Pupil premium strategy statement - Turton School
This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium (and recovery premium) 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 outcomes for disadvantaged pupils last academic year.
School overview
| Detail | Data |
| Number of pupils in school | 1612 (1318 in years 7 - 11) |
| Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils | 18.6% |
| Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers | September 2024-2027 |
| Date this statement was published | October 2024 |
| Date on which it will be reviewed | October 2025 |
| Statement authorised by | Sam Gorse Head Teacher |
| Pupil premium lead | Cathy Bach Deputy Head Teacher |
| Governor / Trustee lead | Marie Foley |
Funding overview
| Detail | Amount |
| Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year | £322 670 |
| Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year
Recovery premium received in academic year 2023/24 cannot be carried forward beyond August 31, 2024. |
£20 493 |
| Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years (enter £0 if not applicable) | £0 |
| Total budget for this academic year
|
£343 163 |
Part A: Pupil premium strategy plan
Statement of intent
As leaders, we believe in the power of education to transform lives, to improve social justice and social mobility, and that through education we work together for a better society for all.
We know that there are students who find school difficult; students who struggle to engage and learn, and the reasons for this are multi-faceted. We recognise that our effect, as teachers, is far greater for those students who are disenfranchised from learning, than it is for those who are privileged. Our work in classrooms to include and engage students who are disenfranchised, is less about identified groups and intervention and more about ensuring that our planning, pedagogy, delivery and routines are continually adjusted and reformed to include those students who are on the periphery of learning in our classrooms.
Through the values of justice and humanity, we work to ensure all children’s right to a good quality education. For those students who find school challenging, or have barriers to learning, a combination of our highly regarded pastoral care and support; our mental health provision and high quality, adaptive teaching, are the ways in which we improve engagement, inclusion and outcomes and so, the future life chances for our students.
Fundamental to the educational offer at Turton is our curriculum, which is academic in nature and hosts a broad range of subjects. We know that there is a direct link between curriculum quality and equality/social justice. Our curriculum provides a balance of subjects within the broader domains of science, humanities and arts. It is carefully designed to capture the essence of all disciplines, with a coherence that begins with students learning important knowledge (the best that has been thought and said in each discipline). The curriculum has relevance in our locality and in current times: this relevance is made explicit through the dialectical aspects of learning. It is also through dialectical teaching in subject areas that students engage in current affairs and personal development (CAPD). These aspects of curriculum rely on the knowledge of the past to help students make sense of the world today, this enables them to develop good character through a deeper awareness of themselves and others, and leads to personal empowerment and the capacity to go on to lead a good life.
Good teaching requires a deep understanding and high level of skill in all aspects of pedagogy. We have a collegiate and collaborative approach to professional development that operates through our Triad structure. The purpose of this is to enable all teachers to review, reflect and constantly develop their pedagogical practice, with the over-arching ambition that if everyone improves their practice and performance year on year, this will lead to effective school improvement and better outcomes for all. All staff set intentions to finely tune their expertise; one of these involves their work with the disenfranchised.
Turton has a set of routines and classroom practices known as the Hive Switch, adhered to by all, that supports curriculum delivery and pedagogy. It requires us to apply our collective energy to a set of key practices, in all classrooms. Through this unison of drilling routines, the Hive Switch benefits each of us as individuals, but also has a community effect, where collective interests predominate. In this way, students learn personal accountability and social responsibility. Our collective endeavour, around the Hive Switch, improves engagement, well-being, safety and performance.
To support our students who are ‘disadvantaged’ we focus on the following:
- Disenfranchised Strategy: through the clear identification of students who are disenfranchised in the classroom and through whole class involvement in learning, through strategies to support engagement in school activities.
- Learning Strategy: through improving the dialectical aspects of teaching in our classrooms
- Standards Strategy: through the implementation of the Hive Switch
- Curriculum: a broad and balanced curriculum offer for all, including CAPD (Current Affairs and Personal Development) within all subjects.
- Attendance
‘The best way to affect change for the most disenfranchised students is through expert teaching’ (Coe et al.) therefore, developing our staff to improve their subject knowledge, curriculum and assessment is vital. For our students, providing structure both inside and outside lessons as well as improving attendance is the best way to develop all students: personally and academically.
Over the course of this three year plan our work will include:
- A focus on improving functional reading ages.
