Agenda item

Appendix 1 to this report is a Part 2 (Exempt) matter at Item 14.

Report ED14050

On 18^th March 2014, the Education PDS Committee considered a report outlining the standards achieved in schools across Bromley during the academic year 2012-13, based on an analysis of recently published National Curriculum assessments and GCSE/GCE examination results from Summer 2013.  Following consideration of this report, the Chairman of Education PDS Committee was concerned that although the standards achieved in schools across Bromley were generally higher than the national average, there continued to be a gap in attainment for pupils who were eligible for free school meals, and requested that more detailed information on the use of Pupil Premium by schools be provided to the next meeting of Education Budget Sub-Committee.

The Sub-Committee considered a report setting out the amount of Pupil Premium funding allocated to each school and the way this funding was utilised, and providing a comparison of the performance of children in receipt of Pupil Premium funding at each school.

In considering the report, the Portfolio Holder for Education noted that on the initial analysis of data provided, there appeared to be no direct correlation between the information provided by schools on how Pupil Premium was used and the performance of children in receipt of the Pupil Premium, and that it was not clear that higher levels of Pupil Premium provided to a school delivered better outcomes for pupils in all cases.  A Member also emphasised that the performance of pupils in receipt of the Pupil Premium at small schools could be disproportionately affected by the attainment of one or two pupils as the cohort was often very small.

In discussion, Members generally agreed that it was important to encourage schools to use Pupil Premium funding in an innovative way and to ensure that the progress of all pupils in receipt of the Pupil Premium was supported, including those pupils who were high achieving.  The Interim Assistant Director: Education confirmed that a Head Teachers conference was being planned, and that an expert in Pupil Premium had been invited to the conference to advise schools on how they could demonstrate using Pupil Premium to the best effect.

In response to a question from a Member, the Interim Assistant Director: Education confirmed that Pupil Premium funding was available to pupils in both mainstream and non-mainstream schools, such as special schools and pupil referral units up to the end of Year 11, and was paid to schools according to the number of pupils who had been registered as eligible for free school meals at any point in the previous 6 years or who had been in Care for 6 months or longer.  Following the introduction of free school meals for all pupils in Key Stage 1, it was likely that a new measure would be needed to assess the eligibility of pupils to receive the Pupil Premium, and this was likely to be based on families identified as having low incomes or who were eligible to receive certain benefits, and Looked After Children.

The Head of Schools, Early Years Commissioning and Quality confirmed that a number of proposed future actions to support the effective use of the Pupil Premium by schools had been developed.  These included consideration of data on the performance and progress of pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium when undertaking categorisation of schools to determine which should be a high priority for support.  Schools would also be reminded of the requirement for them to publish details of the use of their Pupil Premium.  Following a recent announcement by the Government of plans for Pupil Premium to be expanded to Early Years in 2015/16, it might also be necessary to explore how best to track the performance of pupils in receipt of the Pupil Premium as they progressed through their education.

RESOLVED that the report and proposed future actions be noted.