National Pupil Premium Conference

Ensuring Successful Outcomes
Friday 17th March 2023

Session content


Descriptions of the main themes and topics that our speakers intend to cover in their sessions are outlined below to assist you in gaining a strong overview of the conference and to help you choose the workshop sessions that best suit your needs and areas of interest:

OPENING KEYNOTE: Embedding effective provision for refugee and asylum-seeking children who are new to English
Speaker: Katherine Solomon & Terri Cawser
With increasing numbers of schools welcoming learners who are refugees or asylum seekers, there is an increasingly urgent need for schools to embed appropriate and sustainable provision, systems, and staff training to meet the needs of these learners – and there are clear links with the Pupil Premium. Those seeking asylum are eligible for public support under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Asylum-seeking children are therefore eligible for free school meals and thus the Pupil Premium. Refugee children are not automatically eligible for the Pupil Premium but could become eligible depending on circumstances, especially those being looked after by their local authority. This session will focus on the educational landscape for refugee and asylum-seeking children in the UK and the distinct needs of learners who are refugees or asylum seekers, with key recommendations for embedding effective, sustainable provision, including: How to get the start right and welcoming the learner/their family/carers; why it is important to collate and share information about new arrivals; and how to promote academic and social inclusion.


WORKSHOP SESSION 1

1A SECONDARY: Five Strategies for Bringing Pupil Premium Alive in Secondary
Speaker: Ben Eason
In this workshop, school leader Ben Eason will discuss the Pupil Premium approaches that are proving effective at Rainham School for Girls, focusing in particular on five specific strategies. He will discuss the school's overall Pupil Premium principles – what they do and how – and will focus in particular on getting students in and fuelled for the day, making pre-loved uniform work, boosting school engagement and motivation, upskilling and investing, and quality one-to-one time. He will discuss how each strategy works, barriers to overcome and what has had the biggest impact.

1B CROSS-PHASE: Ofsted and the Pupil Premium
Speaker: 
Paul Ainsworth 

In this session, MAT School Improvement Director Paul Ainsworth will draw upon his experience of supporting a number of primary and secondary schools through their Ofsted inspection to consider how we can best prepare for when inspectors come knocking. The workshop will consider the place of the Pupil Premium in Ofsted inspection, including how senior leaders and middle leaders can prepare in the run up to a visit, what to do when you get the call, how to present your school at its best during the actual days of the inspections, and the kind of questions you can expect inspectors to ask. The session will consider generic advice and also specific guidance for inspection of your Pupil Premium work.


1C PRIMARY: Closing the reading gap and opening doors for disadvantaged pupils
Speaker: 
Laura McPhee
Join experienced Headteacher Laura McPhee for this practical workshop in which she will share the range of strategies that have enabled her setting̀ to close the gaps between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils at the end of key stage 2. Loughborough Primary is situated in Brixton, south London, and their deprivation indicator places them in the highest quintile nationally. In spite of the situational, dispositional, and institutional barriers faced by the school's families, pupils love learning and have a thirst for knowledge. The school is in agreement with Lee Elliot Major, Professor of Social Mobility at Exeter University, when he says that "teachers need a really explicit focus" on disadvantaged pupils. At Loughborough this includes innovate approaches to contextual safeguarding and pastoral support, forensic tracking and a systematic approach to reading that still allows for personalisation. This workshop will walk colleagues through the school's strategies and offer practical ideas and advice that can be adapted and adopted for your circumstances.


WORKSHOP SESSION 2

2A SECONDARY: Pupil Premium Leadership and Effective Approaches
Speaker: 
Helen Everitt & Ryan Sallows


This workshop will look at the tenets of effective leadership of the Pupil Premium, offering practical ideas to support Pupil Premium coordinators and senior leadership teams. Helen Everitt and Ryan Sallows will also give an overview of the Pupil Premium work taking place at Oriel High School alongside some clear, practical "take-home ideas". As the work at Oriel High School has become more embedded into the school and as staff involved in Team PP have moved into senior positions over the years, a tangible history, legacy and culture have developed. This has created an authenticity and consistency of leadership, allowed for the effective distribution of responsibility, and has empowered staff, ensuring long-term impact. The session will: Describe a model of leadership of PP that has ensured lasting ‘buy in’ by staff and a whole school understanding of how PP works at Oriel; look at examples of ways to celebrate successes, both of students and staff; and describe ways in which school leaders have fostered a genuine team spirit and sense of purpose within the PP team, which has gained momentum over time but also remained a very important constant at Oriel.

2B: SECONDARY: Pupil Premium Dos & Don'ts: On His Majesty’s (not so) secret service
Speaker: 
Sean Harris 

Responding to the villains (pitfalls), gadgets (tools and resources), special agents (stakeholders) and, of course, the Moneypennies (cost-tracking/implications) of the world of Pupil Premium, trust leader and doctoral researcher Sean Harris (007?) will walk us through the full range of issues that every school leadership and support colleagues should consider when planning the Pupil Premium strategy. He will draw upon the intel (research) to identify his Pupil Premium must-haves as well as what the evidence says we should avoid doing. He will be drawing upon his research, experience of working in primary and secondary contexts, and from how work supporting other schools with this agenda (Disclaimer: This session will be filled with tenuous James Bond references, but you don't have to be a fan to appreciate them!)