- Embedding our transition and pathways at KS4 and KS5 to ensure that students have a clear sense of where education can take them.
- Embedding robust, structured and timely communication across teaching, pastoral and SEND teams to share a complete picture and understanding of our students and their families, to support attendance and develop routines.
- Continue developing teachers through the Triad process, exploring aspects of pedagogy that have a particular impact on disenfranchised students, including dialectical aspects of learning, upholding high standards and accurate identification of disenfranchised students.
- Developing new teachers: working with the ECF team to ensure ECTs have a deep and purposeful understanding of what excellent teaching is, and to develop their classroom practice over a four year programme.
This strategy is a cohesive part of our school priorities: The Hive Switch (behaviour); The Curriculum; and The Triads (expert teachers). The strategy is rooted in a desire to improve the engagement and achievement of students who are disenfranchised. We aim to:
- Ensure that the attainment of ‘disadvantaged’ students, continues on its upward trend, closing the gap between ‘non-disadvantaged’ peers.
- Increase the number of ‘disadvantaged’ students studying Level 3 courses at Turton 6th Form, other post-16 establishments or apprenticeships
- Improve the attendance of ‘disadvantaged’ students in line with their ‘non-disadvantaged peers’
- Support the mental health of students, as this impacts on attendance.
- Increase the engagement in school life.
- Increase the ability of staff to identify who is on the outside of the class learning.
Develop the ability of staff to hold the whole class in learning and include those with barriers to learning.
Challenges
This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.
Our reading groups (facilitated by a reduced Spanish provision) have meant that our weakest readers, those students with a reading age under 10 have made on average 8.4 months progress over one year. Whilst our whole year groups continue to make on average 12 months progress over the year. Our whole year groups already have, on average, high reading ages (one year above their actual age).
The peer reading scheme has also had impact. The younger students who have a reading age just above those in reading groups, who have been reading with an older student once a week made on average, 1.9 years more progress than the rest of the year.
It is abundantly clear that lower levels in reading have a significant negative impact on students’ progress in all subject areas. Our experience indicates that increasing students’ range of vocabulary; fluency; phonic knowledge and frequency of reading improves achievement across the curriculum.
| Challenge number | Detail of challenge | ||
| 1 | The attendance of ‘disadvantaged’ cohort is lower than their ‘non-disadvantaged’ peers. In 2023/24 attendance was 91.7%, showing an improvement from 2021/22 and 20222/23. The attendance gap was 8.1% in 2023/24. Attendance for our disadvantaged students in 2023/24 was the same as national levels. | ||
| 2 | The school acknowledges that there has been a negative impact on the wellbeing and academic confidence of students, related to the covid pandemic and the increasing influence of social media on young people. This has resulted in increased instances of social and emotional concerns, such as anxiety and depression, as well as a lack of confidence and low self-esteem. There have been more referrals for one-to-one support; group provision and family interventions. | ||
| 3 | Work ethic (both in-class and out of class) and pastoral data indicate that there are cohorts of students whose behaviour and lack of scholarly routines are creating a barrier to their success. Learning walks and monitoring of standards highlights the students that are lacking organisational routines (particularly at Key Stage 3); effective work habits both in school, and at home. | ||
| 4 | Envisaging a successful future is crucial to engagement in learning for all students. Our challenge is to engage disenfranchised students in planning their futures through our CEAIG. | ||
| 5 | Reading - The average reading age gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged Key Stage 3 students on entry to Turton is now fairly stable at 1.3years. Although year 10 have the smallest gap at 1.1 years (after the 3 years of reading interventions). This is a significant reduction from our average of 2.2 year gap three years ago. | 4 | Envisaging a successful future is crucial to engagement in learning for all students. Our challenge is to engage disenfranchised students in planning their futures through our CEAIG. |
| 6 | The attainment gap continues to be an area for improvement. Scrutiny of assessment data, student voice and effort grades for current Year 11 indicates that ‘disadvantaged’ students still face barriers to achievement. |
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 |
| To improve attendance by closing the differential between ‘disadvantaged’ and their ‘non-disadvantaged’ peers. | We aim to reverse the lower level of attendance experienced during the over the last two years. In 2023/24 attendance was 91.7%, showing an improvement from 2021/22 and 20222/23. The attendance gap was 8.1% in 2023/24. Attendance for our disadvantaged students in 2023/24 was the same as national levels. We aim for a whole school attendance of 95% and above and to reduce the gap between ‘disadvantaged’ students and their ‘non-disadvantaged’ peers to below 5%. |
| To improve the wellbeing and resilience of all students.
|
• Positive outcomes from wellbeing and mental health support services in school.
