Pupil Premium

The Mosslands School Pupil premium strategy statement

This statement details our intended use of pupil premium and recovery premium for the 2022 to 2023 academic year to help improve the attainment of our disadvantaged pupils.

School overview

Detail	Data
School name	Mosslands
Number of pupils in school	1049
Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils	39.0
Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers (3 year plans are recommended)	2021-2024
Date this statement was published	December 2022
Date on which it will be reviewed	September 2023
Statement authorised by	A Whiteley
Pupil premium lead	J Sanford
Governor / Trustee lead	J Owens

Funding overview

Detail	Amount
Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year	£364,450
Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year	£101,844
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	£466,294

Part A: Pupil premium strategy plan

Statement of intent

Our intention is that all students at Mosslands, irrespective of their background or the challenges they face, make good progress and achieve high attainment across the curriculum, particularly in English, Maths and Science.

The focus of our pupil premium strategy is to support disadvantaged pupils to achieve that goal, including progress for those who are already high attainers. We will consider the challenges faced by vulnerable pupils, such as those who have a social worker. The activity we have outlined in this statement is also intended to support their needs, regardless of whether they are disadvantaged or not.

High-quality teaching is at the heart of our approach, with a focus on areas in which disadvantaged pupils require the most support. This is proven to have the greatest impact on closing the disadvantage attainment gap and at the same time will benefit the non-disadvantaged pupils in our school. Implicit in the intended outcomes detailed below, is the intention that non-disadvantaged pupils’ attainment will be sustained and improved alongside progress for their disadvantaged peers.

Our strategy is also integral to wider school plans for education recovery, notably in its targeted support through the National Tutoring Programme for pupils whose education has been worst affected, including non-disadvantaged pupils.

Our approach will be responsive to common challenges and individual needs, rooted in robust diagnostic assessment, not assumptions about the impact of disadvantage. The approaches we have adopted complement each other to help pupils excel. To ensure they are effective we will:

ensure disadvantaged pupils are challenged in the work that they are set
act early to intervene at the point need is identified
adopt a whole school approach in which all staff take responsibility for disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes and raise expectations of what they can achieve

Challenges

This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.

Challenge number	Detail of challenge
1	The attainment of disadvantaged students is generally lower than that of their peers in English, Maths and Science.
2	Assessments, observations and discussion with KS3 students indicates that disadvantaged students generally have lower literacy levels than their peers. This has an impact across the curriculum.
3	Our observations suggest many lower attaining disadvantaged students lack metacognitive /self-regulatory strategies when faced with challenging tasks, notably in their monitoring and evaluation of their answers. This applies across the curriculum
4	Our assessments, observations and discussions with students, families and external partners suggest that education and well-being of our disadvantaged students have been impacted by school closures during the pandemic to a greater extent than other students. Following the re-opening of school issues have been raised about the regaining our school ethos and the behaviour of our students at unstructured times.
5	Our assessments, including observations and discussions with pupils and families have identified social and emotional issues for many pupils, such as anxiety, depression (diagnosed by medical professionals) and low self-esteem. This is partly driven by concern about catching up lost learning, exams, prospects, and the lack of enrichment opportunities due to the pandemic. These challenges particularly affect disadvantaged pupils, including their attainment. Referrals to Student Services are increasing, entries to CPOMS are increasing and the number of cases reported through Operation Encompass are also increasing. These increases, whilst affecting the mental health of our students, are also impacting on their academic progress.
6	Our attendance data for the past two years highlights difficulties we face in ensuring our students attend regularly. This applies to disadvantaged students and non-disadvantaged students. Absenteeism impacts greatly on academic progress for all students.

Intended outcomes

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
Improved attainment among disadvantaged students across the curriculum at the end of KS4.	By the end of our current plan in 2024/25 we aim to close gaps in attainment 8 between disadvantaged pupils and those who are not.
Improved reading comprehension among disadvantaged pupils across KS3	Reading comprehension tests demonstrate improved comprehension skills among disadvantaged pupils and a smaller disparity between the scores of disadvantaged pupils and their non-disadvantaged peers. Teachers should also have recognised this improvement through engagement in lessons and book scrutiny.
Improved metacognitive and self-regulatory skills among the disadvantaged across all curriculum areas.	Teacher reports and class observations suggest disadvantaged pupils are more able to monitor and regulate their own learning. This finding it supported by homework completion rates across all classes and subjects
Improved school ethos and improved behaviour at unstructured times.	Student voice including Year and School Council feedback. Increase in student engagement with the school values and extra-curricular activities including trips and breakfast club. Decrease in the number of incidents relating to issues at unstructured times, including incidents reported in the community. The tracking of evidence looking at structured and unstructured times and the number of incidents concerning disadvantaged students compared to non-disadvantaged.
To achieve and maintain an improvement in student well-being for all students including those who are disadvantaged.	Decrease in the number of referrals to Student Services. Entries to CPOMS also to show a decrease in number. NEET Figure Student surveys indicate improved wellbeing. Evidence from Student Services regarding access to services including group work, external agency work.
To achieve and sustain improved attendance for all students, particularly our disadvantaged students.	Sustained high attendance by 2024/25 demonstrated by the overall absence rate for all students being reduced to national target levels. the percentage of all students who are persistently absent being below national and the figure among disadvantaged students being in-line with non-disadvantaged.

