Effective use of PDG and support for vulnerable pupils
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Information about the school
Coedcae School is an English-medium 11-16 school maintained by Carmarthenshire local authority and is based in the centre of Llanelli. There are 815 pupils on roll. Around 35.4% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. Around 6% of pupils are learning English as an additional language.
The percentage of pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) is around 42.1% of the overall school population. The proportion of pupils who have a statutory plan of additional learning needs (Statement / EHCP / IDP) is 3.9% (including the SRB).
The senior leadership team (SLT) consists of the headteacher, deputy headteacher and three assistant headteachers.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
Coedcae School has experienced a notable increase in the number of pupils who are eligible for free school meals. In addition to this, around a half of pupils live in the 20% most deprived areas in Wales, and around a third are living in the 10% most deprived areas, according to the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation. The school’s data also indicates that around 15% of pupils are estimated to live in low income households. As a result, tackling the impact of poverty on pupil attainment has long been a priority for the school. Maintaining good attendance, improving positive attitudes to learning and ensuring that eFSM pupils make effective progress are all key priorities for the school. The school receives around £350k of Pupil Development Grant (PDG) funding each year.
Description of nature of strategy or activity
Leaders plan carefully to use their PDG funding in a precise and targeted way. They align this planning closely to their priorities for improvement and ensure that these approaches are informed by research and best practice, including within other education systems.
The school employs five Pupil and Family Support Assistants (PFSA), who are each attached to a year group and who work closely with vulnerable pupils and their families. Their main focus is to identify and help remove barriers to pupil well-being and learning. The PFSAs develop strong relationships with targeted pupils. They have a comprehensive understanding of the importance of a multi-layered approach to pupil support, and work well in line with the school’s vision and values, forging strong links with a wide range of external partners and parents and carers. In addition to regular meetings at school and daily telephone contact to share important information and progress updates, PfSAs undertake home visits and meetings conducted over Teams, as this approach better meets the needs of some families. Where appropriate, and particularly where school attendance is a concern, the PFSA will meet with pupils and their parents in more ‘neutral’ settings, such as a local park or coffee shop, in order to build trust and elicit engagement.
The PFSA works closely with pupils and parents to identify barriers to learning and, with the senior leadership team, develops a clear and focused individual pupil action plan. The plan is reviewed regularly, alongside the pupil and their parent or carer. Support strategies implemented are wide-ranging, and bespoke to the individual pupil and can involve the provision of material support, funded by the PDG, to enable the pupil to engage effectively with school life. For example, the school regularly purchases uniform items, including PE kit, to support pupils at the point of a particular growth spurt and when the PDG Access grant has already been used by parents at the start of the school year. Additionally, the pupil may be supported by the School-based Youth Worker, either by one-to-one mentoring or through group engagement programmes. The Behaviour and Wellbeing Officer also plays a key role in working with vulnerable pupils to break down barriers to participation and progress in school, delivering self-reflection and anger management programmes.
The school uses PDG funding to employ a Literacy Intervention Officer and a Numeracy Intervention Officer. These highly-skilled individuals provide a range of academic interventions for vulnerable pupils, working with them to improve their basic skills and to refine their examination technique. This support takes a number of forms, including small group and one-to-one tuition. A high priority is placed on early intervention, with the majority of the work focusing on pupils in Key Stage 3. Given the deficiencies in reading that a significant minority of pupils face, the school has also employed two additional teaching assistants to work alongside the Literacy Intervention Officer to deliver a reading intervention programme.
To improve well-being support at point of transition into Year 7, the school has recently established a nurture base, Cyfle. This provision supports pupils who have been identified through strong transition processes as likely to struggle with full-time mainstream education at the start of Year 7. Using PDG funding, the school has employed a teacher to lead this provision, supported by two specialist teaching assistants. Pupils receive a blended provision, bespoke to individual need, which incorporates a proportion of mainstream lessons with specialist interventions in Cyfle, such as a programme to improve social and emotional skills. The aim of this strategy is to ensure that pupils are better equipped to engage with full-time mainstream education at the earliest point.
Having identified that a few pupils lack the self-management skills to engage positively with unstructured times during the school day, particularly at lunch time, the school has employed an additional lunchtime supervisor. As a result, pupils are provided with focused activities, such as a games and puzzles club and physical exercise sessions, to engage them purposefully, to support them to develop positive friendships and to better prepare them for the afternoon session of learning.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
This work has secured a wider range of ‘in-house’ interventions for pupils, allowing the school to better provide for the needs of their pupils before referring to alternative provision outside of the school. Pupil well-being has been bolstered by these developments. Attendance at the school has improved, both as an overall rate and for all vulnerable groups. For example, the attendance of girls eligible for free school meals, a key target group for the school, has improved at a notably faster rate than that of girls who are not eligible.
Pupil participation in learning has improved, with the rate of fixed-term exclusions reducing suitably. Instances of negative pupil behaviour during lesson 5, after lunch, have decreased.
The school has raised pupil standards through this work. For example, the PDG-funded reading intervention programme is having a positive impact on pupils’ reading skills. The tables below demonstrate improvements made over the autumn term 2022, with pupils being tested at the start of the autumn term and then again at the start of the spring term 2023:
In addition, pupils’ attitudes to learning are positive and vulnerable pupils, including those eligible for free school meals, or from low-income households, generally make secure progress in lessons and over time.
How have you shared your good practice?
The school has shared this practice through a range of professional networks both within and outside of the local authority.