2C: CROSSPHASE: Implementing a tiered model for supporting all disadvantaged pupils 
Speaker: 
Stephen Gittins & Debi Bailey 
This workshop will consider a tiered model of support and intervention for disadvantaged pupils across the four primary schools and two secondary schools of the NEAT Academy Trust in the North East of England. The tiered model consists of quality first teaching approaches, targeted academic interventions, and wider strategies including family engagement. The way the model works in practice means that it benefits both Pupil Premium children as well as those young people who are not eligible but still disadvantaged (a growing cohort given the current cost of living crisis). The workshop will set out how this approach is implemented in practice, the different layers of support which are offered, how the schools ensure they understand the needs of each individual pupil (including diagnostic assessments), and what all this looks like in the Pupil Premium Strategy document.


AFTERNOON KEYNOTE: Pupil Premium Plus: Effective learning strategies for vulnerable children
Speaker: 
Darren Martindale

This session will offer practical strategies to support the learning, attendance and progress of children living in care. Virtual school headteacher and regular SecEd and Headteacher Update contributor Darren Martindale will consider how schools might spend the Pupil Premium Plus funding that follows looked after children, including the crucial role of PEPs (Personal Education Plans). He will offer practical insights into what makes an effective PEP, how these should be created, how to set learning targets, and the role of the designated teacher. He will also discuss the types of interventions and strategies that can be effective for both Pupil Premium Plus, Pupil Premium and other vulnerable students – including strategies for promoting good attendance.


WORKSHOP SESSION 3 

3A SECONDARY: The 'how' of your Pupil Premium plan
Speaker:
Nathan Morlan

In this practical workshop, Nathan Morland from the Staffordshire Research School asks whether we put needs before menu or menu before needs when it comes to our Pupil Premium strategy – namely, does the ‘how’ of our Pupil Premium plans find its way into all classrooms? He will ask delegates who is our Pupil Premium plan really for and to what extent do we truly implement strategies that go beyond a superficial engagement with evidence? Do our teaching staff understanding the research around the physical, cognitive and emotional impacts that poverty and disadvantage can have on students and their learning? Do they actively incorporate this into their planning and teaching? And do our current plans consider the specificity of these needs through ‘active ingredients’ in implementing approaches to high quality teaching. Through posing and discussing these questions with colleagues in the room, Nathan will consider the practical implications for our Pupil Premium strategy – both across the school and delivery in the classroom.

3B PRIMARY: When Pupil Premium meets SEND
Speaker:
 
Jess Hawley
This session for primary delegates will focus on the overlaps between our Pupil Premium and SEND cohorts. We will find out about how Markeaton Primary School meets the needs of Pupil Premium children who also have SEND. Jess Hawley will discuss the school's context and examples of where disadvantage and SEN overlap among their pupils. Jess will consider how Pupil Premium funding can be used to meet the needs of children with SEN, how the school measures progress for these children, how we work with parents and carers of children who are Pupil Premium and also have SEND, and how we can report this work for Ofsted inspection.

3C PRIMARY: Five Strategies for Bringing Pupil Premium Alive in Primary
Sperkers: 
Kate Couldwell & Sarah Read
In this workshop, Kate Couldwell and Sarah Read will discuss the Pupil Premium approaches that are proving effective at Front Lawn Primary School, focusing in particular on five specific strategies. They will discuss the school's overall Pupil Premium principles – what they do and how – and will focus in particular on strategies including getting students in and fuelled for the day, 'poverty-proofing' the school, boosting school engagement and motivation, the school's ACE pastoral tutoring programme and how this is tailored to each individual pupil, and finding freebies to help their work! The workshop will consider how each strategy works in practice, barriers to overcome, and what the impact has been so far.


WORKSHOP SESSION 4 

4A SECONDARY: Supporting high-quality teaching and removing non-academic barriers
Speaker: 
Dr Iro Konstantinou

Eton College works in collaboration with a number of state schools to design resources and provision which supports high quality teacher and wider pastoral interventions, especially for Pupil Premium students. Drawing on this work and the research undertaken by the college's Tony Little Centre for Innovation and Research in Learning, this workshop will outline evidence-based approaches for how Pupil Premium funding can be used effectively. The workshop will describe specific strategies to support high quality teaching and effective professional development for teaching staff, as well as wider strategies to address non-academic barriers including good school attendance, managing behaviour, and meeting pupils' social and emotional needs. The session will draw on the research evidence in order to offer specific strategies and interventions which can be adapted and adopted in other school settings.

4B CROSS-PHASE: Using teaching assistants to develop an inclusive and supportive classroom
Speaker: 
Sara Alston

In this practical workshop, Sara Alston will offer ideas for promoting inclusion in the classroom and support vulnerable pupils, including Pupil Premium children, though the effective use of teaching assistants. The focus will include looking at models of teaching assistant deployment and the use of a ‘key person’ to build a team around the child, an approach to differentiation based on small tweaks and adaptions within the classroom, a reconsideration of the use of interventions inside and outside the classroom, and effective ways of sharing planning and information sharing with teaching assistants so they are to work more effectively. Sara's book Working Effectively with your Teaching Assistant publishes in February 2023.

4C PRIMARY: Understanding the wider needs of pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium and enabling successful outcomes
Speaker: 
Melissa Young

This workshop will draw on the work and experience of the eight primary schools within the Warrington Primary Academy Trust. CEO Louise Smith will walk delegates through the processes and systems that help ensure successful progress, attainment, attendance, and behaviour for Pupil Premium pupils. Louise will offer practical advice and ideas that can be adapted and adopted in your school. Specific topics will include WPAT's use of diagnostic tools, effective early intervention strategies, supporting pupils during points of transition, the use of data and tracking (Pupil Premium evaluation), and a look at the team around the child.