In October 2012, OFSTED conducted research into how schools were spending the Pupil Premium. Hall Green was one of 30 schools included in the survey. The inspection highlighted the success we have been having in improving the attainment of free school meal pupils. Indeed, OFSTED’s final report identified us as ‘having spent the pupil premium well in all respects’ and we were included as their lead case study of a school successfully raising the performance of free school meal pupils. We have continued to develop our approach since that inspection and now work with the Challenging Education team to deliver their RADY project at Hall Green. The success of our strategies has meant that our pupil premium pupils have made progress above the national average for all pupils in 5 of the last 7 years and in October 2019 the Social Mobility Commission asked the school to share the strategies behind our success with other schools across the country.

We have identified 4 key areas to address with our pupil premium allocation.

• Achievement
• Attendance
• Aspiration
• Enjoyment and Engagement

We believe the following initiatives are having a measurable impact on student performance.

Achievement and Attainment

• Student voice has identified barriers to learning, sometimes of a very practical nature. We support this student group through a purchase of memory sticks, revision guides, text books and ICT hardware/software.
• We ensure all staff continually look to update their T&L and provide access to CPD through our pupil premium allocation.
• We provide pupil premium pupils who are struggling with English and maths access to small group teaching and/or support sessions.
• We invest time and resources into a forensic study of achievement, to ensure that our targets for every student are aspirational.
• Given the nature of our school intake, which is highly ethnically diverse, we finance a particular focus on literacy, including regular testing and provision of standardised scores, to inform planning, at an individual level.

Attendance

It is vital that pupil premium pupils attendance is above 95% and we are continuing to develop our approach to ensure this is achieved in all year groups in 2019-2020.

Aspiration

• All pupil premium pupils are provided with additional careers support.
• They receive extra support in their college, employment and apprenticeship applications.
• Funding will help to support the costs of appropriate progression visits and courses for pupil premium pupils.  These have involved partnerships with BMW, Birmingham University, The Skills Show, Coca Cola and BT.
• Our Careers Department were aware that pupil premium pupils found it more difficult to acquire worthwhile placements for work experience. Targeted additional support has been provided for the last 5 years and will also be available in 2019, ensuring the week-long placement is as constructive as possible. High quality work experience placements are targeted towards pupil premium pupils.

Enjoyment and Engagement

• It will be made clear to all students in this group that finance for travel costs, equipment and fees for extra-curricular activity should not be a barrier to their involvement. Individual departments who are offering these opportunities will be asked to ascertain what support is needed and encourage parental involvement. Very significant costs, as for example, a foreign visit, will be subsidised by the appropriate funding where possible.

Parents should contact Mr M Hosfield at school to discuss this further.

We are also keen to learn from successful practice elsewhere and chair a South Network Pupil Premium support group for local schools each year.  Our expertise has been sought at a local and national level and we have been used as a case study by OFSTED and spoken of our strategies and successes at a national CAPITA Pupil Premium conference.

We hope that parents and carers of our Pupil Premium children will continue to work closely with the school, so that we can all achieve our aims. We also believe that our free school meals figure is not necessarily an accurate reflection of need in our community, and would encourage all families to contact us if funding has become a barrier to the progress of their sons and daughters.

In addition to pupils eligible for free school meals, the government has added an additional category to the eligibility criteria for Pupil Premium. This came in force in April 2014. If your son/daughter is adopted and was looked after immediately before adoption on or after 30 December 2005, being placed on a special guardianship order (SGO) or residence order (RO) they may qualify. If you wish to discuss this new criteria with a member of staff or inform the school that this applies to your son/daughter please contact the school.

Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 2020-2021

Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 2019-2020

Hall Green School is proud of its inclusive ethos and its commitment to its stated values of respect, equality, achievement and learning. Our dedication to ensuring that our young people leave the school as independent and responsible citizens means that our work supports and fulfils the school’s duty to promote British Values, as defined by the DFE document ‘Promoting fundamental British values through SMSC in schools’. The document can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-fundamental-british-values-through-smsc

Hall Green School aims to

• enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;
• enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England;
• encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;enable students to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England;
• further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;
• encourage respect for other people;
• encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England

The school addresses these areas through the curriculum. A range of subjects, including history, English, Business Studies and RE, directly teach key aspects of the values agenda. The pastoral work of the school is also central to developing pupils’ awareness of their rights and responsibilities. Whole school events, such as a recent mock general election, further add to pupils’ understanding of democracy and respect for other peoples’ opinions.

Pupils are encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance. Visitors to Hall Green School often note the peaceful and collaborative atmosphere, and the good relationships between pupils and staff; the very essence of fundamental British Values.

If you are interested in further details of how the school delivers SMSC, please contact the school.