Our Pupil Premium Strategy Plan for the academic year 2024-25 (below) can also be downloaded here
(Skip to the Review of Outcomes for 2023-24 here)
This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium (for the 2024 to 2025 academic year) 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 effect that last year’s spending of pupil premium had within our school.
| Detail | Data |
| School | Ormiston Sudbury Academy |
| Number of pupils in school | 680 |
| Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils | 35% |
| Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers (3 year plans are recommended) | 2024-25 (Year 3) |
| Date this statement was published | November 2024 |
| Date on which it will be reviewed | August 2025 |
| Statement authorised by | Mrs S Morris |
| Pupil premium lead | Mr D Howkins |
| Governor / Trustee lead | Mrs N Logan |
| Detail | Amount |
| Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year | £244,752.00 |
| Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year | |
| Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years (enter £0 if not applicable) | £0 |
| Total budget for this academic year | £244,752.00 |
At Ormiston Sudbury Academy, we believe that the highest possible standards can only be achieved by having the highest expectations of all learners.
Students from disadvantaged backgrounds require additional support; therefore, we will use all the resources available to help them reach their full potential, including the pupil premium grant (PPG).
High quality teaching is at the heart of our approach, with the focus on areas in which disadvantaged pupils require the most support. This is proven to have the greatest impact on closing the disadvantaged attainment gap and at the same time will benefit the non-disadvantaged pupils in our academy.
This document outlines the amount of funding available, the academy’s strategy for spending the PPG effectively, and the procedure for ensuring the funding is allocated correctly.
At Ormiston Sudbury Academy, our ultimate objectives for our disadvantaged pupils are to:
This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.
| Challenge number | Detail of challenge |
| 1 | Increasing levels of literacy and Numeracy – Assessments, observations and discussions with KS3 pupils indicate that disadvantaged pupils generally have lower levels of reading comprehension and numeracy than peers. This impacts their progress in all subjects. |
| 2 | Access to Tuition/Materials to accelerate progress – Gap in attainment already present in Yr7 or persisting at Key Stage 4 |
| 3 | Lack of access to technology – Discussion (including surveying pupils and parents) indicate that a significant proportion of pupils do not have access to technology at home which enables home learning. Lack of significant resources impacts our disadvantaged pupils over our non-disadvantaged. |
| 4 | Improving attendance – Our attendance data over the last 2 years indicates that the attendance of disadvantaged pupils has been lower than non-disadvantaged pupils. |
| 5 | Enhancing learning opportunities and Cultural Capital |
| 6 | Access to a healthy meal Observations, discussions with families and students have revealed that disadvantaged pupils in our Academy do not have the same access to healthy meals, especially breakfast. This reduces pupils ability to concentrate and access learning. |
| 7 | Improving poor behaviour and supporting self-regulation |
| 8 | Mental Health Our assessments (including wellbeing survey) observations and discussions with pupils and families have identified social and emotional issues with many pupils, such as anxiety, low mood (as diagnosed by professionals) and low self-esteem. |
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 |
| Improve outcomes for all Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) students to bring attainment in line with the expected levels of progress (focus Year 11 leavers 2025), and to narrow the progress gap of all PPG students. | Disadvantaged achieve at least in line with national. Rigorous testing process in place to identify any needs for intervention. Evident increase in knowledge of key skills in numeracy shown through low stakes in-class assessments, key skills starters, formal regular assessments and public examinations. Effective use of key skills starters in maths support lessons. Data from internal and external examinations. |
| Improve reading comprehension, vocabulary and other literacy skills. | Successful implementation of Read Aloud time. Implement reading age tests 3 times a year to successfully monitor and track reading across both key stages. Educate parents about how to support reading at home. Publish reading ages to parents. Develop a whole school approach to support reading and writing. Test scores (in both reading and writing) to show a reduction in the attainment gap. |
