Pupil Premium

'Without exception, the team supporting the PPG pupils are passionate and 'go beyond' to meet their needs. They love the pupils and work effectively as a team to provide the care, support and guidance.'

School Improvement Advisor February 2022

 Pupil Premium Funding at Sarum St Paul’s Primary School

Schools receive additional funding for children who are in receipt of free school meals or who are under the care of the Local Authority. This funding is referred to as ‘pupil premium’ funding. Furthermore we also receive a Pupil Premium for children of parents in the armed services. How this money is allocated is up to the individual school. Its purpose is to provide the children concerned with additional resources / support, as identified on an individual basis, to ensure they have every opportunity to make the national expected progress during their time at the school.

The following funding has been made available to our school since the start of the ‘pupil premium’ funding initiative:

2019/20 financial year - £34,880

2020/21 financial year - £42,280

2021/22 financial year - £41, 625

2022/23 financial year - £45,795

2023/24 financial year - £57, 775

2024/25 financial year - £53, 384

Statement of Intent

At Sarum St Paul’s our vision is ‘Loving to learn as we build friendship and faith’ and we believe every child should be entitled to the best education and be able to thrive and flourish regardless of any disadvantage. We believe that all children, no matter their circumstances, have a right and deserve to experience all that life offers. Our vision and ethos is underpinned by John 10:10 ‘I have come in order that you have life – life in all its fullness.’

 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

 We have an ethos of attainment for all pupils and avoid stereotyping disadvantaged pupils as all facing similar barriers or having less potential to succeed. We actively ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of pupils eligible for Pupil Premium. We pride ourselves on getting to know every individual, understanding their unique context, learning needs and family environment. Overcoming barriers to learning is pivotal in our Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) use. The challenges are varied and there is no “one size fits all” which is why we endeavor to champion every child as an individual

 High-quality teaching is at the heart of our approach, with a focus on areas in which disadvantaged pupils require the most support. We build positive relationships built on mutual respect. We strive to instill ‘a love of learning’ in an inclusive and nurturing environment and we are proud of our wellbeing and mental health support. Our work through Pupil Premium is aimed at accelerating progress and reducing gaps; we strive to improve the personal development of our Pupil Premium pupils and their families.

 Our Pupil Premium Strategy demonstrates how we will support pupils, and their families, in receipt of Pupil Premium. Our strategy is also integral to wider school plans for education recovery. We believe in maximising the use of the PPG by utilising a long-term strategy aligned to the School Development Plan. This enables us to implement a blend of short, medium and long term interventions, and align pupil premium use with wider school improvements and improving readiness to learn.

How we support pupils in receipt of the Pupil Premium

At Sarum St.Paul’s we have used this funding to support our children through the following routes:

• Additional teaching assistant hours to run individual ‘catch-up’ programmes in English and Maths (eg. acceleread/accelewrite, Rainbow Reading etc...) or to aid transition activities to Secondary Schools
• Additional ELSA teaching assistant hours to run group programmes such as ‘Social Skills’, mindfulness or targeted group support in class
• Play therapy for specific pupils
• A Family Link Worker to liaise closely with school and families
• Staff attending relevant training courses
• The development of an SEN and nurture room
• Access to a rich range of texts across the curriculum to build vocabulary, reading skills and experience
• Joint leadership work of the Disadvantaged Lead with SENDco (Special Educational needs lead) and Resource Base Manager to work on providing best strategies to support pupils who are both disadvantaged and SEND (Special Educational Needs)
• Transition from primary to secondary and transition internally and into EYFS.
• Funding educational visits, residential and experiences
• Ensuring children have first-hand experiences to use in their learning in the classroom.
• Prioritising places at after school clubs and for leadership opportunities (e.g. school council)
• Support to attend Rise and Shine ELSA led breakfast club should this be required to ensure a smooth start to the day
• To allow the children to learn a musical instrument

Our teaching assistants are highly skilled and support pupils through a wide range of ‘catch-up’ programmes. Every year they support children using the following programmes:

Impact of Pupil Premium Funding

At the end of each academic year we analyse the impact of these ‘catch-up’ programmes on pupils’ attainment and progress.

