Pupil Premium
Greenhill Academy
Pupil Premium Mission Statement 2023-24
Funding Allocated to school is £135,194- where 26.8% of pupils in the academy are Pupil Premium.
Mission
Greenhill Academy equips all learners with the motivation, knowledge and skills to
‘be the best they can be’ allowing all learners to ‘Believe in themselves, to Achieve their goals and Succeed in life.’
At Greenhill we aim to improve both the attainment and achievement of all our pupils regardless of their circumstance. Raising the aspiration, attainment and self-esteem of our least financially advantaged students is a major priority of the Academy.
We are a school committed to providing high quality inclusive education regardless of faith, ability, ethnicity and gender. Greenhill Academy fosters a love of learning in our children, we value effort and nurture ambition to ensure all children reach their full potential.
Culture and Values
At Greenhill Academy every child achieves and succeeds. Developing well-being and self-esteem is key alongside raising attainment and achievement. We aim to prepare our learners for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life through a balanced high quality education in a nurturing and stimulating environment where our school community is learning and achieving together. We aim to develop lifelong learners with high aspirations for the future.
Barriers to learning
We understand that challenging social economic circumstances can create additional barriers to success for children. However, we strongly believe that these challenges can be overcome.
Quality first teaching is imperative to improving outcomes for disadvantaged children. Excellent teaching can be achieved by all teachers through high quality professional development and shared outstanding practice. All children need opportunities to enrich their lives through experience and at Greenhill we ensure that where children are unable to access these through home the opportunities are provided for them by school.
Although financial support is provided for schools specifically for children who qualify for pupil premium, outstanding educational outcomes for these children are best achieved through ensuring outstanding practice in classrooms throughout school. In this way all vulnerable children are helped to achieve the best possible outcomes according to their starting points.
In order to overcome educational disadvantage it is important to identify barriers to learning. At Greenhill barriers to learning include:
Language deficiency – the vast majority of our learners have English as an additional language and many of our learners come from low starting points resulting in gaps in their vocabulary and understanding. Increasing numbers of our learners are being identified as having speech language and communication needs which studies have shown impacts upon their acquisition of early literacy skills.
Emotional wellbeing – Our nursery baseline assessments show that all children start school below age related expectations in 'Making Relationships, Managing Feelings and Behaviours' which can impact on behaviour for learning. Also, we have found an increase of children who have been identified as having social, emotional and mental health needs.
Limited cultural capital and enrichment – Both our Nursery and Reception baseline assessments show that the majority of children start school below age related expectations in 'People & Communities’ and ‘The World', as a result these lack of experiences limits the children's language development and understanding.
Knowledge of the world beyond their community – Many of our children do not attend a regular pre-school before they start Nursery and then continue to only experience the immediate community of Glodwick and Oldham, this can lead to a lack of understanding of opportunities outside of Oldham and can have a detrimental impact on the aspirations of our children.
Tackling Barriers
At Greenhill Academy we recognise that the primary way to overcome barriers to learning is through quality first teaching. We have also taken into account research papers by the DFE, The Education Endowment Foundation and OFSTED on how to use funding to raise achievement for disadvantaged pupils. This has enabled us to consider use of the funding and how to ensure best practice.
Strategies we deploy to overcome barriers for our disadvantaged pupils are:
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Quality first teaching and targeted support to ensure the attainment gap is reduced.
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High quality Early Years Provision with focus on Early Intervention.
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Cultural enrichment opportunities trips, visitors, artists, sports coaches and music practitioners.
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Parental involvement/ engagement: Classes are held to support parents in developing their knowledge and understanding of how to support their children’s learning at home. Additional bespoke days are created throughout the year to encourage parental involvement (such as Speech and Language, demonstration lessons, E- safety, reading workshops)
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Emotional wellbeing is developed through the use of learning mentors who equip children with the strategies to monitor and regulate their feelings and improve self-esteem and confidence. A PSHE & Citizenship enriched curriculum that supports and develops the whole child to his or hers full potential.
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Readiness for learning and the busy school day through the provision of basic equipment, food and nutrient where and when required.
Monitoring and Impact Evaluation
As part of our commitment to ensuring impact accountability we undertake regular monitoring and evaluation as set out below:
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Data analysis
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Pupil progress meetings
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Regular moderated assessment
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Learning walks
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Learning discussions with pupils.
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Support and challenge for individual teachers
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Middle leaders and subject leaders carryout observation, scrutiny of work and pupil interviews related to data of vulnerable groups
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Regular, rigorous SLT meetings to assess the impact of actions
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Listening to the views of all children to hear about their learning and experiences of school
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Academy development plan links to all staffs performance management objectives
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Regular external review e.g. IQM, Education Consultants, Trust commissioned Academy reviews
As a school, we provide frequent, evidence based professional development opportunities that focus sharply on the learning needs of pupils, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
