Pupil premium strategy statement

This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium (and recovery premium for the) 2024 to 2025 academic year) 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	Heartlands High School
Number of pupils in school	1188
Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils	39%
Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers (3 year plans are recommended)	2024/25 to 2027/28
Date this statement was published	November 2024
Date on which it will be reviewed	November 2025
Statement authorised by	Elen Roberts, Headteacher
Pupil premium lead	Andy Greenwood, Assistant Headteacher
Governor / Trustee lead	Maria Nabatanzi

Funding overview

Detail	Amount
Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year	£477,496
Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year	£0
Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years	£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	£477.496

Statement of intent

We believe that all pupils irrespective of their background or circumstance should be
given the opportunities to make excellent progress and achieve high attainment across
the Curriculum. We are fully committed to closing the disadvantage gap through an
integrated approach to pastoral and curriculum support.

The key focus of our pupil premium strategy is to ensure that pupil premium students
receive the support they need. This is done through highlighting key groups of students
at different times of the year ensuring that every Pupil Premium child will be focussed
on through an Academic year.

The strategy has three main strands; Teaching and learning, Targeted academic
support, and Specific intervention strategies.

A key focus is high quality teaching and learning. We know that this is what has the
biggest impact in the classroom and have invested to ensure teachers and support
staff are supporting their pupil premium learners. There is a strong focus on the core
subjects from years 7 through to year 11 with a greater emphasis on early intervention.
Our SEARCH ethos and strong pastoral system also plays a vital role, ensuring
students have what they need to succeed as well as acting as a conduit for parental
engagement.

A HHS PP charter shows a commitment to supporting every pupil premium student.

Challenges

This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.

Challenge number

Detail of challenge

Disadvantaged students not having a workspace or IT access outside of school to complete home learning or revision at home

Closing the disadvantaged gap which is growing Nationally, by reducing the gap at Heartlands from when students arrive at the school to when they leave.
In 2023, students in Year 7 who are disadvantaged arrived with a average KS2
score of 103.3 compared with a Non disadvantaged students score of 107.4, a
gap of 4.1pts

In 2024 students in Year 7 who are disadvantaged arrived with an average KS2
score of 104.6 compared with a Non disadvantaged students score of 106.0. A
much smaller gap than last year at 1.4 pts.

Disadvantaged students have a lower reading age when compared to their peers in the same year group. STAR reading test data for PP students joining in Year 7 the average reading age is 9 years and 9 months compared to 10 years and 9 months for non disadvantaged students.

For the last three years disadvantaged students underperform in most subjects
with relation to both progress and attainment at Examination level in comparison with non disadvantaged pupils at HHS. In 2024 the Progress 8 gap grew from -0.28 to -0.48. The core subject with the biggest gap for progress is Maths at nearly half a grade. Pupil Premium students achieved a positive

Progress 8 score.

Reducing the attendance gap

Attendance data over the last year (23/24) shows that attendance for
disadvantaged pupils is 2.9 % lower than non disadvantaged pupils. The % gap for persistent absence was 8.8% for PP students when compared with non disadvantaged for 23/24. This was a reduction from 9.5% the previous Academic year.

Improving enrichment options for disadvantaged pupils

Disadvantaged pupils are less likely to attend a school club after school or attend an educational visit.

2023/24 data can be found below

Year Grp	No. of students attended a club	No. of non PP attendance	non PP %	No. of PP attendance	PP %
7	155	97	67%	58	61%
8	144	94	65%	50	60%
9	148	103	69%	45	53%
10	87	58	40%	29	30%

Improving aspirations for disadvantaged pupils

Aspirations amongst PP students with parents with no history of further education can be lower than their non disadvantaged peers. Ebacc entry is lower for PP students (36%, compared to 58% non PP in 2024) Disadvantaged students do not always have the same opportunities when they leave Heartlands.

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
All students with access to a suitable device so they can complete online home learning and revision	100% of PP students have a chromebook they can use at home
To close the gap in attainment and progress	A reduction in the Pupil premium gap for attainment in the core subject areas as well as the whole school. This should be less than 5% for G4+ and G5+. Attainment 8 gap should be 4 or lower. A reduction in the Progress gap for all subject areas
Close the attendance gap between PP and non PP	To significantly reduce the attendance gap to less than 1% between PP and non PP students.
To increase participation of Pupil Premium students in enrichment activities	For 90% of all PP students to have attended 1 enrichment activity a week
To reduce the number of Pupil Premium students who receive a school suspension	A reduction in suspension numbers of PP students for the year compared to the previous year.

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)

Budgeted cost: £ 199,271

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
Use of HLTAs to support PP30 students in lessons with a training programme delivered to support this	Teaching assistant deployment adds an additional 4 months progress Teaching assistant interventions	3
To drive Teaching & Learning improvements though key writing strategies, improving feedback and marking, and focussing on positive narration	Rosenshine’s Principles of instruction The Research base for formative assessment Teacher feedback to improve pupil learning Improving literacy in secondary schools	2
Identify any PP student who does not have IT access at home and intervene	EEF Remote Learning: rapid evidence assessment NCES study into student access to digital learning resources outside of the classroom	1

Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support structured interventions)

