Detail

Data

School name

Harris Academy Greenwich

Number of pupils in school

1179

Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils

306 – 34%

Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers

2021 – 2022

Date this statement was published

September 2021

Date on which it will be reviewed

January 2022

Statement authorised by

Ben Keely

Pupil premium lead

Jennifer McMillan

Governor / Trustee lead

Lee McCormack

Detail

Amount

Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year

£442 090

Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year

£ 54 868

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

£499 958

Our Pupil Premium strategy is aimed to address the academic gaps and disadvantage these students face. Our objectives are to improve teaching and learning in the classroom, address academic gaps, improve academic behaviours such as behaviour, attendance and homework habits.

Our Pupil Premium strategy outlines a wide variety of actions and priorities that will be implemented to address our objectives. We are heavily investing in instructional coaching to holistically improve the impact we have as teachers within the classroom. This investment also will ensure equal access to the curriculum for all pupils through an improvement in adaptive teaching. We employ a wide variety of interventions and tests used to identify and address academic and social gaps that our students display. We also invest a large amount of time and money in key staff and particular systems they manage to ensure our students are acutely safe while being supported mentally, emotionally and pastorally. Finally, we prioritise purposeful school opportunities for our students which will have the most leverage and impact in their lives such as revision training, coaching, trips and careers advice to name a few.

The key principles which underpin this strategy plan are our whole school’s priorities which determines where we put our time, effort and money. Those priorities are:

1. Behaviour and Attendance
2. Teaching
3. Curriculum
4. Personal Development
5. Training

Everything we do at our school is to fulfil one of these priorities and that is no different for our Pupil Premium strategy. By focusing on these five areas, we know that all students will be given a robust, fair and uncompromising education whereby the impact of this will especially improve the life changes for those who are disadvantaged.

Challenge number

Detail of challenge

1

Developing learning behaviours to reduce behaviour incidents including detentions and exclusions

2

Learning gaps caused by disrupted learning due to COVID

3

Improve academic behaviours such as homework, revision and reading

4

Improve attendance and punctuality

5

Intent and implementation of curriculum to ensure all teachers are upskilled so all students (especially PP) have access to the curriculum

Intended outcomes

Success criteria

Improved reading ages

• Reading ages are higher on average for all key groups

More students passing core GCSE exams

• Percentages of grades 4+ in Maths, English and Science GCSEs for students is higher

Improved engagement and completion of homework

• Percentage of completed HW is higher
• Incomplete HW detentions are reduced.

Improved attendance and punctuality

• Punctuality and attendance percentages increased for all key groups

Improvement in behaviour of students

• Number of detentions decreased
• Number of fixed exclusions decreased
• Number of permanent exclusions decreased

Improved teaching and learning for teachers and students

• Teaching in lessons demonstrate a high quality of adaptive and responsive teaching and learning.
• All students can access the curriculum to close the learning gap

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Use of instructional coaching to enhance the feedback provided to staff to improve their teaching in their classroom

Instructional coaching is the best tool educators have in improving teaching quality. The one-to-one conversation focuses on the enhancement of learning and development through increasing self-awareness and a sense of personal responsibility, where the coach facilitates the self-directed learning of the coachee through questioning, active listening, and appropriate challenge in a supportive and encouraging climate.

5

CPD for teaching and learning

Whole school and individual CPD can help teachers obtain new teaching techniques, share best practice, and apply fresh approaches to teaching that allows them to improve their ability both for students, as well as expand their own personal opportunity within the teaching industry.

5

Additional EAL support to improve the learning gap to ensure those students for whom English is a second language are supported in accessing the curriculum and succeeding in school.

Effective differentiation enables all learners to access the curriculum. For EAL learners the key to accessing the curriculum lies in differentiation techniques and strategies that focus on facilitating and checking understanding.

All pupils need to understand and be able to use the language of the curriculum in order to achieve at or above age expectations

3, 5

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Embedding and delivering Thinking and Reading program across the bottom 30% of reading age in KS3 and KS4

Thinking Reading: bespoke literacy programme which focuses on accelerating reading ages so that students can access the curriculum. Intensive programme which focuses on both fluency and comprehension to support students accessing a wide ranging and challenging curriculum.

2, 3

Tracking and monitoring students who fail to complete HW with an intervention program to close the gap who historically fail to access HW

Completion of homework is one of the ways in which students access the curriculum and commit it to long-term memory. It is also a scholarly habit which supports students in successful exam results in Y11 and post-16.

