The EEF Guide to the Pupil Premium

Published

Step 3

Develop your strategy

It’s time to take action and develop your Pupil Premium strategy, continuing to ensure it is an integral part of your wider school improvement planning. Wise investment of your Pupil Premium funding can drive meaningful and lasting improvements in practice leading to better outcomes for pupils.

In this step we offer questions for reflection which pick up on key points from steps one and two as you write your strategy document.

Put it into practice

Take time to plan your Pupil Premium strategy

Do approaches to develop high quality teaching for Pupil Premium pupils sit at the heart of your plans?

Are the three areas from the tiered approach (high quality teaching, targeted academic support and wider barriers to learning) represented in your thinking?

How do aspects of your strategy align with the existing beliefs, assumptions, and practices of staff? Do any of these need challenging or development in order to enable success and ensure staff and values are united around the change?

Meaningfully engage school colleagues in the process to set goals

How does your strategy align with other strategic school improvement documents such as your school improvement plan?

How can you involve people in developing your strategy (for example, subject leads, SENCo, teaching and learning lead, parents and carers, pupils)?

How will you consult governors, academy trust leadership, and trustees, if applicable, when developing your strategy?

If the challenges are not clearly understood, the subsequent activities are likely to be muddled and lacking precision.

Phil Stock

Director, Greenshaw Research School

Consider fit and feasibility of your planned approaches – plan for sustainability.

Is your funding allocated to evidence-informed strategies that align with the DfE ‘menu of approaches’? What evidence have you drawn on and why?

Does the approach require changes to processes or structures, such as timetables or team meetings?

Take action

Do take a longer-term approach to Pupil Premium planning even though your strategy statement needs to be updated annually.

Don’t forget to publish your updated strategy statement every academic year before 31 December on your school website.

Do align your Pupil Premium strategy with other strategic school improvement documents such as your school improvement plan.

Don’t Don’t work alone to create a Pupil Premium strategy. Your school governors could provide strategic support.

Do consider how you communicate your plans with stakeholders. Your Pupil Premium strategy is a public facing document on your school’s website.

Don’t try to start writing your strategy in the autumn term - start planning and preparing early to give yourself the best chance of success.