To receive an update on the Pupil Premium and Quality First Teaching Programme from Claire Murray.

(Councillor Knowles joined the meeting virtually at 5:08pm)

Claire Murray, School Improvement Manager (AfC), explained that the Pupil Premium and disadvantage gap was a major national issue and had been a major target for RBWM for a number of years. She stated that RBWM was a high achieving education authority, and this had meant that the gap in RBWM was quite large.

From the published national data from last summer 2022, Claire Murray conveyed that the GCSE disadvantage gap had been the widest in 10 years (since 2011-12), primarily caused by the Covid pandemic, but the Borough was making progress in closing the gap. With Key Stage 2 (KS2), the Primary KS2 national gap had been the widest in 10 years with just 43% of poorer pupils having reached ‘expected standard’ nationally. Writing had fallen alongside maths, with the proportion of disadvantaged pupils meeting the ‘expected standard’ having dropped from 67% to 56%, compared to 84% to 78% among non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

Claire Murray informed that RBWM was following the same national trend with phonics, whereby performance standards of disadvantaged pupils in the Borough had fallen by 9% in contrast to non-disadvantaged pupils which had fallen by 4%. This trend applied to both KS1 and KS2 in RBWM while also being below the national average in some areas.

Claire Murray then explained how RBWM was seeking to rectify this. One method was the Pupil Premium networks where primary and secondary schools in the Borough meet at least three times a year to share strategies and ideas. She informed that RBWM had pockets of deprivation whereby some schools had high levels of deprivation than others, which could sometimes make looking at strategies very difficulties.

The national government, Claire Murray explained, had introduced Pupil Premium funding in 2022 for schools, in which schools were then required to formulate a three-year strategy to manage the funding and make improvements to disadvantaged pupils. As part of this, all schools had to record on their website and present to their governing bodies and local authority their approaches in implementing their strategy. These could include high-quality teaching, targeted academic support, and wider strategies. Claire Murray added that the Borough had taken forward the high-quality teaching strategy, elaborating that all research stated that quality teaching was the most effective method in narrowing the disadvantage gap.

Claire Murray then stated that the Borough was implementing a year-long project but had also signed up to the three-year Pupil Premium. The strategy involved training teachers to become instructional coaches on a vast array of teaching and learning strategies, which had proven to be very successful. 32 RBWM schools had become part of the project. The Borough was also working with Tom Sherrington, an educational guru from the Walkthrus Project, who had given educational advice to schools across the UK.

Claire Murray reiterated that instructional coaching was the most effective method to support and develop teaching staff. This would involve experts working with teachers in regular one-to-one sessions ensuring through a coaching model to improve teacher knowledge and therefore every lesson was effective as it could be, resulting in improved pupil achievement. Training and meeting had been arranged for every month until March 2024. Claire Murray hoped the year-long Borough-wide strategy and three-year Pupil Premium strategy would be effective.

The Chair asked Claire Murray if there were any schools which had not signed up to the strategy alongside the 32 other schools but believed that they should. Claire Murray replied that there were two schools in which the Borough was conducting some final negotiations, adding that it was not too late to join.

Councillor Wilson asked whether the training approach was an instructional coaching package for all teachers as well as whether it was designed to give extra guidance to teachers who might be perceived as not-so-qualified. Claire Murray replied that the school decided how they organised the training and that the training was designed for all levels of skill. For example, behavioural walkthroughs to improve class behaviour, such as common languages and questioning methods. Essentially, the training was needs-based, driven by the school.

Councillor Wilson then asked what the approach was for teaching assistants. Claire Murray replied that the training was open to all school staff in which they would have access to online resources and training from the Walkthrus Project. She added that headteachers had been to early briefing meetings which included asking them how they were going to train all their staff, including their teaching assistants.