support. 88% of the children made expected progress or more across the year.
The weekly dyslexia screening has meant that children’s difficulties in reading, writing and processing have been identified in a timely manner resulting in targeted support. All classes have had phonics intervention, additional reading support and work with individuals with precision teaching for spelling and handwriting.
Sounds Write is consistently used in all reception and KS1 classrooms daily. Trained teachers run intervention across the school. 55.6% of disadvantaged pupils met the phonics screening threshold.
|
|
Improved maths attainment for disadvantaged pupils at the end of KS2. Children in Year 3 and 4 have an additional maths teacher to teach age specific maths. This is to deliver the mastery approach to all children. Children in year 5 and 6 were not in mixed age classes this year. The percentage of disadvantaged children achieving the expected standard at the end of KS2 in July 25 was 0%. This was generally expected due to the PP and SEND overlap in this year group. This remains a significant area of focus. |
|
|
|
To achieve and sustain improved mental health and wellbeing for all pupils in our school, particularly our disadvantaged pupils. Our mental health and wellbeing provision is strong and the children receive excellent pastoral support through experienced staff, an established nurture facility and a high investment in therapy services (play/art therapy). 50 children across the school are supported through these interventions with space for 18 children in art and play therapy. This offer has ensured children are ready to learn, accessing school and feel supported. This progress is evidenced through pupil, parent and teacher voice, Thrive assessment, academic progress data and improved attendance. The Empowerment Approach is now our established behaviour management policy and this has had a positive impact on children’s wellbeing – feeling supported and listened to and helped through their difficulties. Children who have significant needs have been supported by experienced staff and have all made progress, evidenced through the assess, plan, do, review cycle. Forest school has been a great addition to the provision offered to our disadvantaged children, enabling them to develop new skills and relationships in a healthy, active environment. We have an established onsite Forest School. |
|
|
Supporting children and their families in receipt of PP with activities, trips, clubs and music lessons. Children in receipt of Pupil Premium funding all get subsidised music lessons if they choose to participate. We have also heavily subsidised after school clubs for specific children. The residential trip that took place this year this was subsidised for children in receipt of PP.
|
|
|
Externally provided programmes
Please include the names of any non-DfE programmes that you purchased in the previous academic year. This will help the Department for Education identify which ones are popular in England
|
Programme |
Provider |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Further information
|
We have identified that school attendance is lower for our disadvantaged children and are making efforts to address this with regular contact with these families. We are also working on ways to ensure the children in receipt of the Pupil Premium grant are represented at parent/carer consultations and parent/carer information workshops. |
Southover CE Primary School
Pupil Premium Strategy Statement
2024-25
This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium funding for the 2024 to 2025 academic year to help improve the attainment of our disadvantaged pupils.
It outlines our pupil premium strategy, how we intend to spend the funding in this academic year and the effect that last year’s spending of pupil premium had within our school.
School overview
|
Detail |
Data |
|
School name: |
Southover CE Primary School |
|
Number of pupils in school |
271 |
|
Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils |
19% |
|
Academic years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers |
2021- 2025 |
|
Date this statement was published |
November 24 |
|
Date on which it will be reviewed |
November 25 |
|
Statement authorised by |
Noel Fadden Headteacher |
|
Pupil premium lead |
Zoe Short Deputy Headteacher |
|
Governor |
Rebecca Coles Link Governor Disadvantaged Pupils |
Funding overview
|
Detail |
Amount |
|
Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year |
£90,200 |
|
Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years (enter £0 if not applicable) |
£2,915 |
|
COVID Recovery Premium Funding |
£1,000
|
|
Total budget for this academic year
|
£94,115 |
Part A: Pupil premium strategy plan
Statement of intent
|
The Pupil Premium grant is designed to close any potential education attainment gap between children considered disadvantaged and those who are not. This group includes children in receipt of free school meals (or has been in the last six years) and looked after and adopted children. We also consider children who are vulnerable in other ways such as children who have a social worker or have experienced family trauma. 