Pupil Premium & Recovery Premium
At Torquay Academy:
- We believe in the capacity of every pupil to achieve at the highest levels
- We do not believe that social or financial disadvantage should ever be an obstacle to a young person’s life chances
- We use every funding source and educational strategy at our disposal to remove barriers to success for our pupils
- We encourage every pupil to believe in themselves and their potential to achieve
- We support every pupil to take pride in their achievements and to always aspire to achieve even more
The Academy aims to use this funding to create a positive impact on the academic achievement and progress of students entitled to it. This includes literacy interventions, evening school classes, the study centre, a breakfast club, music tuition, maths and science intervention, financial support for trips, Thrive intervention, safeguarding support and tackling persistent absence. The relative cost and impact of these interventions are shown in the Pupil Premium – Allocation, Spend and Impact document.
We use detailed analyses to look at the progress of pupil premium students compared with non-pupil premium students within the Academy and nationally. This helps us identify areas of strength and where we should target resources for individuals or groups of students.
Middle leaders and teachers target different groups for a wide range of bespoke interventions. This is supported with mentoring that is delivered by staff and other students.
Staff have a strong moral commitment to improving opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and a strong belief in what they can achieve. There is a dedicated Senior Leadership Team Champion and Governor Champion for Pupil Premium students.
TA’s Challenge Partner review identified our work in pupil premium as an area of national excellence: “With the academy’s uncompromising drive to improve further, outcomes for disadvantaged students are set to improve year on year. The Principal has plans to recruit even more staff so that pupil premium students will receive enhanced support, almost on an individual basis, that will ensure they make better progress, boosting their life chances even further.”
2022-2023 Pupil Premium review
Pupil premium strategy statement
This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium funding to help improve the attainment of our disadvantaged pupils. It outlines our pupil premium strategy, how we intend to spend the funding in this academic year and the effect that last year’s spending of pupil premium had within our school.
School overview
| Detail | Data |
| School name | Torquay Academy |
| Number of pupils in school | 1424 |
| Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils | 28.2% (401 students) |
| Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers (3 year plans are recommended) | 2021-2024 |
| Date this statement was published | December 2022 |
| Date on which it will be reviewed | September 2023 |
| Statement authorised by | Mark Gale |
| Pupil premium lead | Mark Gale |
| Governor / Trustee lead | Steve Dobbs |
Funding overview
| Detail | Amount |
| Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year | £ 395,000 |
| Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year | £ 57,710 |
| Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years (enter £0 if not applicable) | £ 0 |
| Total budget for this academic year
If your school is an academy in a trust that pools this funding, state the amount available to your school this academic year |
£395,000 |
Part A: Pupil premium strategy plan
Statement of intent
At Torquay Academy:
Key aims: Ensure the profile of Pupil Premium (PP) students is high and is well-communicated to staff. Carefully monitor the provision for PP students; ensure staff analyse PP progress. Embed structural reform to prioritise the attainment of PP students. |
Challenges
This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.
| Challenge number | Detail of challenge |
| 1 | PP students are more likely to have low attendance rates and/or suffer from persistent absence. |
| 2 | PP students are more likely to have issues relating to their behaviour around school and in lessons. |
| 3 | PP students are more likely to have a fixed mindset, thereby limiting their careers goals and making it more likely that they will give up on tasks rather than persevere. |
| 4 | PP students are more likely to have issues relating to the completion of homework. |
| 5 | PP4 students (those who have been entitled to free school meals for four years out of the last six) are more likely to underachieve than any other category of PP students. |
Intended outcomes
This explains the outcomes we are aiming for by the end of our current strategy plan, and how we will measure whether they have been achieved.
| Intended outcome | Success criteria |
| Staff are aware of the needs of their individual PP students (particularly PP4) | Staff can explain what steps they are taking to help individual PP students (particularly PP4) |
| Attendance, behaviour, mindset and homework of identified PP students improves, as evidenced by their position of the effort boards | Average effort grades for PP students increase and the gap closes between PP and non-PP students. |
| Academic gaps for identified PP students are closing | PP students (particularly PP4 students) are prioritised during superteaching week. |
| Career goals gaps for identified PP students are closing | PP students (particularly PP4 students ) are prioritised for careers provision. |
Activity in this academic year
This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium (and recovery premium funding) this academic year to address the challenges listed above.