• Implementation and delivery of a whole-school Current Affairs and Personal Development (CAPD)programme. • Staff will have increased knowledge and expertise in discussing well-being with students. |
| Improved engagement of students with classwork and homework. Improved scholarly habits in students. | Increased percentage of staff confidently enacting the Hive Switch in lessons and on corridors.
Through learning walk observations, we will identify an increase in student compliance with the Hive Switch, including completion of homework. Our more collaborative approach to this work, meeting regularly as a group with SEND, the disenfranchised team and Pastoral Leaders, has meant that our interventions are more impactful. More intense work can be done with the right students. 43% of students not working hard enough in year 8 and 9 at any data drop are now working hard 6 months later. 33% of y8/9 students who are more entrenched in their habits of not working hard are now working hard 6 months later. We want to improve further from the current position. |
| Raising aspirations | Some of our disadvantaged students don’t look for a life beyond their street. We know that community and family links are strong and that raised aspirations which can maintain these links are key for improved life outcomes. |
| Improved reading, oracy and broader literacy across students at Key Stage 3 and 4 and 5. | Reading tests will demonstrate improvements in KS3 students’ reading ages from the start of the year, as well as a reduction in the gap in average reading ages between ‘disadvantaged’ students and their ‘non-disadvantaged’ peers.
Observations of oracy weeks and in-class opportunities for verbal engagement will show an equitable engagement from disadvantaged students. |
| Close achievement gap in English and Maths as well as increased success rate in EBacc subjects. | We aspire to:
• Maintain the number of students entered for the English Baccalaureate, year on year, above 50%. • Increase average Attainment 8 score. • Narrow the average Progress 8 score gap between ‘disadvantaged’ students and their ‘non-disadvantaged’ peers |
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: £200,242
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| The hub provision - class for 16 low ability students in year 7 to support transition to secondary school, and decrease pressure in all other year 7 classes.
A whole school strategy for disenfranchised students and a whole school strategy on dialectic teaching. Both strategies will improve classroom delivery by teachers. |
Analysis shows that in classes with teachers who have a relentless focus on all students, using their agency to involve all in learning, with the same high expectations for all, disenfranchised students gain higher outcomes.
Mastery learning | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)
Pupil_Premium_menu_evidence_brief.pdf.pdf (d2tic4wvo1iusb.cloudfront.net)
The EEF produced reports that widely support a tutoring small-group approach: Reading_Programmes_for_Secondary_Students_Evidence_Review.pdf (d2tic4wvo1iusb.cloudfront.net)
They also support teaching reading comprehension strategies: Reading comprehension strategies | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)
A number of studies have shown that boys enjoy reading less than girls; and that children from lower socio-economic backgrounds read less for enjoyment than children from more privileged social classes (Clark and Rumbold, 2006; Clark and Douglas 2011) Clark, C., and Rumbold, K. (2006). Reading for Pleasure a research overview. The National Literacy Trust Clark, C., and Douglas, J. (2011) Young People’s Reading and Writing An in-depth study focusing on enjoyment, behaviour, attitudes and attainment National Literacy Trust.
We have a staffed library and library lessons take place during English curriculum time. Library use and reading for pleasure • Research reports a link between library use and reading for pleasure; young people that use their public library are nearly twice as likely to be reading outside of class every day (Clark and Hawkins, 2011) Clark, C. and Hawkins, L. (2011) Public Libraries and Literacy: Young people’s reading habits and attitudes to public libraries, and an exploration of the relationship between public library use and school attainment: London: National Literacy Trust
|
3,5,6 |
| Additional staffing appointments made to reduce class sizes in Maths, English, Science, Languages | Use of PP funding to overstaff in key areas has allowed us to reduce class sizes, and introduce reading lessons led by specialist English teachers. While class size is not always shown to impact on outcomes, we have found that having smaller class sizes allows teachers to build a more focused whole-class relationship and insist on higher expectations for all. | 3,5,6 |
| Support and resources to enhance the CPD of staff delivering reading/ literacy/ numeracy provision
Employment of 2 primary specialists to deliver training on phonics and numeracy to Turton staff. Purchase of specialist equipment to support this training and delivery |
EEF evidence on impact of phonics: Phonics | EEF (educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk)
EEF evidence on using manipulatives and representatives: EEF-Improving-Mathematics-in-Key-Stages-2-and-3-2022-Update.pdf (d2tic4wvo1iusb.cloudfront.net)
|
3,5,6 |
| Support for further
professional development/ coaching time for teachers across school. TLR positions and non contact time for school coaches, ECF lead, ECF mentors. |
The EEF evidence supports our decision to an ECF lead that works alongside a member of leadership to support the professional development of our ECTs not just for two years but four.
