Pupil Premium

Bury C of E Primary is totally committed to social justice and improving life chances for potentially vulnerable children. It is dedicated to sharing its work and findings beyond the school to improve outcomes for as many children as it can reach.

At Bury, we believe our school is a community and that it is vitally important that everyone is safe and happy within it. We aim to provide an environment in which our children are secure and confident, irrespective of race, gender and religion, with Equal Opportunities for all.

At Bury C of E Primary, closing the gap is core to our work and many leaders at various levels have accountability to develop practice and outcomes for children within and beyond the school.

We believe this is due to the consistency in the quality of teaching and learning as well as the provision and wider experience they have within the school. We believe school has a fundamental part to play in securing wellbeing, enhancing life chances and realising personal potential. We want our children to develop a passion for subjects and pupils have a significant part to play in the school environment and its provision which they help to develop.

As a school, we strive to always show and practice our school values: love, respect, forgiveness and honesty. We as a school have a good understanding of fairness and inclusion.  We believe every child is an individual and we aim to develop a bespoke school which mirrors the learners at that time, including both staff and children.

Our aim is to:

1. Secure effective teaching and learning for all and enhance achievement and wellbeing, irrespective of personal circumstances.
2. Make a commitment to creating a learning community based on high trust and interdependence with explicit values and a shared language, centred on high performance.
3. Our core purpose is the quality of teaching and learning, this underpins all that we do. This involves the deployment of time, energy and resources to enhance confidence in the quality of teaching and learning and the focus on achievement.
4. Share expertise of leaders and staff across the school community and work collectively to model, monitor and secure effective learning and teaching.
5. School and parents/cares work as a partnership throughout the learning process, accepting accountability and supporting individual needs.
6. Work collaboratively within school and working with other schools and professionals to ensure that the best practices and resources are available and shared with all.
7. Be aware of current and new research and strategies in order to best support all children.
8. Underpin all of the above with rigorous and systematic planning, resource management and data-rich strategies to support teaching and learning.

Vulnerable Groups at Bury

What are vulnerable groups? 

Vulnerable children are amongst those groups that may need additional support or intervention in order to make optimum progress. This could be children who have needs, dispositions, aptitudes or circumstances which may require particularly perceptive and expert teaching and in some cases, additional support beyond the school.

As a school, we have identified some potentially vulnerable groups which are listed below and tracked carefully and rigorously to ensure they make the targeted progress, therefore closing the achievement gap. 

We consider these groups:

• Disabled pupils, and those who have special educational needs
• Boys
• Girls
• Groups of pupils whose prior attainment may be different
• Those who are academically more or less able
• Pupils for whom English is an additional language
• Minority ethnic pupils
• Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children
• Looked after children
• Pupils known to be eligible for free school meals
• Young carers
• Pupils from low income backgrounds
• Other vulnerable groups

Bury is dedicated to ensuring all pupils make excellent progress, including those who could be vulnerable.

How do we support these groups?

Bury C of E Primary aims to work effectively with every pupil, supporting them where necessary to overcome academic or emotional barriers that could prevent optimum progress and learning opportunities. We strive to enable all pupils to participate in the full and wide range of activities offered within and beyond the school. We strive to ensure that they have the very best learning experience and make excellent progress.

All staff are highly-skilled and have regular opportunities for development in order to meet the needs of pupils and families whose circumstances may make them vulnerable. This, coupled with good support from external agencies and our academy trust (DEMAT) helps the school to minimise any gaps in the progress pupils are making.

The school and parents/carers of potentially vulnerable children work in partnership to help to break down barriers to learning and progress pupils occasionally encounter. Staff support parents in order to maximise the potential for home learning and further supporting the children's knowledge.

Pupils who are FSM, disabled and those who have special educational needs make good progress. This stems from the high priority the school gives to meeting their needs. Bury ensures outstanding help from very well-qualified Senior Leaders, teachers, teaching assistants, supported by a wealth of excellent resources that have a proven impact on raising standards. The lower-attaining pupils identified in EYFS, KS1 results and those whose circumstances may make them vulnerable, make good progress and any gaps between them and their peers are closed effectively using targeted support and rigorous monitoring.

Nationally, Boys perform less well than girls but the school has put in place strategies that narrowed the gender gap, using a range of approaches to the curriculum, planning, teaching and learning, resources and school environment as well as wider aspects of school life. 

Assessment and Reflection

Assessment plays an important role in teaching and learning and pupil progress meetings ensure that all staff understand where the children are at any given time and in which areas support is needed. This rigour and swift consequent actions ensure immediate impact.

Tasks are closely matched to students’ targets and their learning journey. Teachers and teaching assistants are deployed consistently well to help pupils by providing appropriate resources, support, encouragement and demonstrating skills that impact learners.

As a school, we are consistently evaluating how individual pupils benefit and progress from provision. This may not always be accessed through data but also from a learning culture of talk and shared professional thoughts and judgements.

How do we support families?

Staff within school work with families and children to ensure they are supported with their welfare within and beyond the school. We organise many different family learning opportunities and involve families fully in school life. 

Attendance

Attendance and punctuality is highly regarded and we work very hard with pupils and families to ensure this remains a key priority. As a school, staff work together and with external professionals to support children and families with attendance and punctuality.

Service Children

At Bury C of E Primary, we provide ongoing support for service children and families. We are aware of the difficulties and challenges that service children may face, and we endeavour to support these children during times of hardship. We understand that all service children have different experiences, may move home frequently and face disruption to education, friendships and social networks. Moving home could mean that they miss key parts of the curriculum. As a school, we ensure that we are supporting transition and covering areas in which the children have missed. This could be as a class, in small groups or through 1:1 support. We know the emotional and communication challenges that service children and their families may be faced with, and work to reduce anxieties, provide support during difficult emotional times and improve well-being for all. Service children can spend extended periods of time away from serving parents/carers, meaning that not only will they miss their absent adult and worry about their safety, their adult will also not be able to attend school events. We provide pastoral support when needed, as well as offering extra support during deployment. Lessons and activities are planned with compassion and an awareness of each child's circumstances.

Named Staff with specific responsibility for Pupil Premium: Miss L Jones

Named Governor with specific responsibility for Pupil Premium: Mr R Taylor