Pathways School

Detail

Data

School name

Pathways School

Number of pupils in school

66

Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils

63 (95%)

Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers

2024-2027

Date this statement was published

September 2024

Date on which it will be reviewed

July 2025

Statement authorised by

LGB/HT

Pupil premium lead

D Aristidou

Governor / Trustee lead

David Mann

Chair of LGB

Detail

Amount

Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year

£46,730

Recovery premium funding allocation this academic year

£0

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

£46,730

At Pathways School we endeavour to meet the needs of all of our pupils and ensure that our provision offers the very best experiences for teaching and learning of disadvantaged pupils.  We aim to offer the very best opportunities for our pupils to access quality teaching , whilst ensuring that learning experiences are tailored to meet their social and emotional needs and learning styles. Our intention is to fill the gaps in learning, to identify barriers to learning and to support our pupils and families to further understand the social, emotional and mental health needs of our pupils and to use appropriate and effective strategies to enable equal access for all.  We aim for all our KS4 to leave with 5 recognised qualifications and work experience opportunities to support them with a successful transition to post-16 education. 

We have identified the following as barriers for some of the pupils currently in receipt of Pupil Premium: 

• The long term impact of low reading ages and how this hinders access to the curriculum and therefore future opportunity 

• Attendance 

• Parental engagement with school - specifically the promotion of good attendance, engagement at parent events and engagement at progress meetings including the planning for effective and suitable post-16 transitions 

• Access to carefully selected texts that are age appropriate and culturally rich 

• The longer term impact of the pandemic in relation to missed learning and mental health

• Barriers to learning and are also on the SEND register for ASD, Cognition and Learning or Social, Emotional and Mental health Needs 

• Limited experiences beyond their immediate environment, particularly cultural and physical activities 

• Lack of resources at home (including books) to support learning, including quiet space in which to study

• Housing issues: including overcrowding, poor living conditions, risk of evictions and temporary arrangements

Challenge number

Detail of challenge

1

Disadvantaged pupils generally attain less well in reading; they do not read often enough outside of school and find comprehension tasks challenging.  Pupils’ limited experiences impacts on their vocabulary and understanding.

2

Some pupils come from families with significant generational poverty. Parents require additional support in accessing and understanding the value of the education system. Some parents have had negative educational experiences and have therefore developed an untrusting attitude towards education settings 

3

A proportion of disadvantaged pupils have other barriers to learning; some come to school hungry; some have social and emotional barriers; and some have low self-esteem and/or low aspirations for themselves.

4

Disadvantaged pupils generally attain less well in writing because they find language processing and retention difficult: they find it difficult to structure and hold sentences; and they do not retain language facts, such as spellings.

5

Outcomes and progress can be significantly related to, for example, emotional literacy, behaviour support or physical development, and the school needs to be strong at identifying the barriers that each individual PP pupils faces.

6

Erratic attendance due to changing or challenging home circumstances

Intended outcome

Success criteria

Improve reading by the end of KS1, 2 & 3 focusing on pupils' decoding, their enjoyment of reading and their comprehension.

Pupils will make accelerated progress in reading so that the proportion of disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard by the end of KS2 is in line with National Expectations

Pupils make at least expected progress in literacy

Improve pupils’ writing, including understanding of the following:

• sentence structure

• grammar, punctuation and spelling

• purpose and audience.

Closing the gap and making expected progress according to targets 

Pupils will make accelerated progress in writing so that the proportion of disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard by the end of KS2 is in line with National Expectations.

This supports work in KS3 and 4 and obtaining functional skills as well as access to GCSE English

Improve writing performance of PP pupils including the quality of handwriting (letter formation)

All Pupil premium pupils make progress in writing with no pupils making less than requires improvement

PP pupils in KS4 make expected levels of literacy and numeracy

Increased opportunities for KS4 PP pupils to gain recognised qualifications through targeted teaching

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Quality First Teaching through effective support, including through planning, monitoring and incremental coaching

Provide outstanding training for all staff ensuring that learning and feedback is effectively differentiated and precisely targeted to accelerate progress for children with 

Pupil Premium funding and close learning gaps 

Tracking systems

More rigorous assessment supported by tests and quizzes to support improved retention of learning. SEND assessments and standardised tests. 

SLT coaching and support for key staff included extended leadership team 

EEF programme - supporting disadvantaged pupils

 1 and 4

High quality CPD

(£6000)

Improve all pupils’ access to Quality First Teaching through high quality CPD, focusing on teachers’ understanding of cognitive science, curriculum design and effective pedagogy. 

