Pupil Premium Strategy Statement
This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium funding received by the school to help improve the attainment of our disadvantaged pupils.
It outlines our three year 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 | Eleanor Palmer Primary School |
| Number of pupils in school | 210 |
| Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils | 20% (43 students) |
| Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers (3 year plans are recommended) | 3 years (AY 2024-25 to AY 2026-27) |
| Date this statement was published | December 2024 |
| Date on which it will be reviewed | December 2025 |
| Statement authorised by | Sally Hill & Natalie Stevenson – Co-headteachers
Christophe Frerebeau – Chair of Governors |
| Pupil premium lead | Sally Hill & Natalie Stevenson – Co-headteachers |
| Governor / Trustee lead | Christophe Frerebeau – Chair of Governors |
Funding overview
| Detail | Amount |
| Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year | £63,170 |
| 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 |
£63,170 |
Statement of intent
We believe that education is a tool in achieving social justice. Our intent is for disadvantaged pupils to achieve excellence, to love learning and to have a sense of belonging in education.
To achieve this all pupils need to develop the skills necessary in reading, writing and mathematics so their outcomes are at least in line with their non disadvantaged peers.
Disadvantaged pupils’ oral skills and vocabulary are central in enabling them to make good progress across the curriculum so we prioritise oracy from the minute children start at our school. As they progress through our school, we give disadvantaged pupils the skills, stamina, inspiration and confidence to communicate their thoughts orally and in writing.
Our Pupil Premium strategy takes a tiered approach to ensure that all pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, consistently experience the highest possible quality of teaching, have access to the targeted academic support and benefit from a range of wider strategies including pastoral support for social and emotional difficulties, attendance and behaviour, impacting on success in school.
High quality inclusive teaching across all subjects but prioritising early reading and number fluency is central and key in our approach to support disadvantaged pupils in meeting these objectives. Evidence (both nationally and in our own setting) shows that these are the areas in which there are the most significant gaps to close. We use our pupil premium to support the development of teachers to teach high quality phonics and reading skills, especially for pupils at the stages of early reading. We also use funding to ensure pupils develop firm foundations in number and factual fluency as well as the skills to problem solve and reason.
Where disadvantaged pupils need additional support to make progress, we use an inclusive pre-teaching ‘keep up’ model, and interventions in maths fluency, spelling, phonics and reading which run concurrently with whole class sessions so that pupils do not have a narrowed curriculum. We support disadvantaged pupils who need to make the most progress to meet expected levels, as well as those who have the potential to excel and work at greater depth.
We place high importance on enriching the curriculum and providing additional opportunities for disadvantaged pupils, such as additional specialist music tuition and sports clubs.
We champion our disadvantaged pupils and their families, holding the highest expectations and ambition for their progress and attainment. We work in partnership with each of these pupils, and their families, and take collective responsibility for their primary school experience and learning outcomes.
Challenges
This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.
| Challenge number | Detail of challenge |
| 1 | There is an in-school attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils in reaching expected levels, and the gap is wider with greater-depth in reading, writing and maths. This is in line with the national picture. |
| 2 | On entry assessment shows an in-school gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils with regards to language and communication and this gap is still evident as pupils move through the school. This ‘word gap’ can make it harder for pupils to master the curriculum if it is not closed. |
| 3 | There is an in-school gap between the number of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected level in reading. (Disadvantaged pupil attainment and progress is in line with or above National and Camden averages over time.) Internal assessment data and observation demonstrate that children who do not pass their phonics screener in Year 1- and those who do pass but are not yet fluent readers – are the most likely to struggle to access the core curriculum in Y2 and KS2. There is a significant overlap between this group and disadvantaged children. |
| 4 | Assessment and feedback identify that attainment data for disadvantaged children in maths is lower than for non-disadvantaged children. Pupils who are not fluent with additive facts in KS1, are the most likely to struggle to reach the EXS in KS2, and they are also the group who struggle with reasoning and problem solving. |
| 5 | End of KS2 assessments show disadvantaged pupils attainment in writing is below that of other pupils. In KS1, data shows that disadvantaged pupils attain less well than other pupils in writing. |
| 6 | For some disadvantaged pupils, we have noticed patterns of lower self-esteem and/or self-regard as a learner, as well as emotional literacy, and self-regulation strategies (see PASS survey, May 2021; pupils identified for ELSA support). |
| 7 | Whilst parents and carers of disadvantaged pupils are very supportive of education and of the school, there are often lower levels of confidence among these parents with supporting their child’s learning. |
| 8 | Our school is characterised by its very wide socio-economic range within our community. Pupils have very different life experiences and starting points.Some of our disadvantaged families do not have the same access to enrichment activities due to low income or lack of parental free time due to work commitments. |
Intended outcomes
This section explains the outcomes we are aiming for by the end of our current plan, and how we will measure whether they have been achieved.
| Intended outcome | Success criteria |
| To develop early language and vocabulary acquisition to improve attainment for disadvantaged pupils at the end of EYFS. | Impact of carefully planned interventions shows rapid progress for identified disadvantaged pupils. |
| Support disadvantaged children to make accelerated progress in reading, towards end of year expectations, reducing the gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged children in all year groups, with a particular focus from Year 2 onwards. | Assessments and observations show that children are fluent readers in each year group and therefore meet EXS. |
| Children become even more secure in number fluency, allowing them to better access problem solving as they progress through the school. | The attainment gap between disadvantaged and non disadvantaged learners in maths fluency and arithmetic significantly narrows as children progress through the school. |
| Children improve the fluency and stamina of their writing, including improved sentence sense and grammar. | More disadvantaged pupils attain the expected level for writing. |
| To continue to improve disadvantaged pupils’ emotional literacy. | Wellbeing curriculum implemented across the school.