We have designed our own ECF programme which has been ratified by the Appropriate Body – East Manchester Teaching Hub. We have appointed coaches who also teach in the school to support staff new to Turton, ECTs and more established staff, to complement the Triad process of continual development.
EEF-Effective-Professional-Development-Guidance-Report.pdf (d2tic4wvo1iusb.cloudfront.net)
Early Career Framework - East Manchester Teaching School Hub (eastmanchesterteachinghub.com) |
2,3,5,6 |
| Purchase of full membership of the ‘WALKTHRUs’ programme
material and CPD support to develop the curriculum delivery, and teaching across all subjects. |
Through our Triad development process, teachers collaborate and train in aspects of curriculum, pedagogy and planning that have the largest impact on students who are disadvantaged.
Staff inset time and briefing time given to raising staff knowledge and awareness of students and how to use their agency to adapt their teaching accordingly. Drawing on the recommendations of Coe et al. https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/great-teaching/ The WALKTHRUs use the key aspects of the report to deliver teaching and learning strategies using a coaching method. Triad groups are led by school leaders who ensure the foci is relevant and supports collaborative planning for our disenfranchised. |
3,5,6 |
Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support, structured interventions)
Budgeted cost: £ 65,948
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| Specialist reading groups, peer reading programmes and targeted phonics support (SEND/very low ability students) across Key Stage 3 to improve the reading age and comprehension levels of ‘disadvantaged’ (and ‘non-disadvantaged’) students. | Using small group tuition:
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/literacy-ks3-ks4
In school analysis shows that reading ages have increased for students in the reading groups, so this provision will continue. |
5 |
| The appointment of designated teachers to support students in Breakfast Club to manage homework and develop good academic routines.
Support and revision materials and teacher lead sessions to ensure that ‘disadvantaged’ students have full access to all aspects the curriculum, providing scaffolding where required |
Based on our experience and diagnosis over the last four years, the
introduction of a ‘working breakfast’ has been successful in developing good academic habits in our students. Although the EEF’s research is focussed at KS 2 students, we have experienced similar successes at KS 3 and 4: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects-and-evaluation/projects/magic-breakfast We have appointed 3 teaching staff and 3 teaching assistants as part of a disenfranchised team, to run breakfast club and to provide 1 to 1 support to identified students. Staff are an advocate for the students they work with, providing additional support that others may get from their home environment. We have found that often, ‘disadvantaged’ students do not have access to the necessary materials and equipment to support their learning. We continue to purchase revision materials for students and have provided a bank of resources for Breakfast Club |
1,2,3,4 |
| Procurement of extended Connexions time to support the CIAEG for ‘disadvantaged’ students’. | Using the guidance from the DfE: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-guidance-provision-for-young-people-in-schools to provide more bespoke career advice for ‘disadvantaged’ students
We have purchased extra time each week with a Connexions worker. |
4 |
Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)
Budgeted cost: £84,064
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| We use Breakfast Club to encourage attendance, punctuality, good academic and organisational routines. | Breakfast Club provides staffing, food, drinks and a warm dry space for students. Based on our experience over the last four years, the introduction of a ‘working breakfast’ has been successful in encouraging our students to have a prompt and well-prepared start to their day. Although the EEF’s research is focussed at KS 2 students, we have experienced similar successes at KS 3 and 4: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects-and-evaluation/projects/magic-breakfast | 1,3 |
| Service level agreement (SLA) with the School’s Music Service to ensure that all ‘disadvantaged’ students receive music tuition. As part of the SLA, we now have a vocal group led by a vocal coach. | The Paul Hamlyn Foundation identified key challenges and how to address those challenges in music education: https://www.phf.org.uk/reader/inspiring-music/key-issues-challenges/#5-insufficient-local-and-national-support-structures Whilst this article in The Independent highlighted how ‘disadvantaged’ students are being priced out of music tuition: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/music-lessons-school-instrument-tuition-musicians-union-poor-children-a8619201.html The students benefit from a sense of community and belonging – the group spans year 7-13. Evidence shows that being part of a group has a positive impact on mental health and well-being. | 2,4 |
| A whole school focus on disenfranchised students, including behaviour and attendance.
