Holbrook Primary School, Trowbridge
Inspiring, Nurturing, Challenging every learner to achieve their full potential
Welcome
Pupil Premium
At Holbrook we passionately believe that all children have the right to realise their full potential academically and personally. We have high aspirations and ambitions for all of our pupils and are passionate about overcoming barriers to enhance access and promote the best possible outcomes. We aim to use the Pupil Premium funding to have maximum impact on pupils’ wellbeing, progress and attainment. We seek opportunities to collaborate with outside agencies and explore innovative approaches. We work closely with the Virtual School to ensure best practice for all pupils including those who receive Pupil Premium + funding and children who have current or previous support from social care.
Holbrook has a Pupil Premium working party which includes the Deputy Head Teacher, the SENCO / Inclusion Manager, the Pastoral Manager, the School Business Manager and the Governor with responsibility for Pupil Premium. The working party meet to review our guiding principles, discuss best practice and reflect on the impact of initiatives.
As a school we believe that Pupil Premium funding should be spent to benefit all pupils wherever possible and the majority of our initiatives are planned to support this aim. We invest in high quality pastoral structures and care which support our children and their families. We firmly believe that have open, trusting relationships underpins high quality provision. Our children benefit from having access to highly skilled, accessible staff who know them well.
We acknowledge that the individual needs of children who are in receipt of Pupil Premium + funding need to be considered differently. This additional funding is ring fenced and is allocated on a case by case basis in discussion with Parents / Carers. We liaise closely with the Virtual School, the Kinship Team and the Adoption Team to best support Holbrook families. The Deputy Headteacher (also Pupil Premium champion) sits on the Advisory Board for the Wiltshire Virtual School. We are outward looking and seek specific support as and when needed for our children i.e. bereavement charities, charities supporting forces families.
We utilise local and national CPD to ensure that our policies and procedures for the use of Pupil Premium funding reflect best practice.
At Holbrook we utilise all Funding provided through the National Tutoring Programme every year that it is available and employ the school lead approach. Holbrook staff know our children and are able to provide individual and group tutoring to best effect to support academic and wider outcomes for our children. This funding will not be available in 2024-2025.
School data demonstrates that some children who qualify for pupil premium funding have been adversely affected by periods of partial school closure. Many other vulnerable children continue to be impacted by disruption caused by the pandemic as well as other barriers which are carefully identified by the school. As a school we monitor this closely and employ a range of strategies to support individuals and cohorts including close liaison with families, tutoring and individual / whole class interventions.
At Holbrook we employ a positive behaviour approach underpinned by clear rules; Ready, Respectful, Safe and supported by our school values. We believe in taking a trauma intuitive approach with all children and invest in ensuring consistency for all of our children. This approach benefits all pupils but is especially supportive for our vulnerable and disadvantaged children. We work closely with the Mental Health Support Team both to directly support individuals and their families through referrals and to provide cohort level support through targeted lessons. The Mental Health Lead at Holbrook is Natasha Seek (SENCO). We take a proactive approach to the provision of therapeutic support for pupils with onsite specialists including gardening and music therapy. We prioritise ensuring that Children Looked After (CLA) and those who were Previously Looked After (PCLA) make full use of the targeted funding available to them including the Adoption Support Fund.
The Holbrook curriculum has been designed to meet the needs of all learners. Curriculum and subject leaders consider the needs of all learners in curriculum design and strive to provide the best possible learning experiences and cultural capital for Holbrook children.
Not all provision at Holbrook has a direct cost. Where this is the case initiatives are still included in this strategy to ensure that it accurately reflects practice and provision for children at Holbrook School.
Holbrook School Guiding Principles for the use of Pupil Premium funding
Pupil Premium spending has been planned strategically to have maximum impact on pupil progress and attainment. The following should be considered when making decisions about spending of Pupil Premium funding. We aim:
- To ensure that all children feel happy, safe, supported and valued at school.
- To ensure that all children have a strong sense of belonging at Holbrook School.
- To ensure that spending is directly linked to supporting wellbeing, raising attainment and rates of progress and closing gaps where they exist.
- To increase rates of attendance with particular focus on persistent absentees.
- To promote and invest in high quality support for Holbrook families to empower them to work in partnership with school to provide the best possible outcomes for children.
- To make use of school data to target spending and intervention
- To invest in quality first teaching for all pupils
- To regularly read and review research to evaluate our practice and refine our procedures
- To ensure all pupils have equal access, opportunities and status and are included in all aspects of school life.
- To invest in high quality CPD for all levels of staff to ensure the best possible provision for children.
- To work closely with external agencies to ensure the best possible provision for Holbrook pupils.
- To ensure that highly skilled staff are trained and deployed effectively to remove barriers to learning.
- To ensure that the individual needs of pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium + funding are considered by working in partnership with parents / carers.
- To ensure that pupils the best possible transition to secondary school.
- To provide specific support for children affected by a parent serving in the armed forces.
- To be innovative and outward facing to ensure that Holbrook children have access to engaging, supportive technology and resources.
Pupil Premium + spending guidelines:
- Relationships with parents are paramount; meetings will be held at least termly.
- Individual needs are considered through discussion with Parents / Carers.
- Funded activities must be approved by the school and provided by a registered practitioner, all safeguarding checks and procedures must be completed prior to starting an funded activity.
- Therapeutic activities must be approved by the school and provided by a registered practitioner, all safeguarding checks and procedures must be completed prior to starting therapeutic intervention where this takes pace in school time.
- The Pupil Premium Working Party will meet to discuss specific requests for individual funding.
- The Pupil Premium champion will liaise closely with other agencies (Virtual School, Kinship Team, Adoption West) to ensure the best possible provision for children who are currently or previously looked after
- Families will be supported to access all and any funding available to best support the unique needs of children in receipt of Pupil Premium + funding.
The intent, implementation and impact of pupil premium funding was monitored by Ofsted during the latest inspection (March 2024). The allocation and impact of Pupil Premium funding is scrutinised annually by the local authority and throughout the academic year the FGB undertake scrutiny of pupil premium budget and expenditure alongside pupil progress and attainment data. An additional report regarding pupils looked after and previously looked after is shared annually with the Holbrook Governing Board.
Please read the information below which gives details of our Pupil Premium Grant and how we allocate the funding.