• Every class has a highly skilled teaching assistant who works alongside the teacher to support pupils. The teaching assistants lead catch up and intervention programmes with pupils.
• We have two designated rooms for catch up programmes and nurture activities. This provision ensures support can be offered in a suitable, engaging space with relevant resources.
• Our family link worker supports liaison between school and home and assists families in securing support from a number of agencies or can 'signpost' to other organisations. Families feel supported by a designated person to talk to who is a regular present and is available for drop ins and home visits. Children have time with a trained adult to help them develop their social skills, have someone to talk to or lead nurture groups.
• We have ELSAs who are able to run our nurture room and work with children on an individual or group basis to develop their self esteem, social skills and confidence.
• Our play therapist supports pupils who may be having emotional difficulties.
• By sending staff members on relevant training (e.g. therapeutic story writing), children have regular opportunities to access targeted, evidence-based support and intervention programmes which identify and address their needs and enable them to become successful learning.
• 'The teachers and additional adults are providing targeted support to all pupils where required. PP pupils are immersed in their learning and clearly enjoy the challenge of the work set because it is well planned and taught.' School Improvement Advisor visit November 2021.
• 'All PPG PPG pupils are fully integrated into the learning environment. They are engaged and participate fully.' School Improvement Advisor visit in February 2022.
• 'Examples of Dignity and respect – knowing how the SIAMS Strand Dignity and Respect is rooted in removing barriers and improving opportunities; the Headteacher shared how pupils and their families have been positively impacted by vision led decisions taken by school leadership. The powerful examples shared included the adaptions made for two PPG pupils that enabled them to live life in its fullness, offered hope for the future and led by love. There was evidence of how these decisions had been viewed as life changing and transforming for the pupils and families involved.' Diocesan Advisor March 2022. 

Ofsted 2014 'The pupils who are supported by additional funding are now making good progress in both English and mathematics. The gap in performance between these pupils and their peers is narrowing rapidly as a result of effective in class support and rigorous monitoring by the leadership team.'

2023 SATs

Our Pupil Premium Strategy

'The leadership team responsible for pupil premium have planned in detail the provision to raise the achievement of pupil premium and disadvantaged pupils.'

School Improvement Advisor November 2021

When deciding how to spend the Pupil Premium Grant ('PPG') it is important that we look at the potential barriers to learning faced by Pupil Premium pupils in the context of our school. The reasons for underachievement are many and varied and could include; less support at home; social and emotional difficulties due to complex family situations or attendance and punctuality difficulties. Each child entitled to the PPG is unique in their situation and our response to their needs must reflect this.

With this in mind, at Sarum St Paul's School we aim to build the capacity and expertise to enable us to provide a highly personalised programme of support in order to allow each child to reach his/her full potential.

Our key objective in using the PPG is to narrow the attainment and achievement gap between those entitled to Pupil Premium and those not. Historically pupils at Sarum St Paul's School achieve and attain well, often at levels higher than those expected nationally (when no other barriers e.g. an SEND). However, there is still a pattern of Pupil Premium pupils doing better than other Pupil Premium pupils nationally but not as well as those who are not entitled to the PPG. We aim to narrow and even remove this gap.

This explains the outcomes we are aiming for by the end of our current strategy plan:

Click here for our 2023-2026 Pupil Premium Strategy (updated in December 2024)

Our Pupil Premium link governor is Mrs Ela Peska.

Our Designated Pupil Premium teacher is Mrs Lizzie Weavers.

'The PPG governor is providing ‘outstanding monitoring’ which enables the governing body to be kept informed because the visit reports are detailed. As a result, they are aware of the challenges faced by disadvantaged learners across the school.... Monitoring and evaluation schedule in place and outlines opportunities for Headteacher and governors to monitor provision over the year to demonstrate impact. The PPG governor is able to report on what impact the school is having on raising the PPG pupils learning from direct first hand evidence because the link governors is actively engaged in monitoring. In discussion with two pupils, it is clear they value the contribution, care and support provided by the school.' 

School Improvement Advisor February 2022.

'The governor linked to PP is determined to ensure the planned provision is meeting their needs... It is clear the linked governor has the determination to secure good knowledge and understanding of the challenge faced by the pupils but also to show the impact on their learning... The pupil premium monitoring and evaluation schedule provides detailed opportunity for governors to be informed by the leadership team on the progress term by term.'

School Improvement Advisor November 2022.