Pupil premium strategy statement – Maidenhill School

This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium (and recovery 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 outcomes for disadvantaged pupils last academic year.
School overview

Detail	Data	
School name	Maidenhill School	
Number of pupils in school	721	
Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils	20% (141)	
Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers	3 years	
Date this statement was published	December 2023	
Date on which it will be reviewed	November 2024	
Statement authorised by	Mr A Hunter	
Pupil premium lead	Mr A Hunter	
Governor / Trustee lead	Mrs Debra Gloyne	

Funding overview

Detail	Amount	
Pupil premium funding allocation this financial year	£199,580	
Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year	£48,300	
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	£247,880	

Part A: Pupil premium strategy plan

Statement of intent

Our intention is that all students regardless of their background or the challenges they face, make good progress and achieve high attainment across the curriculum.

Our focus is to support all students, and particularly our disadvantaged students, to achieve that goal. We will consider the challenges faced by all vulnerable students, including our SEND students, and also for example our Young Carers and those who have a social worker, as well as those students who have socio economic challenges. We endeavour to support all students through our activities and approaches.

High quality teaching is at the core of our approach and provision, with a focus on areas in which disadvantaged students require the most support. This is proven to have the greatest impact on closing the disadvantage attainment gap and at the same time will benefit non-disadvantaged students in our school. We want our actions to benefit all students, not just focus on disadvantaged students.

Our strategy is reflected in our whole school development priorities. Our approach will be responsive to common challenges and individual needs, rooted in evidence and assessment, not based on assumptions about the impact of disadvantage. We will best serve our students by knowing our students, building relationships and proactively showing them that we are investing in them and supporting them academically and personally.

The approaches we have adopted complement each other to help students excel. To ensure they are effective, we will:

•	Ensure disadvantaged students are challenged in the work that they are set and the expectations we have of them
•	Know our students well and respond swiftly at the point a need is identified
•	Adopt a whole school approach in which all staff take responsibility for disadvantaged students’
outcomes and raise expectations of what they can achieve

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

Challenge number	Detail of challenge	
1	Our attendance data including pre-pandemic, indicates that attendance amongst disadvantaged students has been lower than for non-disadvantaged students. This has continued post-Covid, as many of our disadvantaged families are not always resilient, nor as committed to the importance of education.   The economic climate is putting significant pressure on disadvantaged families and contributing to the number of holidays being taken in school time.  	
2	Behaviour of students post-pandemic has declined.  Where rules and expectations have not been maintained through the pandemic at home, students find it increasingly difficult to express themselves appropriately.  This has a significant effect on the levels of compliance with school rules resulting to varying degrees in the quality of education being challenged where disruption to lessons has a detrimental effect of the students’ learning.  Social time behaviour has also declined, at times making break and lunchtimes more difficult to manage.  A small number of parents actively work against the school which compounds the issue.	

  3	Assessments and observations with KS3 students indicate that disadvantaged students read less than their peers. This can impact on their reading skills and also the development and extension of their vocabulary. This means they are in danger of not accessing the curriculum as effectively as their peers.
We also believe students are missing the development of their imagination and their experience of ‘other contexts’. We want students to enjoy reading and for them to benefit from broadening their horizons through reading as well as improved access to the curriculum.	
4	We know that disadvantaged students often lack the material resources that non- disadvantaged peers have. This can include food, uniform/sports kit, equipment (e.g. calculators and ingredients) and access to learning resources (e.g. revision guides) and suitable and supportive work spaces at home.
There is a risk that disadvantaged students feel excluded from school activities and visits, and also are involved and participate less in enrichment and extra-curricular activities. The development of cultural capital of many of our disadvantaged students is a risk and we want them to be exposed to wider experiences both within the curriculum and through extra-curricular activities such as theatre visits and visits to for example a variety of places such as art galleries	
5	Our observations suggest that many students, and particularly middle prior attaining disadvantaged students, lack metacognitive/self-regulation strategies, particularly when faced with challenging tasks, notably in their monitoring and evaluating of their longer, written answers and in their memory and recall skills.
We want to support all our students and particularly our disadvantaged students to become more effective learners in lessons and independently. We want to develop students’ resilience and responsibility for their learning.	
6	Discussions with students and families have identified social and emotional issues for many students, such as anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. This is partly driven by isolation during lockdowns and uncertainty regarding their futures (lost learning, exams). This appears to be more prevalent amongst disadvantaged students.	
7	Our data tells us that our SEND students make considerably less good progress than our Non-SEND students.  This is particularly true of our students who have SEND and who are also pupil premium.  Linked to SEMH and challenge 6, the range of SEND needs is increasing in students and we are challenged to support ever increasing numbers of SEND students both with EHCPs and without.	