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. At Southover, high-quality teaching is at the heart of our approach, with a focus on all children becoming proficient in reading, writing and mathematics. We invest in ‘Quality First Teaching’ and ensure our teachers are up to date and well trained in these key areas. This 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. At Southover, we believe that social, emotional, and mental health and academic progress are intrinsically linked and therefore invest highly in MHEW to overcome any barriers to learning such as, but not exclusively: anxiety, low self-esteem, low-confidence, attachment and trauma. “Evidence suggests that children from disadvantaged backgrounds have weaker social and emotional skills at all ages than their more affluent peers and these skills are likely to influence a range of outcomes for pupils: lower social and emotional learning skills are linked with poorer mental health and lower academic attainment.” (Education Endowment Foundation) Our whole school Empowerment Approach ensures an ethos of children feeling valued, listened to and safe. Our Nurture facility and Thrive practitioners, alongside one to one play/art therapy and counselling mean that children are identified early and are given timely support by trained and experienced staff. We strive to ensure that no child misses out on extra-curricular opportunities because of their economic circumstances. We also provide additional support in relation to access to technology to ensure children are not disadvantaged because of lack of hardware. We use time-limited, researched based, specific intervention to impact the attainment of disadvantaged children who need additional support. We invest highly in language development for the children at an early age and continue this support for children who need it. Targeted support is provided for all children who are identified as having a language need. “Research shows that oral language skills, the foundations of which are developed by age four, are strongly associated with children’s literacy, numeracy and educational attainment. However, there exists a gap between the language skills of disadvantaged children and their more advantaged counterparts. Early intervention has great potential to narrow this gap…” (Education Endowment Foundation) Our strategy for disadvantaged children is clearly linked to wider school plans for education recovery including Every Child a Reader (ECAR) programme, small class sizes in Reception and the government funded Nuffield Early Language Intervention for Reception age children. Our robust monitoring and assessment schedule and procedures and knowing our children and families well, mean that we are responsive to common challenges and individual needs. We recognise the impact of wider issues in our community and work closely with families to offer broader support to help our children. We invest in a Family Support Worker through EIP funding to support us with this. We have high expectations for all children and act early to address needs. We adopt a whole school approach in which all staff take responsibility for disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes. For more information about the Pupil Premium Grant see: |
Challenges
This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.
|
Challenge number |
Detail of challenge |
|
1 |
Assessments, observations, and discussions with pupils indicate underdeveloped language understanding. |
|
2 |
Assessments, observations, and discussions with pupils indicate underdeveloped oral language skills and vocabulary gaps among many disadvantaged pupils. These are evident from Reception through to KS2 and in general, are more prevalent among our disadvantaged pupils than their peers. |
|
3 |
Assessments, observations, and discussions with pupils suggest disadvantaged pupils generally have greater difficulties with phonics than their peers. This negatively impacts their development as readers. |
|
4 |
Assessment data indicate that maths attainment among disadvantaged pupils is below age-related expectations across the school. |
|
5 |
Our assessments, observations and discussions with pupils and families have identified social and emotional and mental health issues for many pupils due to COVID 19. These challenges particularly affect disadvantaged pupils, including their attainment and subsequent attendance. |
|
6 |
The cost of extra-curricular activities, music instrument teaching and residential trips would be prohibitive for some of our disadvantaged children’s families without school support. Our observations have shown that our disadvantaged children are less represented at parent events held at school, such as consultations and parent workshops. |
Intended outcomes
This explains the outcomes we are aiming for by the end of our current strategy plan, and how we will measure whether they have been achieved.
|
Intended outcome |
Success criteria |
|
Improved receptive language skills and vocabulary among disadvantaged pupils. |
Assessments and observations indicate significantly improved language understanding among disadvantaged pupils. This is evident when triangulated with other sources of evidence, including engagement in lessons, reading comprehension and ongoing formative assessment. |
|
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. |
End of KS1 reading outcomes in 2024/25 will show disadvantaged pupils have made accelerated progress from their Year 1 Autumn 1 assessment data KS2 reading outcomes in 2024/25 will show that more than 66% of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standard and 80% will make accelerated progress from their starting points |
|
Improved maths attainment for disadvantaged pupils at the end of KS2. |
KS2 maths outcomes in 2024/25 show that more than 66% of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standard.
|
|
To achieve and sustain improved mental health and wellbeing for all pupils in our school, particularly our disadvantaged pupils. |
Sustained high levels of good mental health and wellbeing from 2024/25 demonstrated by:
|
Activity in this academic year
This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium this academic year to address the challenges listed above.
