Pupil Premium

Pupil premium strategy statement

This statement details our academy’s use of pupil premium funding 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 academy.

Academy overview

Detail	Data
Academy name	Ercall Wood Academy
Number of students	947
Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible students	26%
Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers (3 year plans are recommended)	2021-2024
Date this statement was published	16/12/23
Date on which it will be reviewed	15/12/24
Statement authorised by	N.Murphy (Principal)
Pupil premium lead	Faye Keohane and Stephen Orford
Governor / Trustee lead	D.James (Governor)

Funding overview

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

£256,670

Part A: Pupil premium strategy plan

Statement of intent

Academy purpose:

To provide the best possible education for ALL of our children, so that they have the opportunity to be happy, successful and make a positive contribution to our community and future generations.

At Ercall Wood Academy, our intervention starts early in year 7 to ensure that all gaps are closed or reduced before they become too wide. We use a combination of formative assessment and feedback to close gaps as they appear in lessons, alongside summative assessments to ascertain where students are in their learning and to ensure students have the right interventions at the right time. This extends beyond attainment and is replicated through our mountain rescue support team, who are able to identify and provide interventions for barriers that occur outside of the classroom.

Thresholds matter:

We strongly believe that in order for our disadvantaged students to achieve and succeed in life, they need to at least achieve the threshold of a grade 4 in their core academic programme which must include English and Maths. Progressing onto level 3 provision first time is vitally important for them to carry on and continue achieving and succeeding.

Challenges

This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.

Challenge number	Detail of challenge
1	Curriculum – Lack of high-quality knowledge in the curriculum to support the achievement and cultural capital of PP students.
2	Curriculum – Lack of accurate assessments that highlighted knowledge gaps early and inform interventions before gaps get too large. Historic underperforming of PP cohort 2019/20 –0.89 which improved in the 2021/22 academic year to -0.31, but was still behind our non PP students.
3	Poor literacy – Lack of access to high quality literacy material and lack of oracy practise can lead to a low reading age that doesn’t allow access to GCSE/OCR examination papers. Also, a lack of oracy may lead to a lack of culture capital and opportunities to communicate with different groups of people.
4	Student attendance – In order to achieve, all students need to be in lesson to learn. We need to ensure that PP average attendance is in line with academy and above national average. .
5	ACE’s / Barriers to learning – We need to build an Aspire team around students to ensure that we can reduce the number of FTE’s and detentions for PP students that could lead to a risk of permanent exclusion.
6	Pastoral support – Ensuring that every child has a champion in the academy. Supporting the individual needs of the students through positive reinforcement reward system.
7	Mental Well-Being – PP students have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. We need to support their mental well-being and build student character in the academy.
8	Student Aspirations – Lack of aspirations and expectations to progress into suitable high-quality post-16 provision. Students need to see the possibilities and be supported to achieve through both curriculum and enrichment-based activities.

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
The academy enables PP students to access the best of what has been said and written through a knowledge-rich curriculum that will prepare PP students for academic success and more holistic character and cultural capital development.	100% of curriculum maps and essential knowledge rich lessons are in place and being delivered to our students.
All students complete a key at the end of each term, and these are moderated, and results analysed to inform students and teachers of any gaps in knowledge. Interventions are enacted accordingly	80% of PP students meet our ambitious target of being at age-related across key stage 3. 80% of PP students meet our ambitious target of a 50-point A8 score at the end of year 11.
Students will have a reading age within one chronological year by the end of key stage 3, so that they can access GCSE/OCR examination material.	80% of students in key stage 3 are within a year of their chronological reading age.
All PP learners will be proactive in their approach to achieving success by having a strong attendance record. There will be a particular focus on improving PP students in year 10 and reducing the PA across all year groups.	The whole school academy attendance will be 95% with PP student in line with the academy average. PA for PP students is in line with national average.
PP students are supported holistically and academically to ensure that the have the foundations to succeed and progress. PP students’ needs are met through an extensive menu of interventions that will supportive in enabling these students to succeed.	PP exclusion and detention rates will continue to fall and be in line with Academy average due to the proactive support interventions in place. All PP student on the aspire programme will see an improvement in either attainment, behaviour, or attendance.
Students are motivated to achieve and see public reward and celebration of their work and the achievements they have undertaken both in and out of lesson.	All students receive reward points, and these are increasingly a credible ‘currency’ for all year groups. PP leads will coordinate work with the PP students to raise their aspirations.
PP students with mental well-being barriers will be identified and supported throughout their academy life.	Learning time for PP students will not be lost due to SEMH issues because of the proactive intervention and resilience toolkit.
PP students will have raised aspirations and enhanced cultural capital through a guided careers education programme.	100% PP students in year 11 have planned post-16 provision with their next step in education or training.

