Vulnerability

Everyone who is committed to the education of Northumberland's children and young people needs to be conscious of the challenges that face vulnerable groups of people. We develop strategies to target our resources to meet those needs and close gaps in achievement. We hope to give children the best chances in life by giving them an education that will offer them choices and opportunities.

Data tells us that vulnerable groups include: Looked After Children (LAC), those with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (LDD), Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) pupils, children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), those at risk of becoming Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), Gypsy Roma Traveller and other mobile children, Children eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) and Early Years children, for example children eligible for the free funded two year old places.

The Pupil Premium Grant

Some of these children attract the Pupil Premium Grant, which is paid to schools to support children who might be challenged by financial disadvantage, being in the care of the Local Authority or having parents serving in the Armed Forces. The Department for Education web site has a section about the PPG and how schools can make best use of it.

In February 2013, Ofsted published a guide The Pupil Premium: how schools are spending the funding successfully to maximise achievement. The accompanying analysis and challenge tools may also be helpful to schools.

A  useful response to these publications has been published on the lkm web site in the format of 15 questions.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation wants lasting change for people and places in poverty, communities where everyone can thrive and a more equal society. Their work and publications about poverty and social exclusion are very relevant to this agenda. Published in January 2013, their report Educational Aspirations: How English Schools Can Work With Parents to Keep Them on Track illustrates that for many low income pupils the problem is not low aspiration, but a need for parental support to help achieve their goals.

Oxford school improvement has section of their web site which offers guidance and good practice guides to primary schools. For secondary settings, there is a report that reviews effective practice in tackling poverty and disadvantage in Welsh schools.

Links and resources

Some futher links and resources to help schools to consider how to recognise and set objectives relating to closing gaps and and ensuring equality in education and provision are listed below:

• The Pupil Premium Toolkit. Suggested strategies to improve learning. February 2013. Revised with case studies, video clips and evidence about what works.
• DfE The Pupil Premium, what you need to know
• A summary of the January 2013 school census data summarising the ethnicity and first language of children in Northumberland's schools
• How schools secure the progress of children from the armed forces families. Good practice guidance.
• The narrowing the gaps pedagogy project
• Achievement for All is a national charity which supports schools to improve the aspirations, access and achievement of learners and young people
• Archived web content of former DCSF Narrowing the Gaps strategies 
• Archived content: Raising Gypsy Roma Traveller acheivement 
• Provision management
• The educational achievement of Looked After Children
• Closing gaps for children with additional needs
• Child poverty 
• Social mobility The government strategy
• Vulnerable young people
• Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion (JRF 2011 full assessment)
• Social Justice: Transforming Lives (HMG March 2012)

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