Pupil Premium Strategy Statement - Engage
Pupil Premium Strategy Statement - Engage
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 outcomes for disadvantaged pupils last academic year.
School Overview
| Detail | Data |
|---|---|
| Number of pupils in school | 91 (2024/25) |
| Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils | 73/91 80% (2024/25) |
| Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers (3-year plans are recommended – you must still publish an updated statement each academic year) | 2026/27/28 |
| Date this statement was published | 29/01/2026 |
| Date on which it will be reviewed | November 2027 |
| Statement authorised by | G Corcoran |
| Pupil premium lead | |
| Governor / Trustee lead |
Funding overview
| Detail | Amount |
|---|---|
| Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year | £73 100 |
| 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 | £73 100 |
Part A: Pupil premium strategy plan
Statement of intent
Our vision is that every student, irrespective of background or starting point, secures strong progress and achieves highly within our ambitious and carefully sequenced curriculum. We are unwavering in our commitment to equity and excellence, ensuring that disadvantaged students are exceptionally well supported from the moment they join the college.
Our aim is that all disadvantaged students achieve at least in line with their peers, with many excelling beyond national expectations. We strive to remove barriers to success, foster high aspirations, and ensure that every learner is fully prepared for the next stage of education, training, or employment. Central to this commitment is our strong emphasis on students’ physical health, mental wellbeing, and personal development, recognising that these are fundamental to sustained engagement and academic success.
We recognise that disadvantaged students may face a range of barriers that can impact learning and progress. These may include limited academic support outside of college, weaker language and communication skills, reduced access to reading materials, restricted educational resources (including digital access), and challenges relating to confidence, behaviour, attendance, or punctuality.
In some cases, students may also experience difficulties associated with physical or mental health, wellbeing, or complex family circumstances. Others may have had fewer opportunities to engage in cultural experiences or to develop awareness of the full range of progression routes available through higher education, training, and employment.
Pupil Premium funding contributes to the work of college in meeting the needs of those students by:
- ensuring that teaching and learning opportunities meet the needs of all students
- ensuring that all students benefit from high quality teaching in the classroom
- ensure all students have a place to study in college where they can access adult support, class texts and the internet, as well as high quality resources
- offering tuition in small groups
- developing the resilience of students, building their self-esteem and enabling them to develop the skills that will enable them to learn effectively in the classroom environment
- providing therapeutic intervention where needed using counselling where appropriate
- working closely with students who need additional support to manage their behaviour
- working with students and their families to identify the causes of attendance concern and, therefore, support high-levels of attendance
- ensuring students have every opportunity to access enrichment programmes
- ensuring students receive high quality careers information, advice and guidance so that they have high aspirations for themselves and for their future ensuring students personal development is well supported and that they are ready for post-16 education/training/employment
- ultimately, meeting individual needs wherever possible and feasible.
Challenges
This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.
| Challenge number | Detail of challenge |
|---|---|
| 1 | Attendance can be a barrier to disadvantaged learners. |
| 2 | Lower levels of ability in core subjects |
| 3 | Exclusion from mainstream education and the opportunities that arise from mainstream. |
| 4 | Behavioural support. |
| 5 |
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 |
|---|---|
| Improve attendance of disadvantaged students from their base line attendance and maintain positive attendance. | -Set base lines in order to begin to build a picture of attendance trends -Implement weekly attendance monitoring for persistent absentees -Increased home engagement regarding attendance via strong communication links to allow united collaborations -Timely referrals to the family liaison officer so interventions can be put in place to ensure students are working if absence persists |
| Students arriving with low levels academically in core subjects | -Implementation of functional skills qualifications to offer support for lower-level ability students -Targeted reading support -Regular topic tests to ensure consolidation of learning activities. -Close tracking of student progress with all staff aware of support needs and areas of support |
| Provide opportunities for all students who would have been excluded from mainstream if Engage was not an option for them to attend | -Strong referral process to ensure parents and students are aware of Engage and the opportunities for their child -Strong links with schools to ensure students are offered opportunities to attend Engage before permanent exclusion is considered. -Students offered behavioural support and pastoral support to reignite passion for education -Smaller classes to aid support for students most at risk. |
| Behavioural support | -All staff well trained in de-escalation techniques to support interventions in behavioural management -Students offered timely interventions to prevent behaviour issues from occurring through targeted support and guidance from personal tutors and teachers. -High expectations set for behaviour and conduct with rewards for good and better behaviour. |
Activity in this academic year
This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium funding this academic year to address the challenges listed above.
Teaching (for example, CPD, recruitment and retention)
Budgeted cost: £25,000
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
|---|---|---|
| Targeted CPD aimed at 14-16 | EEF guide to pupil premium – tiered approach – teaching is the top priority, including CPD EEF guide to improving working memory EEF Metacognition and self regulated learning | 2,3 |
| Learning resources such as text books, revision guides, online learning platforms (TEAMS, One Drive, SharePoint, Century) | EEF Training and learning toolkit | 1,2,3 |
Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support, structured interventions)
Budgeted cost: £35,000
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
|---|---|---|
| Gaps in maths and English identified by teaching staff. Maths and English leads plan for bespoke intervention to enable students to catch up on earlier work that is missed or poorly understood | EEF: Teaching and Learning Toolkit - One to one tuition & Small Group Tuition | 1,2 |
| Leaders and Tutors to identify students who need bespoke curricular intervention. Students should be taught in small groups where there are common areas or individual 1-1 tuition arranged where possible. Revision guides and materials provided for PP students | EEF: Teaching and Learning Toolkit - One to one tuition & Small Group Tuition | 1,2,3 |
| Developing resilience and independent learning through on line learning platforms | EEF: Guide to the pupil premium | 3 |
Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)
Budgeted cost: £13,100
| Activity | Evidence that supports this approach | Challenge number(s) addressed |
|---|---|---|
| To provide the pastoral support to students who need additional help, including those who face significant challenges in their lives and have social, emotional and mental health needs that prevent them from learning well (this includes support for those who have experienced bereavement) | EEF: Improving Social and Emotional Learning in Primary Schools EEF: Guide to the pupil premium EEF: Healthy Minds DFE: Promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges | 1,5 |
| Support for parents to become engaged with their children’s learning through a range of activities including after school masterclasses / revision strategies / meet the tutor events and use of new online platform class charts where parents can follow their child’s progress daily. | EEF: Parental Engagement | 2,3 |
| Ensuring all pupils are exam ready during mock and external examinations. Breakfast availability/examination preparation materials provision. | EEF: Guide to the pupil premium | 1,2,3 |
Total budgeted cost: £73,100
Part B: Review of the previous academic year
Outcomes for disadvantaged pupils
Attainment and progress for disadvantaged pupils have remained consistently positive throughout the current cycle. Engagement in learning is excellent.
Retention for FSM students stands at 93%, exceeding that of their peers at 91%. Attendance and achievement are in line with non-FSM students.
Of the cohort, 44 out of 47 students (93%) progressed to post-16 education, training, or employment. Of the three students who did not progress, only one was identified as a Pupil Premium (PP) student.