This includes access to CPD provided from the Inclusion Quality Mark 

CPD is research driven with a focus on Trauma informed teaching and learning

1 and 4

Phonics (RWI)

(£2,000)

A whole school phonics approach is an effective way of ensuring that early reading development is successful.  The school continues to  invest in Read Write Inc, as an alternative to the DFE Letters and Sounds programme including time for the Phonics Lead, Senco and Interventions lead  to monitor progress and support staff.

1 and 4

Pastoral Care

(£3,000)

All children, but especially those in receipt of PP funding, receive the very best pastoral care, which breaks down their complex barriers to learning. Pastoral team to support vulnerable families and signpost support Parent classes and workshops (suspended during COVID-19)

The parent curriculum includes Parent Thrive and counselling to support parents with understanding how to manage their child's needs

2,3,4,5 and 6

SaLT 

(£12,000)

Children identified who need additional support with speech and language. Parents kept up to date and supported their child’s learning

 1 and 4

Attendance

(£1500)

Continue to follow the Borough’s (BDSIP)  attendance programme to improve attendance for all and use in school resources, to target key children and families.

Intensive support from the Pastoral team which includes home visits, regular phone contact and eyes on pupils not currently in school.

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Phonics intervention for all disadvantaged pupils

£1000 (resources) 

A whole school phonics approach is an effective way of ensuring that early reading development is successful, and is indicated by the proportion of children achieving the expected standard in the Y1 Phonics Screening Check.  The school will be invested in Read Write Inc, and will work with other trust schools to develop and embed the practice.

1 and 4

Guided reading (daily) 

£2000

Daily reading intervention with age appropriate, carefully selected texts to support pupils with developing a love of reading. To engage pupils and to support them to gain confidence in reading, writing and speaking. This will build on the KS2 results and prepare pupils for GCSEs

1 and 5

Speech and Language Therapy team

£3000

Activity

Evidence that supports this approach

Challenge number(s) addressed

Support for extra-curricular activities including an annual residential trip £1000

All pupils are able to share their experiences and develop social skills that will stay with them for life.

2 and 4

Supports pupils and parents with social and emotional regulation/understanding of themselves.  Many of our parents are from disadvantaged backgrounds and do not have the financial means to access counselling

 2

Parent and pupil Thrive practitioner training 

£3500

A program that helps children and young people develop social and emotional skills, and improve their mental health and well-being. The program's goal is to help children engage with learning and life.

 2, 3 and 6

Breakfast

£625

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the school has identified an increasing number of children who are arriving at school hungry, having not eaten breakfast.  There is strong evidence of the impact of hunger on learning, and therefore, we are determined to ensure that no child at Eko Pathways School starts their day feeling hungry through the provision of a free breakfast club.  This will provide all pupils with the chance to start their day positively, and to engage in other activities related to learning and wellbeing.

3

Enrichment Opportunities

Gym 

Gymnastics 

Music 

Computing 

A wide range of activities that support in delivering a broad and balanced curriculum tailored to meeting the needs of our pupils:

Including Cooking Classes for pupils across the whole school

School gym membership and healthy living programmes 

Music lessons 

Computer science club

The impact is that pupils are making better progress in reading ages across the whole school. Since the strategy's implementation, reading ages have risen significantly from a KS3/4 average of 7 years and 6 months to 12 years and 6 months.  This has led to pupils accessing the wider curriculum thus receiving a broad and balanced curriculum that supports them with accessing a wider suite of Year 11 qualifications.  At KS2, all pupils receive daily phonics lessons, guided reading and story time. The impact has been that this year (2024) 50% of our year 6 pupils met the national standard for reading. 

Enrichment opportunities have supported our pupils with accessing new experiences that they would not necessarily be able to access outside of school. This has included music lessons, sports coaching and community activities such as the creation of a legacy garden. These activities have supported pupil attendance through the provision of bespoke learning experiences. It has also enabled KS4 pupils with experiencing career linked opportunities beyond the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. 

KS4 pupils have accessed work experience opportunities including employability workshops, interviews and placements. Once KS4 pupil has secured a sports coaching apprenticeship from his work experience placement.

Programme

Provider

N/A

Measure

Details

How did you spend your service pupil premium allocation last academic year?

n/a

What was the impact of that spending on service pupil premium eligible pupils?

n/a