The ABC for Disadvantaged Students
Attendance
Intent
We believe that children cannot learn if they are absent from school. Therefore, we aim to ensure that all our children and young people take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them and will strive to raise standards by promoting the regular attendance and punctuality of our students. For disadvantaged students, attendance is vitally important to narrow the attainment gap and, as such, the school focuses on ensuring the best possible attendance for disadvantaged students. The school uses approaches, tailored to meet individual needs to support disadvantaged students to attend and access the curriculum.
Behaviour
Intent
Our aim is to create a climate in which excellent teaching and learning can take place, where there is mutual respect, and where achievement is valued, encouraged and rewarded.
Our behaviour system works around 3 core principles:
- Respect for Yourself
- Respect for Others
- Respect for Learning
The importance of a positive teaching environment is central to narrowing the attainment gap. Consistency of approach across the school is fundamental to ensuring disadvantaged students’ understanding and are supported to meet these expectations.
Community
Intent
In order to flourish, students need to feel a sense of belonging.
Our ethos of ‘Enjoy and Excel’ runs throughout school life, with a focus on ensuring disadvantaged students feel an active and valued part of our community.
Beaumont students benefit from highly-skilled teaching in all areas of the curriculum.
Beyond the classroom, our extra-curricular offer enables disadvantaged students to enjoy and excel in a wide range of opportunities that build social capital, a sense of belonging and pride in their achievements.
Our school-wide culture of reading supports disadvantaged students to read for pleasure, as well as being a means for academic study.
Implementation
Attendance of disadvantaged students is monitored particularly closely.
Our Attendance Officer and PP Administrator focus on initial attendance concerns.
If attendance concerns persist, this is escalated, and the Head of Year or Key Stage Leader will work with the student and the family to re-engage with education.
Attendance Support Plans (ASPs) and support from the Local Authority are implemented.
Implementation
Teaching and Learning Lead Practitioners spearhead our focus on adaptive teaching, which ensures all students are able to access the curriculum in a meaningful way.
Both Academic and Pastoral Mentoring support positive behaviour and study habits. Disadvantaged students are prioritised for these interventions.
Implementation
Our PP Coordinator and PP Administrator are in regular contact with disadvantaged students and their parents. As such students and parents have opportunities to raise worries or concerns. Having an allocated staff member “on their side” in this way is an important motivator for students and helps to engage parents, enhancing students’ sense of belonging.
PP funding is also used to improve access to equipment and opportunities for disadvantaged students so that they can fully participate in the wider life of the school.
Reading assessment, monitoring and interventions are strong and ensure this is not a barrier to the curriculum.
Impact
Attendance at Beaumont School is exceptionally high; students actively want to be here. This is true for all students, including disadvantaged students, whose attendance is higher than their peers nationally
Academic Year: 2023-24 | Autumn Term 2024 | |
Beaumont (whole school) | 94.9% | 95.9% |
National (all secondary) | 90.9% | 92.0% |
Beaumont: Disadvantaged | 89.5% | 89.9% |
National (Free School Meals) | 88.9% | tbc |
Impact
Impact
Disadvantaged students take part in a wide range of extracurricular activities. Our annual Wider Participation Surveys show that students receiving PP funding are fully represented in activities such as residential trips, sports, STEM and arts activities; and cultural enrichment, such as theatre trips
As a result of the highly skilled teaching that takes place in lessons, the strong pastoral oversight, support and intervention, and the timely and evidence-led academic interventions, disadvantaged students at Beaumont School achieve very well. We have a strong record where disadvantaged students at Beaumont School not only outperform their disadvantaged peers nationally, but they outperform their non-disadvantaged peers nationally.
Academic Year | Progress 8 National (non disadvantaged) | Progress 8 National (disadvantaged) | Progress 8 Beaumont (disadvantaged) |
2022-23 | 0.17 | -0.57 | 0.28 |
2023-24 | 0.16 | -0.57 | 0.28 |
(Put simply, a Progress 8 score of 0 would mean a student had performed at GCSE exactly in line with how their peers with similar Primary School data performed nationally. A Progress 8 score of 1 would mean a student had done 1 grade better in every GCSE subject than their peers with similar Primary School data nationally. The table above shows that disadvantaged students at Beaumont have outperformed not only their disadvantaged peers, but also non-disadvantaged peers nationally. This has been the case for the past 3 years at least.)
Whilst Pupil Premium funding is allocated for eligible students in Years 7-11, the recognises that the impacts of current or historical disadvantage does not stop at age 16. For this reason, we continue to monitor and support eligible students through their Key Stage 5 studies.Disadvantaged students in the Sixth Form