Teaching (for example, CPD, recruitment and retention)
Budgeted cost: £7,560
|
Activity |
Evidence that supports this approach |
Challenge number(s) addressed |
|
Staff trained in Sounds Write Phonics Intervention
Additional maths teacher for cohort specific lessons
|
Phonics approaches have a strong evidence base that indicates a positive impact on the accuracy of word reading (though not necessarily comprehension), particularly for disadvantaged pupils: Phonics | Toolkit Strand | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF The best available evidence indicates that great teaching is the most important lever schools have to improve pupil attainment. Ensuring every teacher is supported in delivering high-quality teaching is essential to achieving the best outcomes for all pupils, particularly the most disadvantaged among them. |
3 |
|
Screening of all Reception children’s language through Language Link and Language Screen All children new to the school screened with Language Link. |
Research shows that oral language skills, the foundations of which are developed by age four, are strongly associated with children’s literacy, numeracy and educational attainment. However, there exists a gap between the language skills of disadvantaged children and their more advantaged counterparts. |
2 |
Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support structured interventions)
Budgeted cost: £24,791
|
Activity |
Evidence that supports this approach |
Challenge number(s) addressed |
|
Precision Teaching and Phonics Intervention by fully trained teaching assistant
Dyslexia screening for diagnostic assessment
Subscriptions for specific online interventions – Nessy Dyslexia Programme, ECAR – Every Child a Reader Teacher
|
Research has shown that high quality intervention delivered by fully trained teaching assistants has a positive benefit to children.
Diagnostic assessments highlight specific difficulties so they can be addressed with more precision
British Dyslexia Association assured programme – specific intervention
A highly trained teacher for reading intervention for children whose reading has not progressed sufficiently despite high quality phonics teaching and intervention across Reception and KS1 https://ifs.org.uk/news/programme-boost-early-literacy-shows-promising-results |
3 |
|
RM Easimaths subscription |
4 |
|
|
Speech and language interventions based on Speech and Language Link screening and CITES programmes Forest School Sessions weekly for children in receipt of PP who need additional SEMH support |
Evidence suggest that Forest School can play an important role in a post COVID curriculum as it is learner-centred and experiential. Forest School practice focuses upon children’s relationships with peers, adults and the environment in an expansive pedagogical space (Harris, 2018; Rekers-Power, 2020). https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/forest-school-and-its-place-within-a-covid-recovery-curriculum |
1, 2
5 |
Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)
Budgeted cost: £59,678
|
Activity |
Evidence that supports this approach |
Challenge number(s) addressed |
|
Create a whole school ethos and behaviour approach through Empowerment to develop the quality of social and emotional (SEL) learning. Nurture Class and 1 to1s, using Thrive Approach and informed by Thrive assessments Play/Art Therapy Lunch Time Club |
There is extensive evidence associating childhood social and emotional skills with improved outcomes at school and in later life (e.g., improved academic performance, attitudes, behaviour and relationships with peers): EEF_Social_and_Emotional_Learning.pdf (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)
Prioritise social and emotional learning to avoid “missed opportunity” to improve children’s outcomes -EEF https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/prioritise-social-and-emotional-learning |
5 |
|
Forest School across the school |
Research shows that Forest School impacts positively on disadvantaged (social, behavioural and economic) outcomes. The outcomes demonstrate important links between emotional learning and wellbeing developed in outdoor settings and academic development. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03004430.2018.1446430 |
5 |
|
Supporting children and their families in receipt of PP with activities, trips, activities, clubs and music lessons. |
Evidence shows that taking part in activities after school could play a role in closing the attainment gap between children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and those with more family resources. https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/sites/default/files/files/resbr3-final.pdf
Evidence suggests that learning an instrument boosts academic attainment
£2,086 |
6 |
|
Contingency fund for acute issues.
|
Based on our experiences and those of similar schools to ours, we have identified a need to set a small amount of funding aside to respond quickly to needs that have not yet been identified. |
All |
Total budgeted cost: £94,115
Part B: Review of outcomes in the previous academic year
Pupil premium strategy outcomes
This details the impact that our pupil premium activity had on pupils in the 2023 to 2024 academic year.
Improved receptive language skills and vocabulary among disadvantaged pupils.
Improved oral language skills and vocabulary among disadvantaged pupils.
