Detail

Data

School name

The Mosslands School

Number of pupils in school

997

Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils

39.7

Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers (3 year plans are recommended)

2022-2025

Date this statement was published

December 2023

Date on which it will be reviewed

September 2024

Statement authorised by

 A Whiteley

Pupil premium lead

 J Sanford

Governor / Trustee lead

 J Owens

Detail

Amount

Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year

£372,600

Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year

£99,360

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

£471,960

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

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. 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 is also impacting on their academic progress.

6

Our attendance data for the past three 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 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 participation in 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

 Increase in student participation of extra-curricular activities including trips and breakfast club.

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.
• percentage of all students who are persistently absent being below national and the figure among disadvantaged students being in-line with non-disadvantaged.

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 additional staffing and resources to support this.

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, particularly those arising from poor attendance

Planned in line with DFE guidance on best practice for remote learning provision.

Schools review remote education provision

1, 4, 5, 6

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 progress suggests they need additional support. 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

4, 5, 6

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.

6

Develop strategies to better reintegrate students to mainstream classes after periods of absence.

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

1, 5, 6

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

The impact of the pandemic on our students is widely reported and still evident in issues faced in the local community. This requires attention through the dedicated form time and the need to address behaviour during unstructured time.

4, 5

• Outcomes at KS4 in 2023 were not good enough. Performance at P8 and A8 are 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 have reviewed and where necessary, improved their curriculum offer through alignment and through QA procedures, in partnership with external advisors.
• We have ensured that in each area, the curriculum is carefully planned 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 continues to scrutinise documentation and work with subject leads to ensure the curriculum is well-planned and sequenced.
• We have joined the Challenge Partners network to externally validate standards across the school. Our first quality review was led by a practising Ofsted inspector, who validated our judgment on progress made so far and helped identify some further areas for development.
• 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, with improved attendance on the previous year, those students accessing the sessions report increased confidence and show improved outcomes in class.
• After researching and sharing best practice to address literacy barriers to learning, we have:
  • Identified and planned to follow best practice based on evidence from published research.
  • Implemented a “tutor read aloud” programme recommended by the National Literacy Trust.
  • Reviewed the use of Lucid Exact and Lexia as an approach to supporting students with identified weak literacy and moved to NGRT standardised reading tests.
  • Key members of have staff have been re-trained in the use of Reading Plus.
  • Analysed data reports on book loans, student voice, etc. to inform planning.
  • Development of our WORD-well vision: a commitment to improving literacy 
  • Whole school training session to consider explicit vocabulary instruction. Frayer models developed across departments to teach tier 3 vocabulary.
  • We now have a well-qualified and experienced full time librarian aligned with the English department under the direction of an AHT.
  • Library lessons for KS3 students have been planned and delivered with the support of the Librarian
  • 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.
  • 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 attendance is not showing signs of improving at the required rate. We have now formed a partnership with SSAT and will be working with them to drive up attendance using identified best practice.
• 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 all teachers. We have reworked directed time and cut out low impact meetings to replace them with a fully structured program of weekly after school CPD which is directly linked to the school improvement priorities.
• 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.
• Class Charts has also enabled us to better share key information on students, especially those with SEND and low literacy. This means it is easier for teachers to identify and utilise effective strategies to adapt provision for those learners.

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 education 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