Appointed an attendance lead to work with our students, and their families, who find it harder to achieve 95% attendance. |
Disenfranchised students are disengaged from learning for a wide range of reasons. Our CPD has focused staff on pedagogy to improve behaviour and attendance of our students. Using the guidance from the EEF’s ‘Putting Evidence to Work’ document: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/implementation
Our results show that those whose attendance is 95%+ have better outcomes in year 11. |
1,3,6 |
| Appointed behaviour lead and Lead Practitioner for standards, ensure that our Hive Switch is applied justly to all, without exception. Ensuring that we hold all students to the same high expectations. | Monitoring and embedding the routines of the Hive Switch had an increasingly significant impact on engagement, particularly for those students who are disadvantaged. The Hive Switch, applied fully to all, provides a sense of belonging and necessary discipline. | 1, 2, 3, 6 |
| Targeted attendance and, if needed in the future, remote learning support from the attendance/ Bolton Virtual School. | Based on the recommendations of the DFE’s ‘Improving School Attendance’ document: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-attendance/framework-for-securing-full-attendance-actions-for-schools-and-local-authorities and the findings suggested in BERA’s literature review: https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/closing-the-covid-19-gap-where-should-interventions-begin | 1, 5 11 |
| Small group and one-to-one sessions for students with trained mental health practitioner to develop self-regulation/ stress management strategies. | The recommendations from the EIF stress the importance of the delivery of expert-led sessions (particularly using CBT): https://www.eif.org.uk/report/adolescent-mental-health-a-systematic-review-on-the-effectiveness-of-school-based-intervention | 2 |
| Support for ‘disadvantaged’ students to access all aspects of the school curriculum and extra-curricular activities directly related to students’ personal development. | Based on our previous experience, we have found that many ‘disadvantaged’ students lack the means to participate in extra-curricular activities that will enrich their education. Therefore, it is necessary to have a contingency fund to support students should they wish to attend wrap-around activities that would enhance their academic experience.
Current family financial situations are leading to an increased need in this area. |
2, 4, 6 |
| Financial support for ‘disadvantaged’ students whose family circumstances are providing barriers to learning. | We have found increasingly, that families are requiring extra financial support to ensure that their children have sufficient resources to engage with and participate fully in school life. | 1,2 |
Total budgeted cost: £350,254
Part B: Review of the previous academic year
Outcomes for disadvantaged pupils
Attendance
We use effective communication between teaching, pastoral and SEND staff to support attendance (and progress and attainment). The local authority is supporting us in tackling persistent absence with meetings between parents, pastoral staff and the attendance enforcement officer to create a contract around attendance. We have extended the hours of the in-school attendance officer, to address the increased demand post pandemic. This has led to attendance increasing in relation to national figures, with attendance 0.9% above national levels in 2023/24. We won an FFT attendance award in Spring term 2024 as we had attendance levels of the top 25% of schools. Attendance for students who are ever6 was in line with national averages. Persistent absence is reducing, and was below national levels in 2023/24 for all students, and for students in year 7,8,9 and 11. However we still aim to further reduce persistent absence.
Breakfast club provides a settled start to the day, with staff supporting students with organisation and homework. We have appointed designated teachers to run breakfast club and altered our focus to be three pronged: calm and organised start to the day; homework support; revision. This supports attendance and attainment.
We have a full-time mental health practitioner and a team of mentors, who work with individuals to support attendance and engagement in learning. Each of these people have particular expertise that can ensure appropriate referrals, dependant on student’s individual needs.
Routines through the hive switch
Turton has a set of routines and classroom practices known as the Hive Switch, adhered to by all, that supports curriculum delivery and pedagogy. Staff training has focussed on us applying our collective energy to this set of key practices, in all classrooms. Through this unison of drilling routines, the Hive Switch benefits each of us as individuals, but also has a community effect, where collective interests predominate. In this way, students learn personal accountability and social responsibility. Our collective endeavour, around the Hive Switch, improves engagement, well-being, safety and performance.
