Pupil premium funding

A key priority for East Leake Academy is to reduce the inequality of outcomes for our students who have disadvantaged backgrounds compared to their peers. The use of pupil premium funding is an important tool in addressing this within a whole school strategic approach.

Pupil premium is money allocated to schools by the government for the specific purpose of supporting students from disadvantaged backgrounds, to ensure that they have full and equal access to educational opportunities. East Leake Academy has been allocated £155,635 for the academic year 2021/22. This grant will be used for each student who has been entitled to free school meals (or FSM6 students) in the last six years, students who are looked after children (LAC) or service children (SC). This is additional to the main academy budget funding we use to support this area of work. There are 168 disadvantaged students in years 7-11 for the academic year 2021/22 which is 17.2% of the cohort – support will be provided for these students across the curriculum.

All schools and academies are also in receipt of funding as part of the Government’s Covid recovery plan. For 2021/22, East Leake Academy has been allocated £22,756; the allocation of spending is included within the ‘Pupil premium plan 2021-22’ which can be viewed using the link below.

Pupil premium plan 2021-22 and 2020-21 impact statement

Pupil premium plan 2020-21 and 2019-20 impact statement

Catch-up Premium Plan 2020-21

Covid-19 catch-up premium

The coronavirus (Covid-19) catch-up premium is aimed at helping schools mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on education. The purpose of this funding is to help children and young people ‘catch up’ with their education and to make up for lost teaching time. The following information details how we will use our funding at East Leake Academy.

How we intend to use the grant

Quality-first teaching and interventions
The EEF recommends a tiered-approach to ‘closing gaps’. Tier 1 relates to high-quality teaching and learning for all, tier 2 relates to targeted support using teaching assistants (TAs), high quality one-to-one or small-group interventions and planning for pupils with special educational needs (SEN) with tier 3 offering support in pastoral aspects, attendance and social and emotional learning.

  • Tier 1: Capacity has been increased across faculty areas to support subject-specific interventions in response to ‘gaps’ in students’ knowledge and skills as a result of lockdown. This work will be supplemented by the recruitment of mentors, subject-specific software and engagement in the National Tutoring Programme for students most affected by school closures during lockdown as part of tier 2 interventions. Purchase of the Tassomai subscription for English, maths and science for Years 9, 10 and 11 will support students’ revision for end-of-topic and exam-based assessments.
  • Tier 2: One-to-one and small-group tuition to be delivered to key stage 3 and 4 students either face-to-face or online. Tuition to be delivered by teachers within school, sixth form and alumni mentors or tutors via the National Tutoring Programme.
  • Tier 3: Catch-up mentors employed to support students in a pastoral and  academic capacity, ensuring links with home remain strong and maximise the impact of interventions. ‘myON’ literacy package – a reading and writing package to support the closing of literacy gaps identified during the autumn term 2020.

How we will assess the effect of this expenditure on the educational attainment of our students?

Data points:

Student progress and attainment will be tracked through the three formal data collection points (Making the Grade) during the academic year. This will allow teachers and leaders to track the overall progress and attainment of students across all subjects. A detailed analysis will be available to senior and middle leaders after each data point, this will includes analysis of all groups so trends can be identified and acted upon. Internal tracking of small-group interventions will be used to track progress and measure impact – these will be reviewed at the end of each term.