Pupil Premium
What is pupil premium?
This pupil premium grant is given to schools by the government to provide support for children who are eligible for free school meals (FSM) or who are or have been in care. Schools can decide how the pupil premium is spent as they are best placed to decide what additional provision should be made for the pupils in their communities.
At CCJ, our pupil premium spending is approved by the headteacher and the governing body, who then monitor its impact to ensure that it is spent effectively. The premium premium funding is allocated per financial year (April to April) but the spending strategy spans an academic year (September to September). In recent years, the school has received approximately £75,000 of pupil premium funding. Our pupil premium governor is Paul Graham.
Alex Desmond is the pupil premium champion for the school and he works with the SLT, governors, staff, children and parents to ensure that our children receive the best from CCJ.
Pupil premium at CCJ:
- Approximately 10% of the school are entitled to pupil premium funding.
- We have close links with our partner Infant school and how they provide for their pupil premium families.
- There are currently no known forces families within the school.
- The pupil premium champion works with the SENDCO, family link workers, EWO, school nurse and identified pupil premium governor to develop a whole school approach to pupils entitled to PP.
- PP progress and attainment is the responsibility of the whole team. The senior leadership team, class teachers and teaching assistants all work hard to meet the needs of the whole child as well as accelerate progress and target gaps.
Coffee mornings
We regularly invite our families into school for coffee, cake and a chat. We have a different theme each term and welcome your ideas for future topics.
The pupil premium champion, inclusion leader and SENDCO lead each coffee morning with the support of different staff members who come in to talk about their subject or specialism or we welcome visitors from other organisations to come and speak to parents.
We also send a regular newsletter to parents, detailing support that is on offer in school and in the wider community. You can read the latest copy here.
The whole child
We closely track the needs of each pupil with a focus on equity, engagement and excellence.
Equity: Are the child's basic need met? Can we offer therapeutic support? Do external agencies need to be involved? Are the barriers to learning removed?
Engagement: Can we enhance the aspirations of our children? Do they have enrichment opportunities? Are they able to experience all that we wish them to?
Excellence: Is attendance and punctuality as high as possible? Can we remove any barriers to low attendance? Are parents confident to support their child at home and engaged with school? Are academic interventions focused and impactful?
CCJ University
CCJ University is our initiative to inspire children to develop a love of learning outside the classroom. At CCJ, we encourage and celebrate participation in extra-curricular activities in and outside of school. The impact of these activities is proven to be positive which is why we’re committed to creating a level playing field of opportunity and opening up access to children of all backgrounds. Find out more here.
Measuring the impact
To ensure that the funding is effectively used, we monitor and review the impact of the strategies on a regular basis.
Some of the methods that we use to measure the impact include:
- termly pupil progress meetings with every teacher to discuss the progress and barriers of every child
- working with other local schools to share best practice
- PP reviews with the local authority
- analysing data for progress and attainment
- speaking with pupils about their learning
- meeting with parents to look at how the support has helped their child
- monitoring attendance and broken weeks
- analysing how effective interventions have been at the end of each term
Applying for Free School Meals
If you think your child may be entitled to free school meals, please use the link below to check the criteria and make an application. If you require any help or support with this, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals
At CCJ, we can also support children who are eligible for free school meals in different ways, including subsidised trips and residential camps, subsidised clubs and free uniform packages.
Further support
Foodbanks
We know that finances are a challenge for many families at the moment. We can help by providing food bank vouchers through Christ Church and through the East Bristol Food Bank. If you think this is something you might need support with, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Contact Mrs Osborne or Mr Desmond or phone the school on 01454 866516 and we will be able to support you with next steps.
Debt support
If you are worried about debt, please use the following links to help.
Christ Church Downend CAP (Christians Against Poverty): Christ Church have been working in partnership with Christians Against Poverty since 2009 when they opened their CAP Debt Centre. Since then they have helped hundreds of clients and their families on their journey out of debt. Contact Leyla on 07530 900957 or email Leylafellows@capuk.org.
Step Change Debt: A full debt help service is available across the UK. Online support is also available via its debt advice tool where you can create a budget and get a personal action plan with practical next steps. https://www.stepchange.org/
Mental health support for children and young people
There are lots of resources available online to help young people look after their mental health.
Support with mental health and wellbeing for children South Gloucestershire
One You
One You have lots of advice and tips about mental health and wellbeing.
https://oneyou.southglos.gov.uk/stress-less/
South Glos Parents and Carers
South Glos Parents and Carers are a supportive community of parents and carers who work to improve services and support for SEND children, young people with additional needs and their families.
Visit www.sglospc.org.uk/ for more information.
CCJ have been awarded the Pupil Premium Quality Mark
Quotes from the Pupil Premium Quality Mark assessor report:
"The example set by senior leaders is inspirational and the tone set; aspirational. Staff are diligent in their observation, analysis and recording of pupil need and want; with concomitant interventions and activities swiftly put in place. The regularity and thoroughness of monitoring and review ensures that what is working is continued and what is not working either replaced or reconfigured. The regard given to developing the whole child ensures that life enhancing experiences are offered to all with particular and careful further enhancement offered to those pupils with vulnerabilities; no matter what they might be.
Leadership and ownership are encouraged and developed in both staff and pupils. Staff, no matter what their designation, feel confident to play their part in the development of pupils; acting as part of a team, taking individual responsibility and embracing leadership of: an activity, intervention or innovation. Pupils are offered numerous opportunities to develop team responsibility skills and to display leadership with staff careful to identify those pupils who do not always put themselves forward in order to find ways to let them shine.
Whole school issues are identified and raised by all staff; ensuring: bottom up, top down and peer to peer commitment and engagement. This shared and distributed leadership style has encouraged innovative practice and meant that trialing approaches and sharing successes and failures is applauded, encouraged and learned from. The number of curriculum and delivery methodologies being implemented by the school testimony to the mantra that constant striving and looking for improvement are key to the ongoing development and ultimate happiness of the pupils.
The breadth of experience and expertise amongst the governors of the school is admirable; allied to their commitment to see that pupils thrive, not only academically but emotionally, culturally and spiritually this makes a powerful combination. Parents/carers are very well supported; with the school and staff finding ways to offer flexibility in: time, place, environment and approach to maximise parent/carer access both to staff and, support & guidance mechanisms and materials.
The school's desire to see every pupil have: a breadth of experiences, a sense of self worth, high levels of aspiration, a can do attitude and a smile on their face coupled with the determination to help them achieve academically is totally admirable and absolutely right".