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	
Improved attendance achieved and sustained for all students, particularly our disadvantaged students.	Sustained high attendance from 2023-25 demonstrated by:
-	The overall absence rate for all students being no more than 5% and the attendance
gap between disadvantaged students and	

  	their non-disadvantaged peers being no more than 1%
-	The percentage of students who are persistently absent being below 13.5% and the figure among disadvantaged students being no more than 1% greater than their peers.	
Our BfL policy is followed with clarity and consistency promoting improved attitudes to learning grades and attainment.    	-	Students respond positively and make better choices in lessons and social time.
-	Students develop greater independence, maturity and resilience  
-	Fewer students out of lessons, quiet and safe corridors
-	Review Point data shows no discernible difference between the ATL of disadvantaged or non-disadvantaged students.
	
Increased reading and improved reading skills among disadvantaged students in KS3.	From 2023-25,
-	Sustained increase in library loans and the number of loans by disadvantaged students being at a similar level to their non- disadvantaged peers.
-	Staff report greater engagement in reading for pleasure in their reading lessons and in their tutor periods
-	Staff report students’ increased engagement in tasks involving reading across the curriculum	
Disadvantaged students are not excluded from learning due to lack of equipment/materials or due to kit, hunger etc. They are able to participate in enrichment activities such as instrumental lessons, and visits in school time.	-	All students have the necessary kit, resources and materials to enable full access to the curriculum, both within the school day and beyond.
-	All students are able to engage and participate in activities and visits.
-	Engagement of disadvantaged students in extra- curricular activities and participation in visits in term time increases to the same proportion as non-disadvantaged students.
-	The number of disadvantaged students accessing study zone after school increases.	
Improved metacognitive and self-regulatory skills among disadvantaged students across the curriculum. Students know how to learn and revise more effectively.
Students have knowledge organisers for all KS3 subjects. Students actively use them to support 	-	Students say they know how to learn and have strategies to memorise and recall over time.
-	They are confident in reviewing and improving their work.
-	Teachers report that students know how to put the knowledge organisers to effective use. They report that students use a variety of strategies to learn and they review and improve their work	

their learning, and to show greater independence and resourcefulness.
Students know how to review and improve their work. Students review learning strategies and amend when needed.	  effectively increasingly without further teacher instruction	
Improved well-being for all students, including those who are disadvantaged	Sustained high levels of well-being from 2023- 25 demonstrated by:
-	Qualitative data from student voice, student surveys and staff feedback
-	A significant increase in the number of students accessing enrichment activities	
Improved progress outcomes for SEND students and those who are SEND and PP.  	-	Improved admissions procedures to ensure clarity of communication and expectations with new students arriving to the school.
-	More creative and impactful use of EHCP funding to focus on impact rather than provision of hours.
-	Developed skill of LSAs to support SEND students
-	Improved T&L of SEND students.	