Activity in this academic year

This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium (and recovery premium funding) this academic year to address the challenges listed above.

Teaching

Budgeted cost: £ 173,330

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
Development of a knowledge-rich curriculum for years 7,8 & 9 - Subject time - Culture walk allocation - Coaching allocation - Leadership culture walk time - Subject leader culture walk time	A range of research that indicates the impact a more knowledge focused curriculum can have on progress. Researchers include: E.D.Hirsch S.Englemann B.Rosenshine	1
Key Stage 4 Tracking - Analysis key stage 4 data - Organised key stage 4 - Target PP cohort as part of mentoring programme.	EEF mentoring +2Months EEF Extending school day +3months EEF Homework +5months	2
Lines of enquiry - CPD - Subject leader time - Line management QA	Standardised tests can provide reliable insights into the specific strengths and weaknesses of each pupil to help ensure they receive the correct additional support through interventions or teacher instruction. EEF Feedback +6months	2
Associate Assistant Principal in charge of ECF - CPD for mentors - CPD for ECTs - Monitoring and tracking of ECTs training programme	Education inspection framework: overview of research	1,2,3,4
Reduced group sizes for lower attaining students to ensure they have more teacher time to reduce gaps in prior learning. - Additional teaching group	EEF Reducing class sizes +2months	1,2
Additional key stage 3 English and maths classes to support the rapid catch-up of students with key stage 2 knowledge gaps	EEF Extending school day +3months	1,2

Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support structured interventions)

Budgeted cost: £ 39,670

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
Academic tutors - access provided to tuition	EEF one to one /Small group tuition +5/4 months	2
Academy SEMH worker and trust councillor - SEMH lead - Trust Counsellor - Life Skills curriculum	EEF Social and emotional learning +4months	7
Reading ages - GL Assessments - Direct instruction - Lexia - Form time interventions - Breakfast club interventions	EEF reading comprehension strategies +6months	3
Additional interventions to support knowledge gaps from key stage 2. - Breakfast club interventions - After school interventions	EEF Small group tuition +4months EEF Teaching assistant interventions +4months	2
Aspire – Key stage 4 HAP programme Science & GCSE Further Maths – Yr. 11 German – Yr. 9	EEF Small group tuition +4months	2

Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)

Budgeted cost: £ 37,000

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
Family liaison Officer - Works with vulnerable families. - Develops strategies to ensure attendance amongst PP students is high above national average. - Reduce PA amongst PP students.	The DfE guidance has several examples of engagement programmes with families that have significantly reduced persistent absence levels. EFF parental engagement +4months	4
Contingency fund - Help support cost of uniform - Help support cost of key texts and equipment	The requirement for all students to wear the academy uniform is to reinforce the academy culture and a sense of belonging that a uniform creates. Evidence includes work by O.Eastwood, 2021. Having key literature texts and calculators allows a greater access of the curriculum and homework. EEF homework +5 months	3,4,5,6
Debating competition	EEF Oracy language intervention +6 months	1,8
Rewards system - Prizes, awards, trips, certificates	EEF: improving behaviour in schools guidance report	4,6,8
Careers team & hubs - Student Futures Hub at the centre of the academy to support raising aspirations regarding the possibilities. - Targeted PP Careers interviews and activities alongside the standard IAG interviews. - Student Futures Lead to coordinate enrichment activities and oversee IAG provision	Believing in Better, How Aspirations and Academic Self Concept Shape Young People’s Outcomes, Sutton Trust	8

Total budgeted cost: £ 256,000

Part B: Review of outcomes in the previous academic year

Pupil premium strategy outcomes

to use the intervention at an earlier stage and with a greater focus on core subjects to ensure the gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students continues to close.

The teaching strategies were implemented well by all and there is a greater focus on responsive teaching in the classroom. This meant that our teachers could identify and address the gaps in learning that our PP students face due to their typically lower cultural capital. The coaching programme provided staff with a plethora of strategies that they could use in their classroom to meet the individual needs and knowledge gaps of pupils. This created a positive and professional relationship and working environment where the students could flourish. The success of the teaching strategies has led us to continue to use and enhance them into the next academic year with a particular focus on how they can benefit our vulnerable learners. Further to this, we are also developing strategies in which we can challenge and stretch the knowledge of students aiming for grades 7+.

The wider strategies for both well-being and behaviour have shown an improvement in the support students have had and our PP students were able to successfully access their exams. There was a larger attendance gap of 3.5% this year between PP students and non-PP. A large part of our focus this year will be attempting to close this gap and moreover, ensure that this is in line with national average of 95% by intervening at an earlier stage. Alongside this, we are looking to support for a greater attendance of parents of PP students in whole academy events such as parents’ evenings.