At Netherthorpe School, we hold a firm belief that all students, regardless of individual circumstances, have the right to a high quality educational experience. At Netherthorpe, we have high expectations for all pupils in our school and believe that, with high quality teaching, pastoral support and effective engagement with parents, every student can fulfil their individual academic, social and emotional potential.
Netherthorpe School ensures that the Pupil Premium funding is directed to have the maximum impact across school, so that we close the attainment gap between PP students and their peers and so that they have equal access to a broad and balanced curriculum and enriching opportunities. Our Pupil Premium strategy is underpinned by a firm belief that Quality First Teaching is an essential right of every child and therefore resources are directed to support staff CPD opportunities so that they better understand the needs of the children they teach.
Following the pandemic, additional resources have been allocated to support the promotion of student well being and mental health across school, as identified in our School Improvement Plan as a key priority. Additional counselling support and nurture opportunities have been created to further embed student wellbeing at the heart of our school curriculum.
Further embedded into our practice is our commitment to providing PP students with opportunities for personal development – where they will develop into confident, independent and successful learners who will thrive in later life and make a positive contribution to society. Our targeted and personalised pastoral care for children and families is effective in engaging parents and supporting the whole child.

Background
The pupil premium is a government initiative designed to target resources for those pupils considered to be from a disadvantaged background. Pupil Premium money is provided to schools and academies for pupils who fall into one or more of the categories listed below:
•Pupils who have been entitled to Free School Meals (FSM) at any point over the past 6 years (Ever 6 FSM)
•Children who have been looked after continuously for at least 6 months (CLA).
•Children who have been looked after for 1 day or more; have been adopted from care or have left care under a special guardianship order, a residence order or a child arrangement order.
•Pupils who have a parent in the armed services or have had a parent/s in the armed services for the last four years. (Ever 4 Service Child)
For the year 2024-2025, the Pupil Premium has a value of £1025 per year per eligible pupil. Schools receive an additional £2530 for each Child who is looked after and additionally there is a smaller allowance of £340 made for those children with parents in the armed services.
How are children identified and assessed?
The school receives a list of pupils names from the DfE and the amount of grant money received. The academic and emotional needs of the children are assessed in the early weeks of the academic year. Formative and summative assessments of the attainment and progress of these children are carried out throughout the year. Pupil premium progress reviews are carried out by subject leaders and Heads of section. Additional support and interventions are implemented and adapted as necessary.

Interventions for Pupil premium/ Catch up premium pupils are included as part of our whole school ‘excellence achieved by all’ strategy. The strategy includes;
• Wave 1
• To enhance quality first teaching provision across the school.
• Developing strategies to ensure that all pupils get the best possible learning opportunities, every lesson.
Wave 2
Learning interventions.
• To close the gap by providing additional supplementary literacy and numeracy support thereby raising the attainment of those students entitled.
• To enhance the existing literacy and numeracy provision within the School.
• To identify concerns and provide targeted interventions in order to accelerate the rapidity of pupil progress for disadvantaged students; this includes targeted revision and study support strategies.
• To intervene quickly where an intervention is shown to fail to have impact and implement an alternative more appropriate intervention.
• Wave 3
• To remove additional barriers to learning (pupils/community/school)
• To improve and secure positive attendance for disadvantaged students.
• To support more able disadvantaged students to access a range of opportunities. (Cultural Capital)
• To ensure students are supported to develop emotional literacy skills – this is particularly important for students who may be affected by mental health or personal issues.
To ensure parents are properly supported to understand how their child is progressing through parental engagement opportunities.