Improved reading attainment among disadvantaged pupils.
All children are screened in reception with Language Link as well as all children who enter the school mid-year. Children who are identified with language needs are included in group or individual intervention to work on these areas. 100% of children in all year groups who undertook intervention made progress, evidenced through the screening. Lego Therapy and language intervention has continued to have a multitude of benefits for the children to help them in the classroom, including understanding instructions and concepts, social communication and turn taking, motor skills and raising self-esteem. 100% of children who received speech intervention made progress.
All children are exposed to high quality, rich texts in whole class reading sessions to develop their language skills, vocabulary and comprehension. The internal reading data for KS1 in July 24 shows 50% of children in receipt of PP achieved ARE (25% SEND). All of the children made progress from their starting points. In July 2024 KS2 results show 56.3% achieved ARE.
The ECAR teaching had a positive impact on the individuals who undertook this intervention. The teacher worked with children in year 2 and 3 who have not made expected reading progress despite daily phonics teaching and intervention. Children made progress in their reading and their confidence increased.
The increased dyslexia screening in KS2 (weekly) begin to identify the underlying cause of a child’s difficulties in reading, writing and processing. This has enabled us to focus our interventions on these specific difficulties. All classes have phonics intervention, additional reading support and work with individuals with precision teaching for spelling and handwriting.
Sounds Write is consistently used in all reception and KS1 classrooms daily. Trained teachers run intervention across the school. Phonics results in Year 1 & 2 in June 24 showed significant improvement in results however children in receipt of PP did not meet expectations.
|
Improved maths attainment for disadvantaged pupils at the end of KS2. Children in Year 3 and 4 have an additional maths teacher to teach age specific maths. This is to deliver the mastery approach to all children. Children in year 5 and 6 were not in mixed age classes this year. The percentage disadvantaged children achieving the expected standard at the end of KS2 in July 24 was improved compared to July 23. All children in the 2024 cohort made progress and most PP showed accelerated progress from their end of Year 5 data. |
|
|
To achieve and sustain improved mental health and wellbeing for all pupils in our school, particularly our disadvantaged pupils. Our mental health and wellbeing provision is strong and the children receive excellent pastoral support through experienced staff, an established nurture facility and a high investment in therapy services (play/art therapy). 50 children across the school are supported through these interventions with space for 18 children in art and play therapy. This offer has ensured children are ready to learn, accessing school and feel supported. This progress is evidenced through pupil, parent and teacher voice, Thrive assessment, academic progress data and improved attendance. The Empowerment Approach is now our established behaviour management policy and this has had a positive impact on children’s wellbeing – feeling supported and listened to and helped through their difficulties. Children who have significant needs have been supported by experienced staff and have all made progress, evidenced through the assess, plan, do, review cycle. Forest school has been a great addition to the provision offered to our disadvantaged children, enabling them to develop new skills and relationships in a healthy, active environment. We are now also able to offer onsite Forest School to all the children. |
|
|
Supporting children and their families in receipt of PP with activities, trips, activities, clubs and music lessons. Children in receipt of Pupil Premium funding all get subsidised music lessons if they choose to participate. We have also paid for after school clubs for specific children. The residential trip took place this year this was subsidised for children in receipt of PP. |
|
Externally provided programmes
Please include the names of any non-DfE programmes that you purchased in the previous academic year. This will help the Department for Education identify which ones are popular in England
|
Programme |
Provider |
|
|
|
Further information
|
We have identified that school attendance is lower for our disadvantaged children and are making efforts to address this with regular contact with these families. We are also working on ways to ensure the children in receipt of the Pupil Premium grant are represented at parent/carer consultations and parent/carer information workshops. |
Southover CE Primary School
Pupil premium strategy statement
2023 - 24
This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium funding for the 2023 to 2024 academic year to help improve the attainment of our disadvantaged pupils.
It outlines our pupil premium strategy, how we intend to spend the funding in this academic year and the effect that last year’s spending of pupil premium had within our school.