The consistent routines created by the Hive Switch increase work ethic in and out of school, leading to superb behaviour for learning. We have appointed two lead practitioners; a behaviour lead (November 2021) and a lead for standards (July 2022). The behaviour lead has been pivotal in re-establishing routines around behaviour and learning in our first full year post pandemic. This joining of pastoral and teaching approaches to developing good behaviour for learning and clear learning habits will impact on outcomes for our students.
Learning walks are showing an increased compliance with the Hive Switch.
Progress and attainment
Reading is key and we have focussed on reading at key stage 3, with reading groups led by teachers and level 4 teaching assistants, as well as peer reading programmes. In addition, a well-considered programme runs during Oracy weeks. This has led to a closing of the gap in reading ages of students in the groups.
The CIAEG lead teacher delivered careers education for KS3 and 4. This focussed on careers education and transition points, to increase the number of students who remain in education and training, at the highest level available to each student. In addition, we have purchased an extra half day of Connexions support to provide impartial advice to more of our students. We have seen increased numbers of students remaining on in 6th form from 132 to 165 students+.
We provide financial support to students in receipt of pupil premium money, for extracurricular trips, uniform and equipment. This supports access to school and to learning, helping to close attainment gaps.
Progress and attainment are also impacted by excellent teaching.
Academic outcomes are improving, with a predicted progress 8 of +0.13 in summer 2024. The progress 8 for our students in receipt of PPG has increased by 0.50. This increase also flows into 6th form, with very good progress across the subjects.
Excellent teaching
Good teaching requires a deep understanding and high level of skill in all aspects of pedagogy. We have a collegiate and collaborative approach to professional development that operates through our Triad structure. The purpose of this is to enable all teachers to review, reflect and constantly develop their pedagogical practice, with the over-arching ambition that if everyone improves their practice and performance year on year, this will lead to effective school improvement and better outcomes for all. We have purchased full membership of the ‘WALKTHRUs’ programme material and CPD support to develop curriculum delivery and teaching across all subjects.
New staff to the profession are further developed through the ECF programme, run by an ECF coordinator and supported by 4 ECF coaches. Our ECTs have a bespoke programme which runs for the first 4 years of their career, helping them develop pedagogy so they can deliver high quality, adaptive teaching. This is shown, through learning walks and observations, to impact their pedagogical development throughout the first four years of their career. ECTs stay in the profession, with a high number gaining teaching responsibilities in year 3 onwards.
We have also funded additional staff in English, Maths, Science and Languages, to create smaller group sizes and introduce specialist reading by English teachers. This allows teachers to adapt teaching to meet the learning needs of their students in a more bespoke manner.
We have implemented and are delivering a whole school CAPD programme, to engage students beyond the examined curriculum. This has led to a greater awareness of relationships and mental health, leading to students having increased awareness and seeking support earlier.
We have a service level agreement with Bolton Music Service, providing peripatetic music lessons to students in receipt of pupil premium monies. Learning to play an instrument is associated with greater engagement in learning.
In 2022/23 we identified a group of severely disenfranchised students in one year group. An alternative pathway, that maintains students right to important knowledge, alongside adapting their timetable and teaching to better engage them in learning was implemented in May 2022, with the establishment of a new band (Q) and the associated staffing costs. This reduced duty calls and improved behaviour for learning in the other year 9 classes. The students in Q band had less detentions issued, less fixed term exclusions and less duty calls. In 2023/24 these students were reintegrated into the year group and continued to exhibit better engagement in learning, shown by their end of year test scores, less duty call outs and less detentions.
This marks the end of our three-year plan for 2021 to 2024. As we move into a new three-year plan, and can see the upward trajectory of the school, it is appropriate to consider the impacts detailed above as we set the actions for the future. The challenges facing the school are similar to those of three years ago.
We intend to continue the improvements in:
Attendance: we know student attainment improves as attendance improves.
Quality of teaching and student outcomes: Supporting the continual improvement of our staff leads to higher quality learning experiences for our students and increase student outcomes.
Reading ability: reading is a skill for life and a large proportion of the level 2 assessment requires students to have an age-appropriate reading ability.
In addition, financial challenges mean we need to support our students to have the equipment needed to fully access school life.
These remain our key priorities as we move into our new three-year plan.