Pupil Premium Spending Rationale – Severn Vale School

What is the Pupil Premium Grant?
The Pupil Premium Grant (PPG) supports pupils from low-income families, including those eligible for free school meals (FSM) in the past six years, children of service personnel, and those in local authority care (LAC).

Our Aim
The PPG is used to reduce the attainment gap and increase social mobility. At Severn Vale, we prioritise literacy and numeracy as key foundations for long-term success, ensuring disadvantaged pupils are equipped for life beyond school.

Who Benefits
PPG spending is targeted at pupils with the greatest disadvantage. Interventions may also support non-PPG pupils to promote overall progress and maximise impact.

Barriers to Learning
Disadvantaged pupils face complex challenges, with post-pandemic priorities including:

• Attendance 
• Social, emotional, and learning behaviours 
• Limited cultural capital
• Restricted exposure to challenging texts
• Underdeveloped independent study and homework habits
• Literacy and numeracy gaps

How We Decide on Spending
Our PPG strategy is informed by:

• Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Teaching and Learning Toolkit and Pupil Premium guidance
• Sutton Trust research
• NFER studies on attainment, Covid recovery, and mental health
• Our professional experience

Following the EEF’s tiered approach, we focus spending on three areas:

1. Developing Teaching

• Additional teachers in core subjects to reduce class sizes at KS4
• Lead Practitioners in Maths and Science to strengthen teaching quality
• Retention initiatives for high-quality teachers
• Curriculum development to enhance literacy, cultural capital, and study skills
• Ongoing professional development

2. Targeted Academic Support

• KS4 subject interventions
• Period 6 tutoring
• KS3 Academic Progress Team
• Internal and external assessments to identify learning gaps

3. Wider Strategies

• Attendance Improvement Team
• Moring and afterschool study facilities
• Redesigned inclusion and SEMH support, including counselling and family support
• Structured start-of-day routines (‘Line Up’)
• Homework support and tutoring
• Hardship Fund for essential materials
• Careers guidance, music tuition, and Duke of Edinburgh Award

Our PPG spending is carefully planned to close learning gaps, support wellbeing, and promote long-term academic and personal development.