Purpose

What were your reasons for doing this development work?

The Headteacher , Governors and staff developed a vision for the school to be

“…a model of educational excellence, consistently within the top 5% of schools in England.” (Vision 2014)

We wanted our children (65% Pupil Premium, 63% EAL, many from disadvantaged homes) to be successful year after year.

Schools (particularly small schools) sometimes talk about “weak cohorts” who achieve less well. We preferred to think of them as “needy cohorts” who would need more top quality provision to reach the aspirational targets we had set.

Who were the identified target learners?

All children in the school, including Pupil Premium children.

What were your success criteria?

Strategic targets – we set these ourselves based not on prior attainment or on Fischer Family Trust data but on our ambition for the children.

What did you do? (What success criteria did you use?)

We set strategic targets (see attachment), not based on prior attainment, but just on wanting to be in the top 10% of schools nationally. That meant that we committed to getting at least 90% L4, and at least 45% L5 by the end of Year 6, year after year, and at least 100% 2 levels progress year after year.

We then asked ourselves “How do we get there?”

• Staffing: We spend all our PP funding of staff, but they have to be good and they have to be driven. Outstanding teachers are strategically placed in Reception, Year 2 and Year 6. I am painstaking over recruitment and keep contact with potential recruits. We have a high proportion 20-25% of male staff as it is important for boys to have strong role models. Planning and preparation time is generous: 10% curriculum time and a little bit more. HLTAs provide much of the PPA. EYFS, Year 1 and 2, and years 3 and 4 plan together on a 2 year cycle.
• Sets for English and Mathematics in Y3,Y4 and Y5. (In Y6 there is a withdrawal group for level 6, targeted support 1:1 with a teacher, plus small groups) Y3 and Y4 are together split into three sets with about 20 children in each set. In Y5 there are two sets: a group of 21 and a group of 9. Sets lower down the school mean strategic targets are met more quickly. Differentiation is necessary within sets this young. The sets are a house of cards, really; a staff absence or trip can wreak havoc.
• There are no sets in the last week of every half term so as to allow theme week and days, more time for Foundation subjects and to allow time for reflection and festivity.
• The Deputy Head and Assistant Headteacher are freed from class responsibilities. (This had Governors’ support). They don’t just manage, but teach. The AHT taught the low ability sets in English and Maths in Y3/4; but is now replaced by a Leading Practitioner (with a Masters in SEN from the Institute). A ‘Numbers Count’ trained person works 1:1 in Y1, Y2 and higher years. Withdrawal sessions take place both within the subject time and other times – it is a mix.
• High quality marking: it is expected that regular marking feedback will be built into the next lesson.
• Vision and Values (see attached file). Ours is a small historic school embracing Catholic and Orthodox children from a mixed community that includes families with Eritrean, Ethiopian, Irish, British, African and Traveller heritage. The community has a collective expectation that the school is strong and has high expectations of their children. The children are told ‘God loves you and holds you in the palm of his hand’ – that feeling of being held is strong for our children. Each has a special person on the staff they can talk to. We recruit role models where we can – support staff, some who attended this school; HLTAs from the local area who are committed to their own professional and academic development.
• We track progress of individual children so we always know how we are progressing against our targets. Like all schools we do baseline assessments of children in Nursery, Reception, and Year 1, and we assess every child who joins us as soon as we can.
• However, we avoid the ‘data trap’. Schools, particularly small schools can be distracted by overanalysing.
• Data analysis, like guilt, is pointless unless it leads to effective sustained action. Once it is clear what the focus or the intervention should be the analysis must give way to action. And if we are asking questions about what the child can achieve in two, three or even four years’ time, we mustn’t let the data limit our ambition for the child.

If a child lacks support or role models at home for example, we need to think how to provide it in school and to galvanise parents to develop it at home…

• In our EYFS, The Deputy Headteacher works in Nursery and Reception for two days per week. We get Nursery parents in to show them Year 1 and say, “That’s where your child is going. What do you parents and we in school need to be praising to get them there?”
• KS1: In Y1 every child is heard read every day. We have ‘Numbers Count’ intervention for level 1 to reach level 2c.
• Flexible provision. In one 1:1 maths session a parent joined her daughter as the parents felt that she too needed help with her mathematics.
• Homework clubs meet three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This is essential for children who are not academically supported at home because of lack of literacy or numeracy, for example.

If there are no role models at home, perhaps other schools can provide them for our pupils…

• Sixth formers from Camden schools help children with their homework at our Homework clubs; one Portuguese-Speaking sixth-former is reading with a child in KS2 to help maintain his Portuguese first language. These young people are role models, successful learners who are overcoming some of the challenges that our children face.
• The Catholic Children’s Society (CCS) provide qualified psychotherapists through the Connect Ed organisation, who work in the school for one morning every week. I can simply ask for the therapist to see a child or parents; there is no complex referral system. The school pays a fee for this and raises money for CCS in Lent. This is a really important resource. We need to surround children with care that they can find reliable.
• Specialist provision. There is an artist in residence (from Upside Arts), as well as PE, Drama and Music teachers. Typically class teachers are in class for these sessions. The Artist in residence is in classes every other week, and teachers repeat or extend lessons. It is important that Class teachers are not deskilled.

What specific teaching resources did you use?

Top quality staff.

Outcomes and Impact

What has been the impact on pupil learning and teaching?

Teaching is at least ‘Good’ throughout the school and in some cases ‘Outstanding’ . One might think that aspirational targets are unrealistic, but in performance management, I don’t ask, ‘Have you achieved that target?’ but ‘Have you done everything possible to achieve that target?’ In pupil progress meetings when we have to admit a child can’t get to their target this year, we ask “Well, what will it take to get the child to the required standard by the end of next term, or next year?”

Before the pupil progress meetings teachers have to draw up a list of modifications that they will make to their own teaching in order to help particular children before other interventions are considered.

Pupils are making ‘Outstanding’ progress. The expected progress nationally has been 12 points across KS2. Our Pupil Premium children have been achieving 14-20 progress points. The average points score is 16.5 for Reading, 16.1 for writing and 16.1 for Mathematics.

100% of our FSM children gained L4 or above in Reading Writing and Mathematics in 2013.

Evidence of impact on pupil learning and teaching/leadership

Teachers work together more, taking collective responsibility for the children’s progress and attainment.

Like many schools we are moving away from grading individual lessons but we are rigorous about judgements against standards and we do try to be honest.

See data attached below.

We were in the top 10 in London in 2013 for KS2 attainment. We are below national averages on entry, in line with national standards at end KS1 and well above national standards at end KS2.

Attachments

• Attainment Graphs Summer 13-14
• St Patrick's Vision & Values statement July 2014
• Strategic Targets