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)
Budgeted cost: £67,529

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed	
Staffing for ‘Run the Day’	EEF states behaviour interventions add 4 months of impact to students.
Data from other schools whom collaboration was sought, suggests staffing each period pro-actively has had a significant impact on improving behaviour in a pro-active way.	2	
Purchase of CATs	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:
Standardised tests | Assessing and Monitoring Pupil Progress | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF	3, 7	
Developing meta-cognitive and self-regulation skills in all students. This will involve time to develop resources, copying/purchase of resources and CPD time to share good practice	EEF Key findings:
The potential impact of metacognition and self-regu- lation approaches is high (+7 months additional pro- gress)
Teaching metacognitive strategies explicitly to pu- pils can be an inexpensive method to help students become more independent learners.
Metacognition and self-regulation | Toolkit Strand | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF	5, 7	
Develop further the use of Accelerated Reader to monitor groups more closely and more effectively to inform library purchases and further enhanced activity going forwards.
Librarian and support staff time.
Laptops and storage to support Accelerated Reader.	Reading comprehension strategies can have a posi- tive impact on pupils’ ability to understand a text, and this is particularly the case when interventions are delivered over a shorter timespan:
Reading comprehension strategies | Toolkit Strand
| Education Endowment Foundation | EEF	3	
Create a package of support to ensure there are no barriers to Year 11 students revising for their exams.  This includes transitioning Year 11 from vertical to horizonatl year group tutor groups, providing revision materials, providing support with aspects of organisation etc.	School data shows that students who have ‘not yet good’ or ‘unacceptable’ levels of organisation listed on their Review Points, are more likely to make less progress.
Previous ‘horizontal’ structured Year 11 tutor groups have performed better in MH in the past.
EEF suggests ‘collaborative learning approaches’ add 5 months of progress to students.  	2, 3, 4, 5	
Support KS3 PP students with cooking ingredients	Put simply, if students don’t have the resources to participate in in-school activities, they won’t be able to learn in the same way their advantaged peers can.	4	
Equipment to explore alternative printing techniques in Art along with time for an artist.	Arts participation is regarded as a positive strategy by the EEF, adding 3 months progress to students.  
Students without exposure to new techniques will be at a disadvantage in terms of GCCSE Art coursework.	Outcomes in Art and Design	
New equipment for D&T: Resistant Materials	Linked to arts participation which is regarded as a positive strategy by the EEF, adding 3 months progress to students.  
Students without exposure to new techniques will be at a disadvantage in terms of GCCSE DT coursework.	Outcomes in DT	

Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support structured interventions)
Budgeted cost: £44,557

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed	
Reading Intervention Tutor	Tuition targeted at specific needs and knowledge gaps can be an effective method to support low attaining pupils or those falling behind.
We identify students in Years 7 and 8 whose reading ages indi- cate access to the curriculum will be an issue at secondary school. A 6-week programme of intervention is used.
Small group tuition | Toolkit Strand | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF
Reading comprehension strategies can have a positive impact on pupils’ ability to understand a text, and this is particularly the case when interventions are delivered over a shorter timespan:
Reading comprehension strategies | Toolkit Strand | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF	3	
English Intervention Tutor

New resources to support this activity.	Tuition targeted at specific needs and knowledge gaps can be an effective method to support low attaining pupils or those falling behind. We deliver this work in small groups identified by the main English teacher:
Small group tuition | Toolkit Strand | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF

	  3, 7	
Laptops to support home learning	PP students need the same opportunity of access as their non-PP counterparts.  	4	