| Improve engagement and behaviour for learning for PPG eligible students. | PP parents are aware that they have access to financial support to assist with purchasing equipment and resources. Tutor equipment checks to show that PP learners are equipped for the academy day in line with Non-PP learners. Teaching staff are quick to liaise with PP leads to ensure that any lack of equipment is quickly resolved. PP learners access breakfast club, are punctual and have energy for their day. Staff are aware of difficulties that may impact PP learners and have plans in place to support these. PP student exclusion data is equal to or lower than that of non-disadvantaged students and lower than national. |
| Narrow the attendance gap between PPG eligible students and cohort. | All PP learners will be able to take part in all aspects of academy life with access to affordable uniform with financial support. Barriers to learning are reduced with the provision of equipment, such as stationery, GCSE subject specific equipment provided to PP learners where needed. |
| Enable learning opportunities, and enhance Cultural Capital. | Prioritised places are available on trips for PP learners to ensure fair access. Monitoring of extracurricular activity attendance to show that at least 33% of attendees are PP. Activity leads are aware of the need to promote PP attendance and promote/invite/prioritise PP learners. |
| Access to a healthy diet which impacts upon general well-being. | FSM provision in place. Breakfast Club provision. Purchase of ingredients for Food and Nutrition lessons. |
| Improve engagement and behaviour for learning for PPG eligible students. | PP parents are aware that they have access to financial support to assist with purchasing equipment and resources. Tutor equipment checks to show that PP learners are equipped for the academy day in line with Non-PP students. Teaching staff are quick to liaise with PP leads to ensure that any lack of equipment is quickly resolved. PP learners access breakfast club, are punctual and have energy for their day. Staff are aware of difficulties that may impact PP learners and have plans in place to support these. PP student exclusion data is equal to or lower than that of non-disadvantaged students and lower than national. Analysis of behaviour reporting, with the use of positive reporting and target setting, to support PP students in fulfilling the requirements of expected and outstanding learning behaviours. At each data point drop there is an improvement in % of PP students with lessons removals and B2 behaviour points. |
| Improve the support for students with their SEMH | Reduction in PP Persistent Absence and improved SEMH. Our assessments (including wellbeing survey), observations and discussions with pupils and families have identified social and emotional issues with many pupils, such as anxiety, low mood (as diagnosed by professionals) and low self-esteem. |
This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium (and recovery premium funding) this academic year to address the challenges listed above.
Budgeted cost: £165,000
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| CPD for all staff. Heads of Faculty closely monitor and intervene where progress of disadvantaged students is below that of their expected attainment pathway. | “Good teaching is the most important lever schools have to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.” EEF guide to the Pupil Premium. Heads of Faculties promote positive engagement and teaching strategies with Pupil Premium Students. Heads of faculties track PP students’ progress and liaise with PP lead to help signpost needs for targeted intervention through Raising Attainment Group (RAG). “Evidence consistently shows the positive impact that targeted academic support can have.” | 1, 2, 5 |
| Employment of LPA HTLA | Employment of an HLTA to ensure that LPA students are stretched and challenged within the academy curriculum and that the Progress 8 score for this group is in line with or exceeding the national average. Thorough and robust in-class and Faculty monitoring and tracking of the impact of interventions. | 1, 5 |
| CPD on Reading Aloud and Writing Strategy with follow up sessions and support | ‘Good teaching is the most important lever schools have to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils’ EEF Guide to Pupil Premium. Disadvantage in early secondary school (2020) Will Cook (Manchester Metropolitan University) Bart Shaw (The Centre for Education and Youth) Stephen Morris (Manchester Metropolitan University) December 2020 | 1 |
| Individual readers – to improve/extend vocabulary in Year 7 | ‘Reading enjoyment has been reported as more important for children’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic status’ (OECD, 2002) | 1 |
| Dedicated PP Teaching Assistant in KS3. | This model was used last year to support Year 7 and tracking showed significant gains in reading and attendance for the groups supported. | 1, 2, 5 |
| Projected Spend | £165,000 |
Targeted academic support
Budgeted cost: £41,000
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| 1:1 Online Tutoring | ‘Delivering online tuition can be an effective way to support the learning of disadvantaged pupils’ – Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). ‘Evidence consistently shows the positive impact that targeted academic support can have’. EEF Guide to Pupil Premium. | 2, 3, 4 |
