PUPIL PREMIUM

Our pupil premium policy was most recently updated in 2020 and can be viewed here.

School Aims

We aim to ensure that every child leaves Riverside School excited about learning and determined to succeed.  We want to equip them with confidence, resilience and a passion for justice and equality.  These qualities will enable them to thrive and to champion kindness and fairness at all stages of their future lives.

The targeted and strategic use of Pupil Premium funding will support us in achieving our aims.

Principles

• We ensure that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all pupils.
• We ensure that appropriate provision is made for pupils who belong to vulnerable groups. This specifically includes ensuring that the needs of socially disadvantaged pupils are addressed.
• In making provision for socially disadvantaged pupils, we recognise that not all pupils who are eligible for free school meals, (or have been eligible in the last 6 years) are socially disadvantaged.
• We also recognise that not all pupils who are socially disadvantaged are registered or qualify for free school meals. We therefore allocate Pupil Premium funding to support any pupil or groups of pupils that the school has legitimately identified as being socially disadvantaged.

Pupil Premium funding will be allocated following ongoing needs analyses which will identify priority classes, groups and individuals.

Provision

We have a range of provision in place to support children who belong to vulnerable groups, including those who are socially disadvantaged.  This provision has the full support of the Governing Body and includes:

• Providing small group work with an experienced teacher focussed on overcoming gaps in learning
• 1-1 support in class
• Providing small group interventions either inside the classroom or by withdrawal using a trained teaching assistant
• Additional teaching and learning opportunities provided by teachers, TAs or external agencies
• Additional teaching support within a classroom where more disadvantaged pupils may be present or where cohort need so indicates
• Additional support for assessments, training and advice from specialists such as speech therapists, educational psychologists etc.
• Access to therapeutic interventions and advice
• Paying for activities that broaden the curriculum

 All our work funded by the Pupil Premium will be aimed at accelerating progress so that the vast majority of children leave Riverside at, or above, the national average for attainment. We also aim for every child to make progress that is good or better, so that they leave having made at least expected progress across the school, often better.

Tracking and Monitoring

Each class teacher is held to account by their line manager at termly pupil progress meetings, for the progress of pupils eligible for pupil premium.

The Headteacher has a lead role in tracking the progress of pupils eligible for the pupil premium. A detailed spreadsheet containing term by term progress and mapping provision for each pupil is maintained.

A link governor also has the role of Pupil Premium Champion – this role includes functions such as viewing tracking data, sampling interventions, helping prepare reports for the website.

Reporting

The Headteacher will produce annual reports for the Governors’ Teaching and Learning Committee on:

• the progress made towards narrowing the gap, by year group, for socially disadvantaged pupils
• an outline of the provision
• an evaluation of the cost effectiveness, in terms of the progress made by the pupils receiving a particular provision, when compared with other forms of support

The Governors of the school will ensure that there is an annual statement to parents and carers on how the Pupil Premium funding has been used to address the issue of ‘narrowing the gap’, for socially disadvantaged pupils.  This statement will be published on the school's website.

Appeal

Any appeals against this policy will be through the Governors’ complaints procedure.