Keeping children safe is everybody’s responsibility. Raising academic attainment is everybody’s responsibility. Similarly, sustaining a Pupil Premium strategy is everybody’s responsibility. Yet too often it is left to just one person: the Pupil Premium lead.
I’m sure many of you can relate to being the person who breathes a sigh of relief when the 31st December passes and the strategy is published on the website, but what next? How do we now ensure that:
- Everybody knows their role?
- Everybody enacts their role?
- Everybody has the opportunity to influence ongoing improvement?
What the evidence tells us
The EEF’s updated guide to the Pupil Premium supports school leaders through a 5‑step process to “develop and refine your strategy, ensuring it is an ongoing process and not a one-off event.” Step 5 highlights the importance and power of ensuring everybody is invested in the strategy.
The EEF’s School’s Guide to Implementation sets out three crucial behaviours that are vital to the success of any effective implementation:
- Engaging all staff in the overall direction of the strategy
- Uniting staff around why it matters
- Reflecting is a fundamental part of sustaining an effective strategy.
When it comes to sustaining your Pupil Premium strategy, all three are of equal importance.
| Purpose | Practical tip | Useful leadership tool | |
|---|---|---|---|
Engage | Engaging all staff in the overall direction of the strategy makes people feel seen, heard and valued. | Ask teachers about the challenges and barriers that pupils face in their classroom in a staff training session. This helps leaders gather evidence around what is already going on. As a Pupil Premium leader myself, I find this exercise helps staff see that they’re often facing similar challenges within our school. That helps us share solutions. We can then consider what we have the most leverage to change, focusing on the barriers that we have most control over. | EEF’s Explore tool |
Unite | Uniting staff around why it matters is crucial for people to not only buy in, but be in. | Share key disadvantage data with staff as part of effective professional development sessions. This can help support key messaging and justify why this is such a priority. It has the potential to build knowledge and motivate staff. I often ask a range of school leaders to share disadvantage data in their specialist area as it gives them agency and supports them in enacting the strategy within their role. | EEF’s Effective professional development mechanisms |
Reflect | Reflecting is a fundamental part of sustaining an effective strategy. | Use a range of data and evidence to spot trends, identify issues, and notice gains. Progress in disadvantage outcomes can sometimes feel slow and turbulent, which can impact motivation. Whenever presenting disadvantage outcomes, start by shining a light on the small but mighty wins. Small incremental gains are essential and worth celebrating with the whole school community. | EEF’s Using research evidence |
Conclusion
Sustaining a Pupil Premium strategy cannot be a one-person job.
When done right, it’s everybody’s responsibility, embedded into the culture of the school, and more impactful for the pupils it is designed to support.
With this in mind, what is your team’s next step together to sustain your Pupil Premium strategy?