School overview
|
Detail |
Data |
|
School name: |
Southover CE Primary School |
|
Number of pupils in school |
310 |
|
Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils |
19% |
|
Academic years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers |
2021- 2025 |
|
Date this statement was published |
November 23 |
|
Date on which it will be reviewed |
November 24 |
|
Statement authorised by |
Noel Fadden Headteacher |
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Pupil premium lead |
Zoe Short Deputy Headteacher |
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Governor |
Rebecca Coles Link Governor Disadvantaged Pupils |
Funding overview
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Detail |
Amount |
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Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year |
£80,202 |
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Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years (enter £0 if not applicable) |
£7,395 |
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COVID Recovery Premium Funding School Led Tutoring Grant |
£4,843 £2,998 |
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Total budget for this academic year
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£95,438 |
Part A: Pupil premium strategy plan
Statement of intent
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The Pupil Premium grant is designed to close any potential education attainment gap between children considered disadvantaged and those who are not. This group includes children in receipt of free school meals (or has been in the last six years) and looked after and adopted children. We also consider children who are vulnerable in other ways such as children who have a social worker or have experienced family trauma. 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. At Southover, high-quality teaching is at the heart of our approach, with a focus on all children becoming proficient in reading, writing and mathematics. We invest in ‘Quality First Teaching’ and ensure our teachers are up to date and well trained in these key areas. This 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. At Southover, we believe that social, emotional, and mental health and academic progress are intrinsically linked and therefore invest in this to overcome any barriers to learning such as, but not exclusively: anxiety, low self-esteem, low-confidence, attachment and trauma.
“Evidence suggests that children from disadvantaged backgrounds have weaker social and emotional skills at all ages than their more affluent peers and these skills are likely to influence a range of outcomes for pupils: lower social and emotional learning skills are linked with poorer mental health and lower academic attainment.” (Education Endowment Foundation) Our whole school Empowerment Approach ensures an ethos of children feeling valued, listened to and safe. Our Nurture facility and Thrive practitioners, alongside one to one play/art therapy and counselling mean that children are identified early and are given timely support by trained and experienced staff. We strive to ensure that no child misses out on extra-curricular opportunities because of their economic circumstances. We also provide additional support in relation to access to technology to ensure children are not disadvantaged because of lack of hardware. We use time-limited, researched based, specific intervention to impact the attainment of disadvantaged children who need additional support. We invest highly in language development for the children at an early age and continue this support for children who need it. Targeted support is provided for all children who are identified as having a language need. “Research shows that oral language skills, the foundations of which are developed by age four, are strongly associated with children’s literacy, numeracy and educational attainment. However, there exists a gap between the language skills of disadvantaged children and their more advantaged counterparts. Early intervention has great potential to narrow this gap…” (Education Endowment Foundation) Our strategy for disadvantaged children is clearly linked to wider school plans for education recovery including Every Child a Reader (ECAR) programme, small class sizes in Reception and the government funded Nuffield Early Language Intervention for Reception age children.
Our robust monitoring and assessment schedule and procedures and knowing our children and families well, mean that we are responsive to common challenges and individual needs. We recognise the impact of wider issues in our community and work closely with families to offer broader support to help our children. We invest in a Family Support Worker through EIP funding to support us with this. We have high expectations for all children and act early to address needs. We adopt a whole school approach in which all staff take responsibility for disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes. For more information about the Pupil Premium Grant see: |
Challenges
This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.
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Challenge number |
Detail of challenge |
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1 |
Assessments, observations, and discussions with pupils indicate underdeveloped language understanding. |
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2 |
Assessments, observations, and discussions with pupils indicate underdeveloped oral language skills and vocabulary gaps among many disadvantaged pupils. These are evident from Reception through to KS2 and in general, are more prevalent among our disadvantaged pupils than their peers. |
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3 |
Assessments, observations, and discussions with pupils suggest disadvantaged pupils generally have greater difficulties with phonics than their peers. This negatively impacts their development as readers. |
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4 |
Assessment data indicate that maths attainment among disadvantaged pupils is below age-related expectations across the school. |
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5 |
Our assessments, observations and discussions with pupils and families have identified social and emotional and mental health issues for many pupils due to COVID 19. These challenges particularly affect disadvantaged pupils, including their attainment and subsequent attendance. Referrals for support have markedly increased during the pandemic. Pupils currently require additional support with social and emotional needs, with 50 (20 of whom are disadvantaged) receiving Nurture provision and/or counselling/play therapy and/or CAMHS/School Health Service/Key Worker support |
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6 |
The cost of extra-curricular activities, music instrument teaching and residential trips would be prohibitive for some of our disadvantaged children’s families without school support. |
Intended outcomes
This explains the outcomes we are aiming for by the end of our current strategy plan, and how we will measure whether they have been achieved.