Budgeted cost: £ 69,526

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
To focus on a specific 30 PP students per year group each term. These will be grouped by ability		1,2,3,4,5
* For all PP students in year 11 to receive revision guides and workbooks	Study skills: Effective use of revision guides	3
* One to one/ three to one tutoring for underperforming students in years 10 and 11	EEF suggests that one to one and small group tuition can have an impact of 5+ months EEF one to one tuition Small group tuition	3
* Holiday revision sessions for Years 9, 10 and 11	EEF suggests that one to one and small group tuition can have an impact of 5+ months	3
* Additional tuition and interventions for English and Maths for key stage 3 students	EEF suggests that one to one and small group tuition can have an impact of 5+ months	3
To improve reading ages of students through additional books and the Letterbox club	Letterbox club evaluation reports Reaching the Unseen children – Jean Gross	2
Ensure that HPA PP students are in the correct sets	EEF report on setting and streaming suggests that disadvantaged pupils may suffer from lower teacher expectations which increases their chances of being placed in lower sets Setting high expectations of disadvantaged students Supporting the attainment of disadvantaged pupils NFER	3
Pupil premium leads in English, Maths and Science to drive attainment of PP students in their subject and to share good practice across their department and the school		3
To deliver an outstanding Beyond Words programme and review of Beyond Words data for PP	Reading comprehension strategies have a high impact, on average +6 months Reading comprehension strategies	2

*Recovery premium

Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)

Budgeted cost: £ 192,203 (+ £24,614 from recovery premium)

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
To create a Digital library which can be accessed remotely by all PP students	National Literacy Trust	2
To use a range of software packages to support PP students learning at home e.g Sparx, Everleaner,Tassomai, Times Tables Rockstars	EEF Best evidence on supporting students to learn remotely	3
To provide the Debate Mate programme to PP students	Improving social mobility by teaching key skills through after school debate programmes Debate Mate	6
To create school clubs for High Prior Attainers in Maths and English as well as signing students up to the Brilliant Club	Brilliant club programmes evaluation	6
To strategically use our Pastoral manager Community link officer and Engagement officers to support PP students at risk of suspension and PP families most in need.		6
Provide access to the Brilliant Club Scholars Programme to raise aspirations amongst high ability disadvantaged students.	Poorer young people more likely to have career aspirations that don’t match their educational goals	6
Increased contact both in person and virtually with parents/carers of PP students	Parental engagement has a positive impact of 4 months EEF Parental engagement	All
For Pupil Premium students in year 7 and 8 to participate in the First Story programme enabling them to develop their confidence in writing and public speaking.		6
Access to music lessons for all GCSE Music students	Participating in the Arts can have a positive impact on academic outcomes in other areas of the curriculum EEF Arts participation	3,6
Be Her Lead programme to develop girls leadership (year 9)	Promoting girls leadership development in secondary schools Be Her lead	6
To contribute towards the funding of an Attendance officer and analysis of data showing PP v non PP	EEF Rapid evidence assessment on attendance intervention	4
To support PP students with equipment and opportunities to attend educational visits. Pupil Premium leads to have this as a key focus in Core subjects.	EEF life skills and enrichment	6
To offer all Pupil Premium students a free Breakfast on site before school	National School breakfast programme	All
*To increase our Post 16 support to ensure that all student shave suitable offer and no students are identified as NEET in September 2024	Targeted and individualised support for year 10 and 11 students has a significant impacts on destinations at Post 16	6

*Recovery premium

Total budgeted cost: £ 477,496

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 2022 to 2023 academic year.

Pupil Premium students (85 of them in last year’s year 11) had a positive Progress 8 score of +0.03. This is a higher figure than the National non disadvantaged figure showing that at Heartlands we are closing the gap against the National picture.

Pupil Premium Girls had a Progress 8 figure of +0.45

37% of PP students secured English and Maths at Grade 5+

66% of PP students secured English and Maths at Grade 4+

We believe the improvements made are due to a three year strategy that instead of a blanket whole school high aspirations approach has tried to include as many Pupil Premium specific interventions as possible to help close the gap. The introduction of the HHS Pupil Premium Charter which is visible within the school building helps keep Pupil Premium students at the forefront of day to day life in the school. Class teachers and form tutors are fully aware of who the Pupil Premium students are in their classes and the strategies they can use to support them.

Appointing Pupil Premium Leads in each Core subject has increased the focus on Pupil Premium students both inside and outside of the classroom. There has been a significant increase for Pupil Premium students in opportunities to attend trips and competitions outside of the school day.

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

Letterbox Club	Book Trust
Be her lead programme	Beherlead.com
Accelerated Reader	Renaissance learning
First Story Young writers programme	First Story
Seneca	senecalearning.com
Tassomai	tassomai.com
Everlearner	theeverlearner.com
Action Tutoring	actiontutoring.org.uk
Make Your Mark	thebrilliantclub.org
Brilliant Club	thebrilliantclub.org
National School Breakfast programme	Family Action

Further information

A lot of the work we do with our Pupil Premium students is underpinned by our charter:

Specific targeted initiatives that have been taken up by Pupil Premium students only include:

Year 7 – Letterbox Club (Summer term)
Years 7&8 – 5 free reading books
Years 7&8 – Debate Mate competitions
Years 7&8 – Music Scholars Programme free funding
Year 9 – Be Her Lead programme
Years 9&10 – Brilliant Club in STEM/History of Art
Year 7 – Reading Dens (Summer term)
Year 7 – NIA Academy
Year 7 – First Story writing intervention
Year 7&8 trip to New Scientist Live at Excel
Year 9&10 – Writing residential trip to Devon 2024
Year 9 careers event for HPA’s – How is Maths used in my job?
Year 8 Maths Challenge trip to British Museum
Year 10 trip to LAE for Regional Maths competition
Years 7-9 – English and Maths tutoring (Summer term)

Pupil Premium students have also had the opportunities to attend trips, either partially or fully funded by the school as seen below:

Pupil Premium