On 31 December, Pupil Premium Strategy documents are due to be published on school websites. This piece highlights strategies schools may wish to consider, as well as the Sutton Trust research relevant to these strategies. These can be dipped in and out of it as needed, perhaps visiting each section as each part of the strategy is tackled. This will of course sit alongside research from other sources, including most significantly the Education Endowment Foundation’s ‘Guide to Pupil Premium’ as well as their Teaching and Learning Toolkit. Moreover schools leaders will have their own in-depth knowledge and understanding of their own context.

General Research

Whether this is your first year writing a Pupil Premium strategy or you’ve been doing it so long you feel you can do it in your sleep, our ‘Closing the attainment gap’ briefing is a really useful overview of the national picture and the causes behind the attainment gap. Alongside this we know that there are severe financial limitations that must be taken into account when considering what can be implemented in the coming year. ‘School Funding and Pupil Premium 2024’ provides an overview of the financial challenges facing schools and the accompanying blog gives some ideas for how leaders can address these.

High Quality Teaching

If you are considering teaching pedagogy, ‘What makes great teaching?’ has stood the test of time and will allow you to reflect on your current school-wide practice.

Oracy has been in the headlines recently, both from those in schools and from the Labour government. ‘Life Lessons 2024’ discusses the current state of oracy in our schools and the barriers facing the effective implementation of it. For example, 48% of state teachers say they do not have the time to focus on improving oracy. It also provides suggested tactics for improving Oracy in your school that could be part of your Pupil Premium Strategy.

Teacher recruitment and retention continues to be a barrier in the provision of quality first teaching. ‘The Recruitment Gap’ identifies specific cold spots for recruitment, for example Secondary Science and Maths, and includes recommendations for schools on how they might make teaching in their school a more attractive prospect. After all – great teaching starts with great teachers.

Finally ‘Social Mobility: The Next Generation’ and ‘Potential for Success’ discusses the particular vulnerabilities of high-attaining disadvantaged young people and provides 10 strategies that schools can implement to support their attainment and progression.

Targeted Academic Support

In 2024, 25.8% of disadvantaged pupils achieved grades of 5 or above in English and maths GCSEs. This is less than half of the proportion of non-disadvantaged pupils (53.1%). It is therefore vital that outside of the classroom we continue to support young people with these core subjects. With the demise of the National Tutoring Programme, experienced tutors are harder to find and fund. However, the evidence suggests that tutoring is a highly effective intervention so if you can find the funding to provide tutors this could be of real benefit to closing the attainment gap. ‘Tutoring: The New Landscape’ gives schools recommendations on the best ways to implement tutoring, ensuring that your money is spent effectively and impactfully.

Wider Strategies

‘Cost of Living and Education 2022’ could be a good starting point for this vast tier. It looks at the changing needs of our young people, for example showing that school leaders are seeing increasing numbers of children coming to school hungry and increasing numbers of families approaching their headteachers for support.

Coming back to ‘Life Lessons 2024’, this report also shows the value of wider ‘life skills’ such as communication, resilience, motivation and confidence, with 94% of employers saying that they are as or more important than academic qualifications for young people’s future success. However, once again we see barriers in schools, such as a lack of time and the absence of a framework within which to deliver these skills. A strategy to develop Life Skills could be worth considering.

‘Paving the Way’ scrutinises inequalities in career guidance across the sector and acts as a good reminder of how vital this element of schooling is for long-term social mobility. It also contains recommendations on how schools could look to improve their offer.

You might be in the position of having excellent outcomes for children eligible for the Pupil Premium and wondering what your next steps are. If so, it could be worth considering committing to the Fair School Admissions Pledge. This work supports schools to review their admissions processes and create an action plan that ensures their school is equally accessible to all children in their community. This looks to combat social segregation in schools, which can often prevent children eligible for Free School Meals from attending the country’s top performing state comprehensives.

And finally…

It is very disappointing to learn that the 2024 results show little to no progress in closing the attainment gap since last year, especially when we recognise that actually this signals little progress since 2011. Moreover we know from the report ‘Lessons Learnt’ that despite disadvantage focused policies, there has been very little improvement in outcomes for disadvantaged children at both Key Stage 2 and GCSE. It is therefore more vital than ever that we prioritise the educational outcomes of our most vulnerable pupils and the strategy document is only the start of this. Effective implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the strategy will also be essential for our long-term success.