16-19 Bursary Funding
The 16 – 19 Bursary Fund provides financial support to help students overcome the specific financial barriers to participation they face so they can remain in education. (Education and Skills Funding Agency , March 23)
There are 2 types of 16-19 bursaries :
- Bursaries for defined vulnerable groups
- Discretionary bursaries which school awards using policy guidance in line with specific funding rules.
At John Grant School , applications for bursary funding are administered at the start of the Autumn term each academic year.
The appropriate application form and policy guidance is provided to all relevant students / their parents/carers.
As a school we follow the guidance provided by the Education and Skills Funding Agency in order to identify vulnerable pupils.
The school is awarded funding each year for discretionary bursaries this is also allocated in line with guidance provided by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. This is typically used to support transport costs but is based individual circumstances/identified need.
Pupil Premium Funding
Pupil Premium Funding 2022-23
Number of Students on Roll September 2022: 174
Total Number of pupils eligible for PPG: 80 (FSM) + 7 (LAC) = 87
Total amount received: £85515
The funding this year continues to focus on some of the specialist support we provide to the pupils in order to minimise their barriers to learning and maximise their opportunities for making progress. Much of this is provided by our Specialist Higher Level Teaching Assistants and also funds a Parent Support Advisor and a specialist Transition Support Teacher (2 days a week) to ensure our pupils are well prepared for, and have the best possible chance of making, a positive transfer to the next stage of their lives/education. This work focusses on pupils in Year 9 and above.
The school monitors the progress of the pupils who qualify for pupil premium separately in order to ensure they are doing well and are not in any way disadvantaged by any of the difficulties they face. In general, however, our records show that this cohort of pupils is doing well and making progress in a range that is extremely similar to the range across the school.
The following is an outline of the areas of support provided:
Parent Support Advisor
The school employs a full time parent support advisor who is also a DSL. The PSA provides specialist support to the families of our pupils through a wide variety of multi-agency working. Examples of the co-ordinated support we provide include : financial support and information including support with applying for specific benefits and grants, liaison with community services such as DIAL and the Early Help Service. This invaluable work supports our families to overcome potential barriers to supporting their young person’s learning at home as well as promoting positive parental engagement with the school community.
HLTA for Behaviour Support
Qualified Norfolk Steps trainer – member of the Behaviour Support Team – offers support and advice on behaviour across the school hence reducing barriers to learning. In the last year the amount of non-contact time for this member of staff has increased again to enable her to have more time to observe pupils in class, advise on possible strategies, provide staff training and monitor the implementation of Behaviour Management Plans.
Pupil Premium funding has also been allocated to support additional staffing levels (2 Co-educators) for additional behaviour support to enable pupils to access learning safely and appropriately alongside their peers.
We have invested and trained a further 4 Norfolk Steps trainers to support the Behaviour Support HLTA with training and support across the school.
HLTA for Specialist Emotional Wellbeing Support
The school employs a specialist HLTA as lead practitioner for emotional wellbeing support who is based in school 4 days a week. This provides our pupils with a variety of therapeutic support in an environment, which they are familiar with and feel safe in. This includes ‘nature -nurture’ sessions, forest school, 1:1 sessions and small group interventions. We also liaise closely with the our local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service to support inter agency communication to ensure the best possible support for our pupils.
Transition Support Teacher
Provides support to our students (and their families) that are leaving school this year – arranging college visits, making college applications, liaison with social services and contributing to the writing of transfer Education Health Care Plans.
Sports Premium
Primary Sports Premium
Sports Premium 2022-23
Amount received £16920 (plus carry forward from 21/22: £29893)
The School continues to invest in the provision of sports opportunities for all pupils as detailed below. Most recently, we have invested some of the Primary Sports premium in a PE support assistant apprenticeship. This enables more of our primary pupils of all abilities to access PE and Swimming in a meaningful and flexible way. This includes increasing access to rebound therapy and lunchtime sports clubs.
We pride ourselves on the quality of our PE and School Sport provision. All of our pupils receive high quality PE following updated medium term plans and have access to a variety of sporting opportunities throughout their school lives.
We are grateful to receive Primary Sport Premium funding to support our work in PE and Sport. This academic year we have used this funding to support the following:
Inclusion opportunities: We have used some of our funding to enable all of our primary classes to experience a sporting trip outside of school. This has previously included trips to a local ten pin bowling alley and trampoline park.
Special School Competitions and events: We have used Primary Sport Premium funding to ensure our primary pupils are given every opportunity to compete and experience sporting events alongside their peers from other Norfolk Special Schools. These sporting events have included, Boccia, Football, Athletics, Multi skills, Table Cricket as well as PE events specifically for PMLD and ASD pupils.
Playground equipment: The Primary Sport Premium is also used for the purchase of resources to be used on the playground to help keep our primary aged pupils active throughout the day, including those with physical disabilities. These include bikes, tricycles, helmets, scooters, gym equipment and various bats and balls. We have invested in a new outdoor area for primary pupils to encourage and support activities which are accessible all year round outdoors in our undercover area.
PE and swimming equipment: We continue to keep our PE and swimming resources up to date, to ensure pupils are given continual new experiences.
Fitness: We have invested in new fitness equipment to keep our fitness suite up to date and accessible for all our pupils.
We were delighted to see our hard work recognised in our most recent Ofsted inspection (November 2017):
“Physical education (PE) is a strength of the school. The PE leader ensures that all pupils are active during the school day. There are many opportunities to take part in sporting activities in school time.”
2022_2023 (Current) Year 6 Cohort Swimming Data:
Percentage of pupils that can swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of a least 25 m : 44%
Percentage of pupils that can use a range of swimming strokes: 33%
Percentage of pupils that can perform safe self rescue in different water based situations: N/A