Introduction of life skills curriculum. Trained and developed Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA). |
| For all of our disadvantaged families to engage with their child’s learning and development in partnership with our school. | 100% attendance at parents’ meetings.
Positive engagement with Maths Packs and Phonics and Early Reading school talks and subsequent home-learning. |
| To ensure that all pupils have access to enrichment and our broad curriculum, which supports them in achieving excellence. | Pupils participate fully in all areas of the curriculum, attend cultural events, visits, residential trips, clubs, and enrichment opportunities.
Careful monitoring of fair access to include clubs, trips, school journeys, music, sports and arts opportunities. All staff continue to identify and put forward disadvantaged pupils for any additional enrichment opportunities. |
| To develop a clear teaching and learning pedagogy to enable quality first teaching which includes and inspires disadvantaged pupils within the context of our socio-economic range. | Embedding and using a shared teaching and learning policy consistently across the school which inspires the development of excellent teaching practice.
Through learning walks and observations: see clear impact of quality first teaching in lessons. Teachers taking responsibility for disadvantaged pupils’ learning and designing lessons which impact upon their learning and outcomes. |
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 (for example, CPD, recruitment and retention)
Budget allocated from PP allocation for 2024-25 school year: £7,000
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| Use of sports coach to offer additional sports development and SEMH support for disadvantaged pupils. | https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/mentoring | 6 & 8 |
| Neli and Talkboost interventions targeted at disadvantaged pupils who are identified as needing support with communication and language. | There is a strong evidence base for the impact of communication and language approaches in EYFS. ‘Approaches usually involve early years professional, who has been trained in the approach,working with a small group of children or individually to develop communication and language skills.’ (EEF,EarlyYears Toolkit). | 2 |
| Art and music specialist teachers. | https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/arts-participation | 8 |
| Trained and developed Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA). | Goleman (1995) – a child’s success in school is not based solely on intelligence, but on emotional and social characteristics developed early in life • Russell and Mann (2011) – teachers identified a significant improvement in children’s emotional literacy post ELSA.
Burton et al. (2010) – significant improvements in conduct problems, hyperactivity and peer problems, empathy, self-awareness, self-regulation and social skills. Grahamslaw (2010) – children who had received ELSA support held higher confidence in their ability to regulate their emotions. Bravery & Harris (2009) – Head teachers and ELSAs report a positive impact on individual pupils’ behaviour, emotional well-being and relationships, attendance, reducing bullying and academic achievement. |
6 |
| Wellbeing Curriculum embedded in PSHE Y1-Y6 | Yale University Center for Emotional Intelligence – research into RULER approach, upon which the Wellbeing Curriculum is based. | 6 |
Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support structured interventions)
Budgeted cost: £41,170
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| One to one tutoring with qualified teacher in reading, writing and/or maths. | https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/one-to-one-tuition
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/phonics |
1,3,4 & 5 |
| Small group tutoring with qualified teacher in reading, writing and/or maths. | 1,3,4 & 5 | |
| One to one tutoring for disadvantaged pupils in Year 5 and 6 increased to include autumn alongside spring and summer terms by class teachers. | 1,3,4 & 5 | |
| HLTA working one to one with pupils on personalised programmes to improve literacy. | https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/one-to-one-tuition | 1,3,4 & 5 |
| Targeted maths intervention across the school for disadvantaged pupils. | Number Sense Maths fluency programme implemented across KS1 and LKS2.
Raising the Game research by Eleanor Palmer, Camden Learning schools and Richard Reeves Foundation. |
1 & 4 |
Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)
Budgeted cost: £15,000
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| HLTA working with parents to improve their confidence supporting their children’s learning at home. | https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/parental-engagement | 7, |
| Targeted sessions to engage, educate and inform harder to reach parents on issues such as online safety and mental health. | https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/parental-engagement | 6 & 7 |
| Supplementing the cost of our full programme of trips and residential trips across the school so that our disadvantaged pupils can take part. | 8 | |
| School gardener working with groups of pupils to support learning and emotional well-being. | https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/metacognition-and-self-regulation | 8 |
| Supplementing places for wrap-around care. | 8 | |
| Developing school site, specifically outdoor learning as part of continuous provision in EYFS, and play-based learning using loose-parts, bog garden and playground equipment. | https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/early-years-toolkit/play-based-learning?utm_source=/education-evidence/early-years-toolkit/play-based-learning&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=site_searchh&search_term | 2 |
| One to one and pair singing lessons | 8 |
Total budgeted cost: £63,170
| Here is a link to our EP Curriculum which outlines our approach. |