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

Budgeted cost: £136,180

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed	
Improving social and emotional health.
Training for lead professional and additional training for other staff, including release time.
2022-24 – Restorative Leadership Programme	EEF Findings: Social and emotional learning approaches have a positive impact, on average, of 4 months’ additional progress in academic outcomes over the course of an academic year.
This finding, however, has very low security, so we must evaluate carefully the effectiveness of the strategies we decide upon.	6	
Embedding principles of good practice set out in DfE’s Improving School Attendance.
Staff release time will be needed to enable training.
Attendance Officer time to meet identified groups regularly.	If students are not in school, they cannot learn. We already have evidence that by targeting groups on a termly basis, impact can be made.
DfE have released material urging schools to focus on improving attendance.	1	
Key personnel – reintegration manager, counsellor, Family Support Worker, Study Zone, Assistant Learning Community Leaders, BfL admin time staffing	The EEF state that parental engagement has significant impact for low cost.  All staff listed to the left play an important role in supporting parents to support their children in attending school, in behaviour well, with SEMH and/or with SEND needs.  
Impact can also be had with mentoring and many of these key personnel also play a significant role in supporting and mentoring students.	1, 2, 6, 7	
Provision of morning snack for FSM students, study space after school, kit, equipment and funding for visits, activities	EEF: Homework has a positive impact on average (+
5 months), particularly with pupils in secondary schools. Not all of our students have access to a suitable space at home	4	
Refocus room – setting up, laptops and staffing	Linked to intended outcome 2, and to EEF behaviour interventions research, the ability to ensure students have clear, consistent and robust expectations is essential in establishing a high performing culture.  It is also essential to ensure disruptive students are managed so that other students in classes can continue to receive a high quality education.	2, 4	
TLR for activities week coordinator plus contingency for activities	Linked to improving behaviour, this initiative is intended to inspire students.  It draws on lther inativies such as ‘final frozen Friday’ and ‘final festive Friday’ to encourage excellent behaviour and good attendance 	1, 2	
Contingency fund for acute issues	 What has been identified is the absolute need to ensure staff are thinking about how they personally can contribute to our mission to support our PP students.
To this end, departments were invited to ‘bid’ for small funds that they can use in departments to support Teaching and Learning and/or the progress of students. an example not listed here due to its very low cost includes:
-	the purchase of an interactive whiteboard for use in our SEND department to support more kinaesthetic activities.  PP students will disproportionally benefit from this.		

Total budgeted cost: £ 242,766 (supplemented from school budget)

Part B: Review of outcomes in the previous academic year

Pupil premium strategy outcomes

This details the impact that our pupil premium activity had on pupils in the 2022-23 academic year.

Like all schools, Covid continued to have a significant impact on our attendance last year. We were able to show impact with some identified groups, using our tracking and intervention strategies, though work in this area continues. This gives us some confidence going forwards that we can make a difference. We need to work on families to change the mindset. Whereas during the pandemic, the messaging was, ‘if you have a hint of illness, stay at home’, we now need students to attend. Some of our least resilient students and families have struggled to adjust; there are some students whose emotional and mental health has deteriorated significantly and whose attendance has been impacted.

Our KS4 outcomes in August 2023, despite some strong individual performances and a marginal improvement on our August 2022 results, indicated that the gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students was significant. This includes students who have free school meals and those with SEND. There was, and continues to be, a significant overlap across the two categories. As in all schools nationally, the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic was more detrimental to disadvantaged students than to their peers and despite a range of approaches by different staff the gap was still too large. This is a clear focus on our school improvement plan for 2023-24 and this is replicated in department development plans through our 7 priorities.

Our drive to improve and extend reading has continued. The English department developed new strategies to focus students more in their reading and in their choice of books. Visiting authors have continued to be part of our provision, to bring reading alive.

We have noticed that student behaviour, wellbeing and mental health were all significantly impacted last year, following on from lockdowns and the school’s approach following the return of students full time. The impact was particularly acute for disadvantaged students. We will continue to build on our approaches and interventions this year. We have begun a two-year Restorative Leadership Programme in collaboration with Gloucestershire County Council and other partner schools. This supports our drive on resilience, responsibility, emotional and mental health, and oracy.

Externally provided programmes

Please include the names of any non-DfE programmes that you purchased in the previous academic year. This will help the Department for Education identify which ones are popular in England

Programme	Provider	

Service pupil premium funding (optional)

For schools that receive this funding, you may wish to provide the following information:

Measure	Details	
How did you spend your service pupil premium allocation last academic year?	N/A	
What was the impact of that spending on service pupil premium eligible pupils?	N/A	

Further information (optional)

We were pleased to re-introduce Vertical Tutoring in September 2021, following two years of dividing year groups into bubbles during Covid. To start with this presented some challenges as students were not used to interacting with students of different year groups. The programme of oracy activities and wellbeing activities designed to facilitate more interaction and develop the sense of community really helped. We also restarted student leadership programmes, namely Y10 Sports Leaders and Y11 Student Leaders.