3

Tutoring over Learning opportunities to revisit the literacy and numeracy curriculum for Y7 to Y11.

Tutoring overlearning: higher level intervention to support accessing literacy and numeracy lessons. Using core knowledge to provide opportunities for frequent revisiting of curriculum content to facilitate retention. 

2, 3

Hire tutors to work with our KS3 and KS4 pupils specifically for core subjects need academic support

Tutoring help students build academic skills and assist them in areas they struggle in whilst preparing them with improved work and study skills. The extra layer of preparedness and confidence students gain through tutoring will increase their overall academic achievement.

2, 3
 

Online tutoring and homework portals for maths and science

Hegarty Maths uses video with well-thought out maths explanations, with carefully modelled examples, all learning built on pre-requisite knowledge. All videos followed by bespoke assessments perfectly matching the video and finally a simple and easy to use tracking system that allowed teachers to focus on pupils' mistakes whilst making the collection of tracking data easy.

Tassomai uses an intelligent algorithm to work out what a student knows and what they don't by continually adapting the content for each learner. A student's knowledge, understanding and confidence builds until they master the subject, helping them achieve their best possible results.

3

Social Understanding workshops used to identify the social skills need and intervention planned and delivered in response

Social Understanding: supporting students with social and emotional needs so that they can develop healthy relationships and gain greater understanding of human interaction. Bespoke programme delivered according to individual student needs. 

1, 3

NGRT reading tests to identify students who need intervention with literacy and reading

Developing literacy and reading ability is fundamental to a student's ability to access the curriculum. The New Group Reading Test (NGRT) is a standardised, termly assessment that reliably measures reading skills to help you get to the root of any problems precisely and quickly. Particularly useful to identify EAL students who may appear to be competent readers but who could have weak comprehension skills, NGRT provides information about sentence completion and comprehension skills, allowing you to identify where difficulties lie.

2

SEN learning walks that identify good practice for development and training for staff to ensure equal access to the curriculum

Learning walks provide staff with feedback on their practice and student impact in order to improve staff teaching and learning which ultimately improves student outcomes. The information from learning walks also informs schools on what training and support is needed for individual teachers to ensure rapid improvement.

5

PASS Data used to identify students and their learning behaviours to coordinate behaviours at a curriculum level

Social and emotional wellbeing is essential for effective learning, yet there will always be pupils who lack confidence in their learning and who don’t always feel connected with school and their teachers. PASS takes the guesswork out of understanding why this might be, focusing on three broad areas – how a pupil feels about themselves, their engagement with the curriculum, and their feelings about school.

2, 3

Diagnostic Testing which includes Lucid/NGRT/PASS tests used to identify academic or social or emotional needs

Using a variety of tests from various aspects provides a holistic picture of the gaps and needs students have to ensure the interventions that are put in place are specific and bespoke for each student to ensure rapid improvement.

2, 3

Partnerships with Parents ensure parents are aware of their child’s needs and to outline ways in which they can support their child at home

Children from low-income families are 4 times as likely to be excluded permanently from school. Whilst there is much a school can do to narrow the gap; the origins of these differences lie in the child's home life. Parents universally want to do a good job but many lack the inner resources, social scripts, or models to help them achieve this. Therefore, working with parents through the Talking Teens Programme, but also inviting parents into school for events which allow us to give them guidance, are crucial to narrowing the attainment gap. 

1, 3

Hire a language assistant for MFL

A language assistant can improved exam grades, cultural awareness with increased enthusiasm or motivation for language learning.

Students achieve improved standards in listening and speaking assessments and Improved confidence in using the language.

2

To provide support for our disadvantaged students in participating in independent revision after school, communicating regularly with families and carers

Students achieve better outcomes when taught how to revise effectively using cognitive science methods which improves student’s knowledge retention over time ultimately achieving better GCSE outcomes.

3

Coachbright helps pupils improve their attitude, work ethic and academic performance which ultimately transforms their life chances through mentoring and tutoring with University students.

CoachBright pupils improved their subject grade by 0.4 of a grade more than their non-coached peer. Students found that coaching sessions helped them to stay motivated with their learning.

3

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Attendance officer to track, monitor and improve the attendance of some of our most vulnerable students.

Tracking and monitoring attendance allows key stake holders to identify patterns and attendance issues early allowing action to be taken to address the issues in a timely manner.

1, 4

Provide students with cultural capital experiences via assemblies, electives, our PSHE offer, visiting speakers and trips.

