Pupil Premium
There are a high percentage of our young people who fail to engage for reasons often unconnected with school. These reasons may include turbulent and traumatic living arrangements, poor mental health and difficult social relationships with peers. These young people are often in receipt of pupil premium, and it is this group that have been identified as “hard to reach” that the school wishes to target.
The Dorchester Learning Centre is an alternative provision school working with some of the most challenging and vulnerable young people in Dorset. Before the pupils join our school, the majority of them have already been identified as having significantly low school attendance. DLC offers a tailored timetable to each individual pupil and that in itself leads to increased attendance, good progress and positive outcomes in terms of achieving a range of qualifications, including GCSE English and Maths.
The school recognises that whilst the primary function is to provide education, if it does not in some way alleviate or remove the barriers to learning that are in our young people’s homes or local community, then we will not be able to reach them. Experience tells us that what makes a difference to the lives of the most disadvantaged learners is passionate, committed people working with them.
From April 2021 the funding for a pupil attracting pupil premium was:
£1345 per pupil in reception to year 6 and £955 per pupil in year 7 to year 11
The funding has aided the employment and training of a Mental Health and Wellbeing department, this new structure consists of the Mental Health Senior Lead and two Family Workers. The role of these staff members is to support young people and their families with non-educational problems. Significantly these keyworkers are managed by our designated safeguarding lead and this allows the DSL to monitor situations and provide information and evidence indicating when referrals to agencies, such as social care, may be appropriate. The impact of this team is intended to:
Improve the attendance of pupil premium pupils
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Offer support and welfare
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Encourage positive relationships
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Increase engagement in education
Pupil Premium Guarantee
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Guaranteed access to individualised timetables
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Guaranteed access to vocational and enrichment activities
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Guaranteed access to interventions such as tutoring and mentoring
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Guaranteed access to small class sizes
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Guaranteed access to 1:1 support for Literacy and Numeracy
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Guaranteed access to therapeutic interventions such as Thrive
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Guaranteed access to a pastoral/family key worker
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Guaranteed access to a Careers Advisor from years 10 to 11
