Contact Details
- 01207 234252
- catchgate@durhamlearning.net
Catchgate Primary School, Blackett Street, Annfield Plain, Stanley, County Durham, DH9 8LX
Catchgate
Primary School
At Catchgate Primary School, we strive to break the link between family income and educational achievement, ensuring that children from all backgrounds can fulfil their potential and make the most of their talents.
Pupil premium was introduced in April 2011 to tackle ‘educational inequality’ by raising achievement and improving outcomes for children from low-income families who are eligible for free school meals; also pupils in care and those from families with parents in the Armed Forces. The additional funding is made available to schools to help them narrow the attainment gap that still exists between pupils from disadvantaged and more affluent backgrounds.
In 2011-12 the funding was set at £488 per pupil. This rose to £600 in 2012-13, £900 in 2013-14 and £1300 in 2014-15. In the 2015-2016 financial year, this figure rose to £1320 per child. The current level is £1345 per child.
From September 2012, schools have been required to publish online information to parents about how they have used the Pupil Premium funding and what the impact has been on learning, attainment and pupil wellbeing and/or pastoral care.
Aims
To ensure that our Pupil Premium funding is spent in the most effective ways we aim to:
Principles
To help achieve the aims outlined above, Governors and Senior Leaders have agreed the following principles:
Evidence about What Works for Schools
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) provides up-to-date information on what works in raising the achievement of disadvantaged children. In order of impact it cites eight approaches:
1. Effective Feedback on Learning
Feedback for children and teachers on children’s performance relative to learning goals can be very effective in raising attainment if it is about challenging tasks or goals, focuses more on what is right than what is wrong, and encourages the child rather than threatens their self-esteem.
2. Metacognition and Self-regulation
Teaching children strategies to motivate themselves and plan, monitor and evaluate their own learning is a well-proven, high impact approach that carries little cost other than staff CPD.
3. Peer Tutoring
In these approaches learners work in pairs or small groups to provide each other with explicit teaching support. The boost to attainment provided by peer tutoring is apparent for both tutor and tutee (particularly in cross-age tutoring).
4. Early Intervention
Research shows that high-quality early years provision, with a strong educational focus and activities which support early reading and number concepts, is beneficial for disadvantaged pupils.
5. One-to-one Tutoring
There is good evidence that providing intensive 1:1 remedial tuition, for short, regular sessions over set period of time can enable children to catch up with their peers.
6. ICT
Investing in digital technologies to support learning can be effective, particularly if used to supplement teaching, rather than replace more traditional approaches.
7. Phonics
The evidence suggests that phonics can be an important component in supporting the development of early reading skills, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
8. Parental Involvement
Activities that involve parents in supporting their children’s learning can be effective, though ensuring that there is an impact on children’s attainment is challenging and needs effective monitoring and evaluation.
These approaches will be taken into account when making decisions about the spending of our Pupil Premium.
Key Activities
Activities that we have undertaken using the Pupil Premium, and that have impacted on closing attainment gaps include:
Catchgate Primary School, Blackett Street, Annfield Plain, Stanley, County Durham, DH9 8LX