The amount of Pupil Premium funding that Bluecoat Beechdale Academy expects to receive for the current academic year 2017-18 is £357,170. There are 624 students on roll at the academy of which 382 students across Years 7 to 11 benefit from Pupil Premium Funding.
The priorities for the Pupil Premium Funding we have received are:
- Narrowing the gap by addressing inequalities and raising the attainment of these students entitled to Pupil Premium Funding.
- Raising self-esteem and aspirations of students entitled to Pupil Premium Funding through pastoral support, enrichment and extra-curricular activities.
- Reduce inequalities and gaps in attainment between those students who are in receipt of free school meals (FSM) and their peers.
Bluecoat Beechdale Academy has targeted additional support strategies and systems aimed at ensuring that every student is able to achieve their potential. However, in relation to those students who are financially disadvantaged we aim to:
- Improve levels of attainment and progress and close any attainment gaps
- Enable them to have full access to the curriculum, enrichment extra-curricular activities
- Raise their confidence and self-belief thus enabling them to become confident learners and a valued part of the school and wider community
Evaluation of the 2016/17 Pupil Premium Funding
The impact of the expenditure is as follows:
- Attendance for Pupil Premium students was 94.09% compared to the school average of 94.68%. This compares to 90.2% in 2013/14 and 92.3% in 2014/15, and 93.1% in 2015/16; an improvement of 3.89% over three years.
- The Progress 8 score for pupil premium students is estimated to be -0.1 (increased from a progress 8 score of -0.6 in 2016), compared to a progress 8 score of 0 for non-pupil premium students.
- There was an increase from 2016 in the percentage of pupil premium students achieving a standard pass in both Maths and English.
- The Progress 8 measure for Pupil Premium students is estimated to increase by 0.5; this will be validated on publication of the ASP report.
- All Pupil Premium students attended at least one enrichment activity. These activities covered a range of experiences such as community support, academic excellence and development of social skills and all have focused on raising aspirations.
Plans for the Academic Year 2017/18
Examples of support that the Academy plans to fund via the Pupil Premium Funding allocation include:
- A focus on core subjects, English and mathematics, including the continued employment of academic coaches in both subjects.
- A focus on literacy in order to improve the reading age of students. The employment of specialist intervention teaching assistants and a teacher to lead Literacy across the whole school. The purchase of Accelerated Reader and associated resources.
- Continued strengthening of the pastoral system; the employment of a full time Pastoral Leader (non-teaching) for each year group.
- Increased and improved systems for tracking progress and intervention for those pupils benefitting from pupil premium including CAT tests which return individual profiles for students, Digital Reading Age Tests and PASS (Pupils’ Attitudes to Self and School) surveys.
- Subsidies for participation in extra-curricular activities and visits and a focus on the provision of an extensive enrichment programme, including the employment of a full time enrichment coordinator.
- Extending the links with local universities and businesses in order to promote high aspirations.
- Ensuring all students in Year 10 complete at least one week of work experience throughout the academic year.
- Developing the off-site alternative provision with a focus on academic achievement and personal development.
- A focus on quality first teaching in every lesson and appropriate awareness, differentiation and personalisation of learning for pupil premium students.
The governors and leadership team at Bluecoat Beechdale Academy will continue to monitor and review the impact of these measures to ensure that they represent value for money and continue to play a direct role in improving the achievements and quality of learning for students of all abilities. The academy recognises that by putting many of these interventions in place the benefit to students is beyond those that are being specifically funded and as such is committed to supporting these interventions by adding to the funding received from the pupil premium from the Academy’s General Annual Fund.
| Intervention Strategy | Planned 2017/2018 | Actual 2016/2017 |
| Employment of Academic Coaches for Maths and English (in part funded by pupil premium) | £33,062.40 | £33,003 |
| Employment of Literacy Teaching Assistants | £31,781.12 | £252,711 |
| School Counsellor Service | £15,024.00 | £12,700 |
| Employment of academic mentor/learning support | £16,596 | £26,213 |
| Attendance and Parent Liaison Officer | £45,932.80 | £56,751 |
| Alternative Provision and Personalised Learning | £64,101 | £126,290 |
| Literacy Accelerated Reader Package | £3,152 | £1,105 |
| Employment of Literacy Coordinator | £2,934 | £2,934 |
| Maths improvement, employment of Leader across the Trust (in part funded by pupil premium) | £13,870 | £11,992 |
| English/Literacy improvement, employment of Leader across the Trust (in part funded by pupil premium) | £13,870 | £- £11,992 |
| Provision of an extensive enrichment and extra-curricular programme (in part funded by pupil premium) | £14,862.72 | £33,378 |
| Employment of 5 full time Year Leaders (proportion of total cost) | £66,998.36 | £105,223 |
| Breakfast and After School Club | £4,000 | £- |
| Subsidies for participation in extra curriculum activities and visits | £2,000 | £1,074 |
| After school and holiday revision classes | £- | £1,915 |
| Careers Guidance / Think Forward Programme | £- | £11,875 |
| School Improvement Advisor | £- | £1,100 |
| Assessment & Target Exercise Books | £- | £3,397.00 |
| Safeguarding | £- | £24,865.00 |
In addition to the pupil premium funding received, Bluecoat Beechdale Academy also received £29,000 in relation to year 7 Catch Up funding in 2016-17 which has been used to target literacy support as detailed in the table below:
| Intervention Strategy | Planned 2017/2018 | Actual 2016/17 |
| Focus Provision Curriculum Diet | £16,848.56 | £36,937 |
| CAT tests | £1,489.25 | £1,563.25 |
| PASS Questionnaire | £241.50 | £253.50 |
| Digital Reading Age | £901.60 | £946.40 |
| GL Assessments | £3,477.60 | £3,650 |
| Numeracy catch up | £965.00 | £3,866 |
| Literacy catch up | £3,801.49 | £4,831 |
| Year 7 Activity Days | £1,275 | £1789.76 |
Last Updated: April 2018
Next Review: September 2018