Teaching (for example, CPD, recruitment and retention)
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| Staff use Closing the Gap sheets in workbooks | Knowing students’ individual needs ensures that they can be well met (EEF) | 3 – 5 |
| Superteaching week (including teacher reflection meetings) focus on the needs of PP students | It is essential that closing the gap takes account of granular academic misconceptions of students (Driven by Data and EEF) | 3 – 5 |
| Twilight sessions are used for staff CPD relating to PP students | Staff professional development is key to ensuring the effective implementation of PP initiatives (Kotter and EEF Professional Development) | 2 – 5 |
| Arbor MIS is used to ensure that staff have student information readily available | Knowing students’ individual needs ensures that they can be well met (EEF) | 1 – 5 |
| PP4 book scrutiny – students to talk through work with SLT | Developing students’ ability to discuss their learning and needs helps improve engagement (EEF) | 2, 3 + 5 |
Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support structured interventions)
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| Literacy intervention at tutor times | Improving literacy has all-round impacts on students’ ability to access the broader curriculum (EEF Literacy guidance) | 3 – 5 |
| Numeracy intervention at tutor times | Improving numeracy has all-round impacts on students’ ability to access a range of subjects (EEF Improving Mathematics guidance) | 3 – 5 |
| Nurture group | Small-group intervention with a particular focus on literacy and numeracy, alongside social skills, helps students to access the curriculum (EEF) | 3 – 5 |
| Period 5 provision for Y11 | Intervention based on students’ greatest needs (EEF Teacher Feedback + Driven By Data) | 3 – 5 |
| Period 5 provision for Y7-10 | Small-group intervention with a particular focus on literacy and numeracy helps students to access the curriculum (EEF) | 3 – 5 |
| One to one TA support | TA support has a positive effect on students’ wellbeing and engagement with school (EEF Toolkit TA Intervention and One to One tuition) | 2 – 5 |
| Sixth form mentoring | Peer mentoring has a positive effect on students’ wellbeing and engagement with school (EEF Toolkit Mentoring and Peer Mentoring) | 2 – 5 |
| Improved data analysis packs for HOAPs and HOLAs | Intervention based on students’ greatest needs (EEF Teacher Feedback + Driven By Data) | 1 – 5 |
| Homework support clubs | Positive impact on student progress, especially for those students without places at home to complete tasks (EEF Toolkit Homework) |
Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
| Careers guidances meetings | Careers guidance promotes positive wellbeing and engagement with school (Gatsby) | 3 |
| Attendance follow up | Good attendance promotes a sense of belonging, plus greater progress within lessons (TA effort / outcomes matrix) | 1 |
| “Normalising what’s normal” approach | Showing students that ‘normal’ behaviour involves working hard and not disrupting lessons has led to a decrease in parkings (TA evidence and EEF Toolkit Parental Engagement) | 1 + 3 |
| Effort board follow up letters | We have demonstrated a clear link between average effort grades and progress 8 (TA effort / outcomes matrix and EEF Toolkit Parental Engagement) | 1 – 4 |
| Promote parents’ evening attendance (make appointments) | Parental engagement is shown to have a positive impact on a student’s outcomes (EEF Toolkit Parental Engagement) | 4 + 5 |
| Prioritised applications for extra-curricular activities | Extra-curricular activities have a positive effect on students’ wellbeing and engagement with school | 1 – 5 |
Part B: Review of outcomes in the previous academic year
Pupil premium strategy outcomes
This details the impact that our pupil premium activity had on pupils in the 2020 to 2022 academic years.
| Our strategy was focused on ‘positive discrimination for PP4 students’. These are the subgroup of PP students who had been entitled to free school meals for up to four years out of the last six. Our data showed that these students (compared to PP2 and PP6 students) underperformed in progress 8 calculations.Our three aims were met as follows:
Ensure the profile of PP students is high and is well-communicated to staff. Staff CPD took place regularly to show how they could access information (snapshot and more detailed) about all their PP students, particularly the PP4 students. Staff were encouraged to identify their PP4 students on their ‘closing the gap’ sheets. The priority of ‘positive discrimination for PP4 students’ was widely understood and displayed in staff workrooms around the school. Carefully monitor the provision for PP students; ensure staff analyse PP progress. A range of approaches were embedded to make sure that the progress of PP students (especially PP4) was carefully monitored by class teachers, and particularly by HOAPs and HOLAs. SLT line management meetings focused on the progress of these students and on action plans within each subject area and year group. Embed structural reform to prioritise the attainment of PP students. A wide variety of techniques were used to prioritise the attainment of PP students. These ranged from academic interventions within individual classes to after-school interventions for identified students. Pastoral support and parental engagement interventions were also prioritised to ensure that students’ attendance, behaviour, mindset and homework were focused on. |
Externally provided programmes
Please include the names of any non-DfE programmes that you purchased in the previous academic year. This will help the Department for Education identify which ones are popular in England
| Programme | Provider |
| No externally provided programmes were used in the previous academic year. | |
Pupil Premium Spending Summary
- Investment in Staffing – Vice Principal with responsibility for Narrowing the Gaps, Full-time Safeguarding officer on SLT, smaller class sizes for key stage 3 nurture group students, intervention/SEN teaching assistants
- Investment in Quality First Teaching
- Investment in Aspiration
- Investment in Data Analysis
- Investment in Most Able Pupil Premium Students
- Investment in Intervention
- Investment in safeguarding and attendance
Investment in Quality First Teaching
- TAPD (Torquay Academy Professional Development sessions)
- Coaching
- Twilight based on TLAC (Teach like a champion)#
- Teaching Assistant training
- Most Able training
- Feedback stickers
- Resourcing data driven teaching – assessments, green stickers
- Staffing English and Maths
Investment in Aspiration
- Bespoke exercise books showing university options
- Effort boards
- Growth mindset displays
- Careers Advice
- Music tuition
- University boards
- High Performance academy
- Challenging targets DfE +1.33
Investment in Data Analysis
- SISRA Analytics
- Arbor
- iDASH
- Data manager
Investment in Intervention
- Study Centre
- Lexia
- Lexonic
- Lexplore
- Rise and read
- Breakfast club
- Evening school
- Thrive
- Period 6
- School Counsellor
Investment in safeguarding and attendance
- Attendance officers
- Full time safeguarding officer on SLT