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Intended outcome |
Success criteria |
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Improved receptive language skills and vocabulary among disadvantaged pupils. |
Assessments and observations indicate significantly improved language understanding among disadvantaged pupils. This is evident when triangulated with other sources of evidence, including engagement in lessons, reading comprehension and ongoing formative assessment. |
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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. |
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Improved reading attainment among disadvantaged pupils. |
End of KS1 reading outcomes in 2024/25 will show disadvantaged pupils have made accelerated progress from their Year 1 Autumn 1 assessment data KS2 reading outcomes in 2024/25 will show that more than 66% of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standard and 80% will make accelerated progress from their starting points |
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Improved maths attainment for disadvantaged pupils at the end of KS2. |
KS2 maths outcomes in 2024/25 show that more than 66% of disadvantaged pupils met the expected standard.
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To achieve and sustain improved mental health and wellbeing for all pupils in our school, particularly our disadvantaged pupils. |
Sustained high levels of good mental health and wellbeing from 2024/25 demonstrated by:
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Activity in this academic year
This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium this academic year to address the challenges listed above.
Teaching (for example, CPD, recruitment and retention)
Budgeted cost: £ 13,650
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Activity |
Evidence that supports this approach |
Challenge number(s) addressed |
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New Staff trained in Sounds Write Phonics Scheme
Additional maths teacher for cohort specific lessons
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Phonics approaches have a strong evidence base that indicates a positive impact on the accuracy of word reading (though not necessarily comprehension), particularly for disadvantaged pupils: Phonics | Toolkit Strand | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF The best available evidence indicates that great teaching is the most important lever schools have to improve pupil attainment. Ensuring every teacher is supported in delivering high-quality teaching is essential to achieving the best outcomes for all pupils, particularly the most disadvantaged among them. |
3 |
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Screening of all Reception children’s language through Language Link and Language Screen All children new to the school screened with Language Link. |
Research shows that oral language skills, the foundations of which are developed by age four, are strongly associated with children’s literacy, numeracy and educational attainment. However, there exists a gap between the language skills of disadvantaged children and their more advantaged counterparts. |
2 |
Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support structured interventions)
Budgeted cost: £34,490
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Activity |
Evidence that supports this approach |
Challenge number(s) addressed |
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Precision Teaching and Phonics Intervention by fully trained teaching assistant
Dyslexia screening for diagnostic assessment
Subscriptions for specific online interventions – Nessy Dyslexia Programme,
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Research has shown that high quality intervention delivered by fully trained teaching assistants has a positive benefit to children.
Diagnostic assessments highlight specific difficulties so they can be addressed with more precision
British Dyslexia Association assured programme – specific intervention
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3 |
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RM Easimaths subscription |
4 |
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Language interventions – Reception NELI –
Speech and language interventions based on Speech and Language Link screening and CITES programmes |
1, 2 |
Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)
Budgeted cost: £47,298
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Activity |
Evidence that supports this approach |
Challenge number(s) addressed |
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Create a whole school ethos and behaviour approach through Empowerment to develop the quality of social and emotional (SEL) learning. Nurture Class, using Thrive Approach and informed by Thrive assessments 1 to 1 Thrive sessions Play/Art Therapy Lunch Time Club |
There is extensive evidence associating childhood social and emotional skills with improved outcomes at school and in later life (e.g., improved academic performance, attitudes, behaviour and relationships with peers): EEF_Social_and_Emotional_Learning.pdf (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)
Prioritise social and emotional learning to avoid “missed opportunity” to improve children’s outcomes -EEF https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/prioritise-social-and-emotional-learning |
5 |
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Forest School Sessions weekly for children in receipt of PP who need additional SEMH support |
Evidence suggest that Forest School can play an important role in a post COVID curriculum as it is learner-centred and experiential. Forest School practice focuses upon children’s relationships with peers, adults and the environment in an expansive pedagogical space (Harris, 2018; Rekers-Power, 2020). https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/forest-school-and-its-place-within-a-covid-recovery-curriculum
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5 |
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Supporting children and their families in receipt of PP with activities, trips, activities, clubs and music lessons. |
Evidence shows that taking part in activities after school could play a role in closing the attainment gap between children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and those with more family resources. https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/sites/default/files/files/resbr3-final.pdf
Evidence suggests that learning an instrument boosts academic attainment |
6 |
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Contingency fund for acute issues.