| Small group Maths tuition | Small group tuition teaching strategy from the EEF teacher toolkit. “The average impact of the small group tuition is four additional months’ progress, on average, over the course of a year. | 1, 2, 4 |
| Targeted reading interventions | ‘Focus on developing pupils’ vocabulary, as vocabulary knowledge is a predictor of achievement and is often related to socio-economic status’ Dixons Kings Academy’ EEF Guide to Pupil Premium. Disadvantage in early secondary school (2020) Will Cook (Manchester Metropolitan University) Bart Shaw (The Centre for Education and Youth) Stephen Morris (Manchester Metropolitan University) December | 1, 2 |
| Projected Spend | £41,000 |
Wider strategies
Budgeted cost: £ 38,000
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| Removing barriers to learning | Student support for materials (Creative subjects), literacy materials, and access to revision guides. Support for trips and visits Supporting students to access the additional aspects of learning. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/digital | 3, 4, 5, 6 |
| Uniform | Removing potential barriers to participation increases attendance https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/early-years-toolkit/parental-engagement?utm_source=/education-evidence/early-years-toolkit/parental-engagement&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=site_searchh&search_term | 5 |
| Additional Attendance interventions including EWO | ‘Interventions may well be one part of an effective Pupil Premium Strategy, they are likely to be most effective when deployed alongside efforts to attend to wider barriers to learning, such as attendance and behaviour.’ https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/early-years-toolkit/parental-engagement?utm_source=/education-evidence/early-years-toolkit/parental-engagement&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=site_searchh&search_term https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance | 4, 8 |
| Peri Music lessons | Enable learning opportunities that reduce the barriers and enable opportunities for KS4 options | 2, 5 |
| Emotional wellbeing support through Counsellor, Wellbeing Suite – Staff time, training & resources | Continued investment in a counsellor; internal mental health counselling provision, and offering and training more staff to therefore increase the opportunities for counselling and mentoring to take place. Further development of increased suitable specific venues for counselling to take place. ‘Social. Emotional and mental health (SEMH) was consistently raised […] as an issue that was disproportionately impacting on disadvantaged pupils’ Addressing Educational Disadvantage in Schools and Colleges M Rowland (ed) | 4, 5, 8 |
| Other Support: Transport support, Breakfast club, AP, Data Management, Finance Management, Technology | Tracking and monitoring progress to implement interventions effectively. Removing barriers to participation increases attendance. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/new-partnership-to-test-the-impact-of-different-cultural-learning-strategie?utm_source=/news/new-partnership-to-test-the-impact-of-different-cultural-learning-strategie&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=site_search&search_term=cultural%20cap | 5, 6 |
| Projected Spend | £38,000 |
Total budgeted cost: £244,500
This details the impact that our pupil premium activity had on pupils in the 2023 to 2024 academic year.
| Aim | Success criteria |
| Improve outcomes for all Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) students to bring attainment in line with the expected levels of progress. | Remains a focus in 2023-24 – Gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils -0.52. Rigorous testing process in place. Evident increase in knowledge of key skills in numeracy shown through low stakes in-class assessments, key skills starters, formal regular assessments and public examinations. |
| Improve engagement and behaviour for learning for PPG eligible students. | Partially achieved – PP parents accessed financial support to assist with purchasing equipment and resources. Teaching staff are quick to liaise with PP leads to ensure that any lack of equipment is quickly resolved. Staff are aware of difficulties that may impact PP learners and have plans in place to support these. PP student internal exclusion and fixed term suspension data is equal to non-disadvantaged students and lower than national. |
| Narrow the attendance gap between PPG eligible students and cohort. | It remains a clear focus for 2023-24. |
| Enable learning opportunities, and enhance Cultural Capital. | Achieved but remains a priority for the academy. Students both in the academy and when on remote learning have engaged in a wider breadth of contextual knowledge through the curriculum as seen in redesigned Schemes of Learning and resources. Increased attendance of PP students on trips and academy production. |
| Access to a healthy diet which impacts upon general well-being. | Achieved but remains a priority for the academy. FSM provision in place. Breakfast Club provision. Purchase of ingredients for Food and Nutrition lessons. |
| Programme | Provider |
| MyTutor 1:1 | MyTutor |