Pupil Premium Provision at The UCS
At The University Collegiate School, our Pupil Premium provides us with a focus on children who need extra support, experiences or provision to flourish and aspire in line with their peers, encouraging them to achieve the educational outcomes that they are capable of.
We know that the most significant way we can help children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds succeed is through excellent teaching in every lesson, every day. “Quality First Teaching” is designed to meet children’s needs and challenge them to learn and remember more. As you will see by investigating the curriculum section of our website, our curriculum is rich and interesting, enhanced by the UCS Unlocks programme, after-school clubs and strategically prioritised interventions, peripatetic teaching, workshops and curriculum-mapped experiences. We support disadvantaged families by funding these activities so that all of our children can participate equally, with the guidance of subject specialists to promote not only outstanding learning, but also a love of the subject(s) to which the experiences are designated to promote schematic links.
During the lockdowns, many of our disadvantaged families faced enormous challenges. We provided them with additional support by continuing to educate the children in school, alongside children of key workers. We maintained regular contact with parents, and delivered food parcels, resources and digital provisions. Where parents preferred their children to learn online at home we provided them with an iPad and access to the internet.
We have continued with many aspects of online learning as part of our Trust Digital Strategy. Where required we continue to provide connectivity to children eligible for Pupil Premium.
Families who are disadvantaged live with significant pressures which can increase stress and have an impact on children’s emotional wellbeing. Additional support for children’s wellbeing, social and mental health is provided where this is needed.
While nationally there is still a large attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers, this gap tends to grow as children grow older. Our goal is to avoid this gap developing by tracking each child carefully and considering what she or he needs to thrive alongside her/his peers. Many disadvantaged children are very able; our school is a safe and happy place where we have high expectations of every child, encouraging each individual to excel.
Our policy for this academic year can be found below:
16-19 Tuition Funding
Our strategy to support 16-19 Tuition Funding is outlined below: