Teach-Primary-Issue-19.8

and monitored the impact of every intervention. They didn’t chase quick wins for inspection reports; they took a longer-term view, often working to prevent attainment gaps opening in the first place. The Department for Education now expects schools to publish a multi-year Pupil Premium strategy. This is not bureaucracy for its own sake – it’s an opportunity to take a step back, identify the main barriers for your pupils, and decide on the most effective ways to overcome them. One deputy head described how they dropped half a dozen small initiatives and concentrated instead on literacy tutoring, parental engagement, and teacher training. The shift to a tighter plan made it easier to track impact and brought the whole school community along with it. Buy-in = progress No plan will succeed without staff buy-in. Teachers and support staff are the ones who deliver interventions, adapt lessons, and encourage pupils every day. Schools that succeed with Pupil Premium make sure staff are involved in identifying needs and suggesting solutions. Some even set up bidding pots where teachers propose how a slice of funding could directly support a disadvantaged pupil in their class. Sharing progress stories is just as important. When colleagues hear that an intervention raised a pupil’s reading age by 18 months, or helped a persistently late child arrive on time every day, it turns abstract funding into real human impact. This keeps energy and commitment high. Successful schools make a habit of celebrating these wins, ensuring the whole team sees the difference their efforts are making. In a nutshell • Feed them first: breakfast clubs don’t just fill bellies – they improve punctuality, behaviour, and readiness to learn. • Invest in teachers: training and professional development for staff have the greatest long-term impact on disadvantaged pupils. • Less (but better) is more: a handful of focused strategies done well beats a scattergun list of small projects. • Plan for the long haul: multi-year strategies built into school improvement plans are more effective than one-off annual ideas. • All staff on board: involving colleagues in planning and sharing success stories sustains momentum and belief in the strategy. Lucy Coy is a former acting headteacher and inclusion lead, and is now joint CEO of HeadteacherChat. headteacherchat.com There is a plethora of information on Pupil Premium out there, and one of the most reliable sources of teaching information – the Education Endowment Foundation – has duly added its own advice, including the below... DO adopt a detailed approach to identifying your pupils’ needs. The EEF’s Explore framework tool (tinyurl. com/tp-EEFexplorePP) – which accompanies the School’s Guide to Implementation guidance report ( tinyurl.com/ tp-EEFguidePP ) – can support. DO consider the strengths and needs of your socio-economical- ly disadvantaged children, including those pupils who are exceeding age-related expectations. DO examine the data carefully to work out the root causes – e.g. school attendance. DON’T cherry-pick data that confirms ‘hunches’ you may already have. DON’T focus solely on pupils who are working below age-related expectations. DON’T confuse the observable effects of a problem with its root causes. Find more info from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) at tinyurl.com/tp-EEFPP All information in this column via educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk Dos and don’ts from the EEF L E ADERSH I P www.teachwire.net | 39