The government continues to provide funding targeted at addressing underlying inequalities and aiming to tackle the disadvantages that some children experience in life. Pupil Premium funding is aimed at children who are entitled to free school meals; children who have been ‘Looked After’ for 6 months or more and children from families in the armed forces. This funding includes any child who has been entitled to free school meals in the last 6 years (FSM6). As a school we have allocated the money carefully to ensure that our vulnerable children have every opportunity to become an empowered learner and achieve the best results possible.

The barriers to learning faced by Penpol students in receipt of Pupil Premium, and other children who are disadvantaged but not pupil premium, are broad and varied. We seek to personalise our provision as far as possible to ensure greatest impact for each eligible child. Some more common themes include low self-esteem, reluctance to write, anxiety about school, less regular parental engagement and regular absences. Some children have limited access to cultural experiences out of school. Although progress measures are strong, significantly fewer eligible pupils are achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined. A key aim of our pupil premium strategy this year is to develop more versatile and robust learning skills to remove the barriers over time and invest in provisions.

We need to ensure that long term sustainable strategies are in place to support children over their time at Penpol and narrow the attainment gap by the end of Year 6.

This year, we will be monitoring the impact of our spending rigorously and more regularly:

• Assessment data for each class will be reviewed termly at progress meetings, exploring progress and attainment and any specific barriers faced by children in receipt of pupil premium.
• Provision map software will provide a robust system that monitors the intervention and impact on all pupils. This also records children who have had wellbeing support and provides teachers with a context around need and therefore what will be the most effective intervention.