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Rita Vasa, Senior Adviser (Early Years & Primary) stated that the Teaching School Alliance were concerned with the low outcomes of some pupil premium children. They still felt there were low numbers of pupil premium children in Early Years education but, children that there were more children eligible for pupil premium that had not yet been identified. Once identified, schools could get more funding to support them.

The Senior Adviser (Early Years & Primary) said she had looked at early years champions to promote excellent practice; and good practice for pupil premium children was also good practice for all children. An event had been held at Alwyn Infants for networking. The hall for the event was full and a lot of the attendees were confirming that pupil premium was a much higher priority for schools.

The HMI conference found that when they carried out inspections, teachers did not know how pupil premium funding was provided and spent. At the pupil premium event, that was highlighted. Something very keen to be aware of was the spirit of foundation stage which must be upheld such as mental health issues; so if they could build a mental health focus into the foundations, that would make more resilient children in the future.

Literacy was very demanding for children with limited vocabulary and language skills. Teaching Assistants (TAs) were very influential for children so they were being upskilled. Senior speech and language practitioners had set up sessions for afternoons to help with upskilling TAs and were already being viewed as beneficial. One book that was highlighted was ‘Interacting or interfering’ by Julie Fisher which explained if child development was misunderstood, a TA or other professional could end up interfering when it was not needed. The Senior Adviser (Early Years & Primary) was keen to promote that book. Lplan training was also running which specialised in speech and language in preschool and reception class children.

Members noted that teachers preferred to be networking and discussing together with champions and giving presentations. At the last networking meeting, practitioners discussed future planning with cluster schools.

The Senior Adviser (Early Years & Primary) stated that the six weeks holidays in the summer were a significant time. Following the holidays, a Reception class teacher went on to take the same class in year one said she could not believe how much progress was lost during the holidays. Teachers were doing a lot of work on transitions. Members noted that two or three schools that were visited had looked closely at data and the impact such as phonics where parents felt they could not get into school. Practitioners had been encouraging them to go into schools and use the facilities; where that was happening, there was an uplift in children’s levels where there parents went into schools.

The network group was much better for practitioners to get together and hold discussions. Workshop ideas were shared across schools and they had a big impact, with activities such as outdoor learning. The Chairman stated there were lots of good things going on but they did not know if the activities were making a difference. He asked how success was being measured. Kevin McDaniel, Director of Children's Services said RBWM had amongst the smallest numbers of disadvantaged pupils, making comparisons difficult: when looking at statistics at that stage, in 2016, 141 out of 150 other authorities were faring better than the Royal Borough. When numbers were released in the autumn, the Borough would be building case studies to illustrate the picture of education for  pupil premium children in the Borough.

Helen McHale from the Nursery Federation listed interventions at nursery age that the federation were working on which included:

Ø  Self-esteem

Ø  Confidence

Ø  Routines

Ø  Nurture group targeted at specific children and parents for four weeks to extend children’s learning by doing simple things at home

Ø  Chatter packs to take home

Ø  Making up playdough

Ø  ELKLAN training

Ø  Stay and play sessions where the parents stayed for the first hour and played with their children.

The activities had all made a huge difference. The Director of Children's Services stated the activities were in line with what Ofsted were looking for and he wanted to see the activities introduced in schools. He added the relationship between school and home was very positive and the programme was very supportive for them.