The aim of
the Pupil Premium (PP) is to reduce the attainment gap between the highest and
lowest achieving pupils, to increase social mobility, to enable more children
from disadvantaged backgrounds to get to top universities and to support Looked
After Children and service families.
The sums
involved are significant, especially in schools where there are large numbers
of pupils receiving free school meals.
In 2012-13 the PP is £600, and this will rise to £900 in 2013-14 and is
expected to be £1200 in 2014-15. The
challenge for schools is to use this money wisely to achieve lasting positive
change for the target pupils.
At the last
ASEND Advisor Network Meeting, Barbara Ball presented the Sutton Report
analysis of different uses of the PP, and their relative effectiveness. It challenges a number of beliefs. For example, smaller classes, ability group
settings, class teaching assistants, performance pay and the provision of after
school clubs do not seem to have a significant impact on performance. Some of the responses are costly, and so it
is helpful to consider what schools actually get for their money.
More
promising uses of the PP include strategies falling into the “conscious
competence” category – use of feedback, peer tutoring, meta-cognition
approaches to developing thinking strategies and homework (!).
Follow this
link for a schools toolkit on effective ways to use the Pupil Premium
This is
useful information to introduce to schools when exploring effective, low cost
strategies for SEN provision. ASEND
Advisors are able to support schools to explore their options and to implement
new approaches that will make best use of limited resources.
Contact office@asend.co.uk if you would like to explore
this further.
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