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Based on our experiences and those of similar schools to ours, we have identified a need to set a small amount of funding aside to respond quickly to needs that have not yet been identified. |
All |
Total budgeted cost: £95,438
Part B: Review of outcomes in the previous academic year
Pupil premium strategy outcomes
This details the impact that our pupil premium activity had on pupils in the 2022 to 2023 academic year.
Improved receptive language skills and vocabulary among disadvantaged pupils.
Improved oral language skills and vocabulary among disadvantaged pupils.
Improved reading attainment among disadvantaged pupils.
All children are screened in reception with Language Link as well as all children who enter the school mid-year. Children who are identified with language needs are included in group or individual intervention to work on these areas. All children who undertook intervention 22-23 made progress, evidenced through the screening. Lego Therapy and language intervention has continued to have a multitude of benefits for the children to help them in the classroom, including understanding instructions and concepts, social communication and turn taking, motor skills and raising self-esteem.
All children are exposed to high quality, rich texts in whole class reading sessions to develop their language skills, vocabulary and comprehension and are not held back because of their reading ability. The reading data for both KS1 and KS1 July 2023 showed children to be attaining above the LA average. 80% Year 6 children in receipt of Pupil Premium achieved the expected standard in reading. KS1 children in receipt of PP achieved less well.
The ECAR teaching had a positive impact on the individuals who undertook this intervention. Children made progress in their reading and their confidence increased due to seeing themselves as readers. The KS1 reading data shows outcomes above the local authority average.
Children have been screened for dyslexia in KS2 to identify their difficulties in reading and writing. This has enabled us to focus our interventions on these specific difficulties. All classes have phonics intervention, additional reading support and work with individuals with Precision teaching.
Sounds Write is consistently used in all reception and KS1 classrooms daily. From Year 3 onwards, Sounds Write is used as a basis for in class spelling and as a phonics intervention. All teachers and teaching assistants have had INSET on Sounds Write so they can use it as phonics intervention. Phonics intervention has been delivered across the school to children who were identified having gaps in their phonics knowledge.
Phonic books, matched to the sounds the children know, are used consistently across KS1 and into KS2. Children are heard read at least twice a week and more for the children who are below ARE. Children in KS2 below ARE have access to high interest/low attainment books.
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Improved maths attainment for disadvantaged pupils at the end of KS2. Maths outcomes for disadvantaged children in at the end of KS2 was lower than reading. Mobility was a factor that affected these results, with children joining the school in Year 6 with SEND. These children did, however, make excellent progress in their personal and social needs and were well equipped to start their secondary school career. The children have access to maths intervention and RM Easimaths to practise and consolidate their maths understanding. |
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To achieve and sustain improved mental health and wellbeing for all pupils in our school, particularly our disadvantaged pupils. Our mental health and wellbeing provision is strong and the children receive excellent pastoral support through experienced staff, an established nurture facility and a high investment in therapy services (play/art therapy). 50 children across the school are supported through these interventions with space for 18 children in art and play therapy. This offer has ensured children are ready to learn, accessing school and feel supported. This progress is evidenced through pupil, parent and teacher voice, Thrive assessment, academic progress data and improved attendance. The Empowerment Approach is now our established behaviour management policy and this has had a positive impact on children’s wellbeing – feeling supported and listened to and helped through their difficulties. Children who have significant needs have been supported by experienced staff and have all made progress, evidenced through the assess, plan, do, review cycle. Forest school has been a great addition to the provision offered to our disadvantaged children, enabling them to develop new skills and relationships in a healthy, active environment. |
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Zones of Regulation has continued to be used across the school, delivered on a bespoke basis to individuals who need support managing their emotions. Supporting children and their families in receipt of PP with activities, trips, activities, clubs and music lessons. Children in receipt of Pupil Premium funding all get subsidised music lessons if they choose to participate. We have also paid for after school club for specific children. The residential trip took place this year this was subsidised for children in receipt of PP. |
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