Activity in this academic year

This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium (and recovery premium funding) this academic year to address the challenges listed above.

Teaching (for example, CPD, recruitment and retention)

Budgeted cost: £196,326

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
Improving literacy in all subject areas in line with recommendations in the EEF Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools guidance. We will fund a lead member of staff to lead on the impact of this activity.	Acquiring literacy is key for students as they learn new, more complex concepts in each subject: Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools Reading comprehension, vocabulary and other literacy skills are heavily linked with attainment in maths and English: word-gap.pdf (oup.com.cn)	1, 2, 3
Developing metacognitive and self-regulation skills in all pupils. This will involve ongoing teacher training and support and release time.	Teaching metacognitive strategies to pupils can be an inexpensive method to help pupils become more independent learners. There is particularly strong evidence that it can have a positive impact on maths attainment: Metacognition and self-regulation \| Toolkit Strand \| Education Endowment Foundation \| EEF	1, 2
Develop a whole school approach to the consistent use of formative assessment. This will involve teacher training and support and release time.	Pupils in schools that develop an effective approach to using formative assessment are consistently shown to make better progress than their peers in other schools. EEF guide to EFA programme	1,3
Develop an internal programme to re-build ethos post-pandemic around the key characteristics of Teamwork, Respect Ambition, Community and Knowledge. (TRACK)	The impact of the pandemic seriously affected the ethos of the school and its role within the community. This will also impact on the behaviour of students at unstructured times.	2,3,4,5
Purchase of standardised diagnostic assessments. Training will be provided for staff to ensure assessments are interpreted correctly. The use of data will be monitored through SISRA AND FFT in particular to monitor the progress of disadvantaged students and ensure gaps do not develop	Standardised tests can provide reliable insights into the specific strengths and weaknesses of each pupil to help ensure they receive the correct additional support through interventions or teacher instruction: Standardised tests \| Assessing and Monitoring Pupil Progress \| Education Endowment Foundation \| EEF	1, 2, 5, 6
Use of remote learning to enable students to access curriculum materials and address gaps in knowledge and understanding	Planned in line with DFE guidance on best practice for remote learning provision. Schools review remote education provision	1, 4, 5

Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support structured interventions)

Budgeted cost: £141,820

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Engaging with the National Tutoring Programme to provide a blend of tuition, mentoring and school-led tutoring for pupils whose education has been most impacted by the pandemic. A significant proportion of the pupils who receive tutoring will be disadvantaged, including those who are high attainers.

Tuition targeted at specific needs and knowledge gaps can be an effective method to support low attaining pupils or those falling behind, both one-to-one:

One to one tuition | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)

And in small groups:

Small group tuition | Toolkit Strand | Education Endowment Foundation | EEF

1, 2, 5

AP to provide appropriate provision for students who are unable to engage with mainstream provision

Based upon our experiences some students are unable to access full time mainstream school. The access to an Alternative Provision is crucial in allowing these students to develop. Provision quality assured OFSTED Oct 2021

LA AP strategy approved services

4, 5, 6

Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)

Budgeted cost: £128,148

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Embedding principles of good practice set out in DfE’s Improving School Attendance advice.

Employ attendance improvement team to monitor attendance pattern and intervene as appropriate

The DfE guidance has been informed by engagement with schools that have significantly reduced persistent absence levels.

Improve pastoral support system to ensure capacity to impact the wider TRACK ethos programme

The reporting of the impact of the pandemic on our students is widely reported. This requires attention through the dedicated form time and the need to address behaviour during unstructured time.

4. 5

Total budgeted cost: £ 466,294

Part B: Review of outcomes in the previous academic year

Pupil premium strategy outcomes

This details the impact that our pupil premium activity had on pupils in the 2021 to 2022 academic year.

Outcomes at KS4 in 2022 were not good enough. English has improved and is in broadly line with national but Maths has dropped significantly against predictions and against national. Performance at A8 is well below expectations. A full analysis is available and departmental leaders are well aware of the challenge these results pose.

We have completed a review of examination performance and departmental planning addresses key aspects of content that contributed to the underperformance this year. Key Stage 3 compliance checks have been completed with all subject leads as part of the Curriculum Planning work completed from November 2021, through alignment and though QA.

We have Ensured that in each area, the curriculum is carefully planned to include the impact of the pandemic and gives opportunity for effective assessment and intervention to include.

Review of our Assessment Policy
Review of all Curriculum documents / Curriculum Delivery Maps and Assessments
Revisited expectations with subject leaders

All curriculum areas have updated working curriculum documents, upon which leaders are regularly encouraged to reflect and which are amended when and where necessary through alignment. SLT continue to scrutinise documentation and work with subject leads to ensure curriculum is well-planned and sequenced.