A composite measure of cultural capital has a significant

effect on academic achievement. Children’s cultural capital, captured by six indicators measuring cultural participation, reading habits, and participation in extracurricular activities, has (mostly) positive effects on children’s reading recognition, reading comprehension, and math test scores.

2, 3

Child protection team provides support and intervention for our most vulnerable pupils and ultimately helps keep our pupils safe.

By identifying the needs and risks students face reduces the amount of negative incidents they’ll encounter and allows support to be put in place in a timely manner. Investing in robust safeguarding ultimately improves the mental, social, emotional and physical health of our students making them more successful in the future.

1, 4

Counselling support and inclusion intervention such as drama therapy, mindfulness and mentoring.

Such strategies increase focus, attention, self-control, classroom participation, compassion. Improved academic performance, ability to resolve conflict, overall well-being. Decreased levels of stress, depression, anxiety, disruptive behaviour.

Mentoring connects a young person to personal growth and development, and social and economic opportunity.

They become more relaxed; can focus on their goal, aware about their strength and weakness.

1, 3, 4

Provide alternate provision for students who are given fixed term exclusions.

Supporting students who have been excluded from mainstream education ensures students can still access the curriculum and complete GCSE exams and therefore improving their chances in being successful in adulthood.

1

Sports specialists hired to provide students with sporting experiences such as morning, lunch and elective football provision.

Students who participate in sport and physical activity have favourable mental health by fostering feelings of safety, connection and purpose – ultimately leading to better mood states
Sport can help to form the character of young people because it teaches behavioural habits like motivation, discipline, tenacity, competitive spirit, responsibility, perseverance, confidence, and self-esteem, which cannot always be acquired in classroom.

1, 4

Careers advice and intervention in order to provide students with goals and a clear informed path to get there.

Career guidance promotes positive well-being, including recognising strengths, a focus on the future, setting achievable goals, and building a social identity through work.

It enhances linkage of academic and career experiences and thus, improves career preparation.

There is a strong, statistically significant relationship between participation in career development activities and more positive attitudes towards schooling.

3, 4

Using Codio an online platform used to deliver engaging and impactful CS and programming courses that achieve better learning outcomes.

Computer programming teaches children to experiment and gives them the confidence to be creative. Participation in clubs can hone your communication skills, foster creative thinking, and teach students how to work effectively with other people.

3

Aim

Outcome

Prioritising literacy through reading mornings- every student with a book, reading three time a week.

Achieved – attendance for key students to be considered for next year

Additional TA support for our disadvantaged students and to extend our support

Achieved.

Training for Thinking Reading programme

Achieved

Training for specific needs identified through SEND department identified from lockdown implications.

Achieved

Improved emotional support for pupils due to lockdown implications.

Achieved

Team Around Group meetings to ensure targeted and appropriate interventions are put in place with clear communication for major concern students.

Achieved – to be ongoing into next year as it was affected due to COVID

Learning Beyond the Classroom days twice a year to give students cultural capital experiences via visiting speakers and trips out to galleries/museums

Not achieved due to COVID restrictions and lockdown Jan-March 2021. We managed to do one of these for Y7 to Y10 in July 2021.

Due to the disruption in learning last year, our Y11 students were awarded Teacher Assessment Grades using a variety of assessments agreed by each department.  The assessments included were a mix of high to medium control including mock exams, in class assessments and coursework. Due to the nature of these circumstances, our data isn’t as comparable as in previous years however it still shows the impact we’ve had in the strategies we put in place.

There are no national Pupil Premium results to compare our data to however, looking at the data from 2018-2019 does allow one to see the improvement our Pupil Premium students have achieved. All the measures below have increased apart from the percentage of best English 4+ and 5+ which is slightly lower. The most notable improvement is seen in the progress 8 average of 0.35 up 0.17 from 2018-2019. This means our Pupil Premium students achieve over a third of a half grade better on their GCSEs on average meaning the majority surpass their expected target grades by the time they reach their GCSEs. This data reflects how the interventions, strategies and resources we use for our Pupil Premium students impact results over time as such plans are not just put into place in Y11 but are used from Y7 onwards. While disadvantaged pupils in Harris Greenwich have seen great improvement, there is still a gap in school between those pupils eligible for the PP grant and those that are not. As seen in our strategy above, our focus as a school is on early intervention, targeted support and making Key Stage 3 matter in order to try to close that gap and improve the life chances of our most disadvantaged pupils. As our cohorts have become more complex in recent years with larger vulnerable groups, we are aware of the necessity of addressing the disadvantage these pupils face to ensure it doesn’t hold them back in the future.