Pupil Premium

The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their wealthier peers. It is for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium, allocated to schools per FSM student, is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.

The Pupil Premium Plan aims to address the main barriers our children face within each school whilst maintaining a Trust wide equity to quality education through shared practice. We deliver this through rigorous tracking, careful planning and targeted support and intervention that provides all children the access and opportunities to enjoy academic success.

Principles

At Cecil Jones Academy:

We ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all of the pupils.

We ensure that appropriate provision is made for pupils who belong to vulnerable groups. This includes ensuring that the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils are adequately assessed and addressed.

In making provision for socially disadvantaged pupils, we recognise that not all pupils who receive free school meals will be socially disadvantaged.

We also recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered for or qualify for free school meals. We reserve the right to allocate the Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil or groups of pupils the school has legitimately identified as being socially disadvantaged.

Pupil premium funding will be allocated following a needs analysis, which will identify priority classes, groups or individuals. Limited funding and resources means that not all children receiving free school meals will be in receipt of pupil premium interventions at one time.

The amount of Pupil Premium allocated during the Academic Year 2024-2025 is £435,750

Pupil Premium Strategy

At Cecil Jones Academy, we pride ourselves on having high aspiration and ambition for all pupils, regardless of their background. We operate a no excuse culture, setting children up to have the skills, knowledge and confidence to succeed. Our mission is to ensure that every pupil achieves academic success and has the real option of going to university or following a career of their choice. We believe our pupils work hard towards this goal because we make it real for them.

We have high expectations for all of our pupils, and believe that with great teaching and a lot of love and care, every child can fulfil their potential.

Some interventions are adopted on a whole school basis and are not restricted to FSM registered pupils only. However, the implementation of some intervention programmes would not have been possible without the Pupil Premium.

The majority of school strategies are targeted towards improvement in the attainment and progress of pupils. A number of these key strategies are resourced from the schools’ main budget, including smaller class sizes, educational support staff and an intervention programme. We have allocated the additional Pupil Premium funding to specific initiatives to support the most disadvantaged pupils.

The key objective is to narrow the gap between pupil groups. The achievement of pupils at primary is good however; levels of attainment are lower for some children who are eligible for FSM. While we recognise that this is a national trend, we are committed to doing everything we can to close this achievement gap. Through the application of high quality programmes and provision overall, we aim to eliminate barriers to learning and progress. The use of targeted interventions is also important. Children who start with low attainment on entry will need to make accelerated progress in order to reach, at least, age-related expectations.

It is also important that low attaining pupils grow in confidence and independence. Therefore, quality social experiences in and outside school can also have a significant impact. 

The current figures for 2023 Examination Results in KS4 are:

It must also be remembered that there can be children who, whilst being eligible for FSM and Pupil Premium, are not low attaining but may not be maximising their full potential. We must therefore never confuse eligibility for the Pupil Premium with low ability. We must focus on supporting all disadvantaged children to achieve the highest levels

Funding is allocated within the school budget by financial year. This budget enables the school to plan its intervention and support programme. Expenditure is therefore planned and implemented by academic year as shown.

As an inclusive school, Cecil Jones Academy strongly believes that no pupil should be disadvantaged as a result of background and ensures that resources and support are also provided for children who may not necessarily be eligible for free school meals or looked after, but who have been identified by the school as being at an educational disadvantage compared to their peers.

This support is funded out of the School’s main budget. Programmes involving children who are eligible for the grant as well as those who are not are often part- funded by Pupil Premium, proportional to the children they benefit.

Aims:

At Cecil Jones Academy we will:

• Make decisions about the spending of Pupil Premium funding based on educational research
• Make decisions about the spending of Pupil Premium based on our knowledge of the children and their families
• Ensure that staff are aware of the potential barriers to learning for FSM and LAC pupils
• Track the attainment and progress of pupils on FSM as a group and ensure this is in line with the progress and attainment of the whole class
• Measure the success of intervention programmes through impact analysis

The challenge to establish a clear link between educational expenditure and pupils’ learning is harder than one would imagine. It may seem obvious that more money offers the possibilities for a better or higher quality educational experience, but the evidence suggests that it is not simply a question of spending more to get better results. (Sutton Trust 2012)

Barriers to learning:

• Low aspiration within the local area
• Children are from low economic backgrounds with low level of attainment on entry
• Mobility – many children enter the school at different points in their school life
• Overcrowded housing
• Low self-esteem and self-confidence
• Single Parent Families with high EAL needs
• Low speech and language on entry, particularly mobility students

Additional Educational Resources for Looked After Children

Strategy:

For 2024/25, each looked after child has a Personalised Educational Plan drawn up by our specialist worker in conjunction with the local authority to ensure that each student receives resources and support which would be appropriate for them as an individual.  Examples can be used from all of the above strategies.

Proposed Impact:

Looked after students have a tailored programme of support to meet their needs leading to a closing of achievement gap at Cecil Jones Academy.

• Pupil Premium

  • Pupil Premium 2022-2023
    Pupil Premium 2023-2024