Subject Level QA has improved, particularly in English and Arts where areas for improvement were identified, all areas are monitored via alignment to ensure sustained improvement. As a result, English results have improved dramatically.

We have reviewed the modern foreign language offer at Key Stage 3 and introduced a new curriculum model based on the advice and guidance of a former HMI with whom we have been working.

We have a well-established tutoring programme, although attendance at tutoring sessions was not as high as we would wish, those students accessing the sessions report increased confidence and show improved outcomes in class, for the year 11’s this appears to have been effective in English and this did impact on pupils who did not attend school post covid but who were able to access home tutoring and online provision in order to attain at least one qualification.

Our NEET figure this year post 16 shows only one unplaced pupil in the September return which is evidence of the positive impact of our use of alternative curriculum resources, a significant number of students who were not attending or in danger of permanent exclusion were targeted and placed in alternative provision which provided them with entry level qualifications and a gateway into FE and training, blended with school based tuition. This is a high tariff solution, but one which has a significant positive effect on the life chances of pupils who are struggling.

After researching and sharing best practice to address literacy barriers to learning, we have;

Identified and planned to follow best practice (Librarian to lead 21^st Century Library programme)
Implemented a “teacher reads” programme recommended by the National Literacy Trust.
Reviewed the use of Lucid Exact and Lexia as an approach to support students with identified weak literacy.
Key members of have staff have been re-trained in the use of Lexia.
Analysed data reports on book loans, student voice etc to inform planning.
Development of our new WORD-well vision: a commitment to improving literacy
Subject Leader training session to introduce Disciplinary Literacy – subject action plan developed.
INSET Day ‘Reading for Learning’ training delivered by colleague from National Literacy Trust – all staff involved
We have delivered training looking at Targeted Vocabulary Instruction to all staff

As a result, we now have a well-qualified and experienced full time librarian aligned with the English department under the direction of an AHT.

A delivery path has been designed and will be implemented from Sept 22. This required a change to the school day, this has been implemented.

Accelerated reading programme has now been removed from the curriculum from Sept 22 to be replaced with a more effective model of whole school literacy.

We have reviewed how we can share best practice in developing disciplinary literacy. A significant amount of training has been delivered and the impact of this plan is being closely monitored

Identified the resources required to cover a broad cultural portfolio of literacy with a canon of texts identified for Key Stage 3 and 4, this is now being implemented.

We have worked tirelessly to address attendance, this remains a key barrier and post covid attendance is not showing signs of improving at the required rate.

During the summer term, we held 35 panel meetings and saw over 300 students. Parents were invited in and given the choice to have a telephone conversation or zoom meeting as the Local Authority had informed us that a telephone conversation can be used as evidence of efforts to engage with parents (a letter is always posted with a week notice in all cases).

Where possible, we signpost struggling parents to where they can seek help. There is evidence from panel meetings which show that in a significant number of cases, attendance does improve following these meetings. Where it does not and where parents do not engage in support, EPN’s are issued.

We have carried out numerous home visits where we have concerns about pupil attendance in cases where no other agencies are involved. The school has been used as an example of good practice in the evidence provided for the Local Authority in order to process EPN’s. As a school we would much prefer to support parents in getting their boys into school thus avoiding fines and we have a plethora of evidence to illustrate the strategies used. Attendance however, remains a concern.

We have put into place a structured CPD programme for Middle leaders to empower them to have ownership of their role in delivering the mission statement and values through direct interaction with Ofsted trained staff consisting of 5 days last academic year reinforced by 3 training days at the start of Sept 22. These Conversations with HMI’s have resulted in significant change and re-focus in some curriculum areas.

We have amended staffing and curriculum structure to achieve better compliance and our core values and key themes have been shared with all staff for use in classrooms and offices, reinforced by the adoption of Class Charts, to encourage positive behaviour through the alignment of both positive and negative points based around the core values.

Externally provided programmes

Please include the names of any non-DfE programmes that you purchased in the previous academic year. This will help the Department for Education identify which ones are popular in England

Programme

Provider

We have engaged extensively with Alternative Provision providers registered with the LA AP guild in cases where pupils are not engaging with school or where there is a credible chance of success as an alternative to permanent exclusion

Wirral Respite Alternative Provision provide both construction level 1 and 2 courses, English and Maths small group tuition and counselling. We use this for students as a bridge to post 16 eductaion and training for older students and for students who have had trauma that has left them disengaged from school. We frequently blend this provision with some school based intervention and tuition.

We use IMPACT Alternative provision for cases where there has been trauma and where students are struggling with their Social, Emotional and mental health. Frequently these students have extensive absences, many are involved with social care and / or youth justice systems and some are in the care of the Local Authority. Typically student will spend up to 12 weeks in intensive support followed by a phased return, blended between the provider and school.

We also use UTOPIA, Liverpool Community College and Everton Free school where we deem them the best matched to the needs of the student at the time. Our aim is always to re-engage students and return them to full time education or provide them with access to post 16 education, employment and training.

The Mosslands School

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