Pupil Premium Strategy 2025–26

Haydon Bridge High School Pupil Premium Strategy Statement

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This statement details our school’s use of pupil premium funding to help improve the attainment of our disadvantaged pupils. It outlines our pupil premium strategy, how we intend to spend the funding in this academic year, and the outcomes for disadvantaged pupils last academic year.

School Overview

Detail	Data
Number of pupils in school	398
Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible pupils	29.7%
Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers	2025 to 2028
Date this statement was published	December 2025
Date on which it will be reviewed	June 2026
Statement authorised by	Dave Cookson
Pupil premium lead	Stephen Hill
Governor / Trustee lead

Funding Overview

Detail	Amount
Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year	£ 162,475
Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years	£ 0
Total budget for this academic year	£ 162,475

Part A: Pupil Premium Strategy Plan

Statement of Intent

Haydon Bridge High School must rapidly improve outcomes for all students in Key Stage Four but even more so for disadvantaged pupils. Quality first teaching and meeting the needs of every learner is at the heart of this strategy; however, none of this has an impact if the children are not actually in school. Improving attendance and reducing suspensions are both key to stronger academic success.

Challenges

This details the key challenges to achievement that we have identified among our disadvantaged pupils.

Challenge Number	Detail of Challenge
1	Attendance is currently too low, especially among disadvantaged pupils. Disadvantaged students are not “tracked” in a sufficiently granular way using school data.
2	Suspensions are too high, especially among disadvantaged pupils.
3	The gap in outcomes of disadvantaged pupils in core subjects compared to non-disadvantaged pupils is relatively narrow but this is due to low outcomes of all students at KS4. Disadvantaged students are not “tracked” in a sufficiently granular way using school data.
4	Effective provision maps need to be in place for all disadvantaged learners with SEND.
5	Engagement in daily reading and an improvement in reading age needs to be more rapid for disadvantaged students.

Intended Outcomes

This explains the outcomes we are aiming for by the end of our current strategy plan, and how we will measure whether they have been achieved.

Intended Outcome	Success Criteria
Attendance will meet national averages	2025/26: attendance rises significantly from current levels to above 90% for disadvantaged learners. 2026/27: attendance rises to national averages for disadvantaged learners. 2027/28: attendance is maintained at national averages for disadvantaged learners with some children exceeding national averages.
Suspensions will decline	2025/26: suspensions fall by 50% for all students and by 60% for disadvantaged children compared to 2024/25 levels. 2026/27: suspensions fall by a further 10% compared to 2025/26 levels for all students. 2027/28: suspensions fall by a further 5% for all students, compared to 2026/27 levels.
English and maths grades to improve rapidly for disadvantaged children	2025/26: attainment 8 score rises to 45.0 for disadvantaged students with 30% achieving grades 5 to 9. 2026/27: attainment 8 score rises to 47.0 for disadvantaged students with 35% achieving grades 5 to 9. 2027/28: attainment 8 score rises to 48.0 for disadvantaged students with 40% achieving grades 5 to 9.
Provision maps for SEND children are completed and used effectively by all staff	SEND disadvantaged students make expected progress between KS2 and KS4. Evidence of typical bespoke intervention and support is robust for all SEND disadvantaged students.
Reading ages for disadvantaged students meet age related expectation	2025/26: 95% of disadvantaged students meet age related expectation for reading. 2026/27: 98% of disadvantaged students meet age related expectation for reading. 2027/28: 100% of disadvantaged students meet age related expectation for reading.

Activity in this Academic Year

This details how we intend to spend our pupil premium funding this academic year to address the challenges listed above.

1. Teaching (for example, CPD, recruitment and retention)

• Budgeted cost: £ 35,000

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
CPD package through National College	All staff have six hours of bespoke training to meet the needs of learners in their classes.	3, 4, 5
Staff training in the “Haydon Bridge SCRIPT” and positive use of language around attendance	An approach where attendance is the problem for us all to be rolled out across the school.	1
The role of “Restart Champion” and “Pastoral Teacher” to be introduced (latter piloted early 2026)	Restart Champion to work with a small group of children at high risk of disengagement, poor attendance and suspension.	1, 2
Additional admin support for SENDCO	Two days additional admin support to free up SENDCO to complete more strategic work (from January 2026).	2, 3, 4

2. Targeted academic support (for example, tutoring, one-to-one support, structured interventions)

• Budgeted cost: £ 60,000

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
Reading interventions for those with lowest reading ages	Literacy strategy and action plan which identifies: closing the reading gap for the bottom 9%, improving whole-school reading comprehension and disciplinary literacy, strengthen phonics and decoding for struggling readers, increase reading engagement across the school, embed literacy monitoring and accountability.	5
Maths intervention for GCSE students	Small group intervention, especially for those on the grade 3 to 4 border or grade 4 to 5 border.	3
Extensive use of HLTAs in Year 7 and 8	This gives ultimate flexibility to support learners in each class, allowing for small group work, one-to-one support in line with EHCPs and provision maps.	3, 4, 5

3. Wider strategies (for example, related to attendance, behaviour, wellbeing)

• Budgeted cost: £ 70,000

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge number(s) addressed
Appointment of Restart Champion	The RC works with students most vulnerable with interventions and timetabled activities aimed at increasing the confidence of young people, improving their attendance and lowering suspensions.	1, 2, 3, 4
Creation of the “backyard” for Year 7	The extension of the “Foundation Studies” model to cover both Year 7 and Year 8 will allow for bespoke interventions using HLTAs.	1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Music project for spring term	A rolling programme of music provision for KS3 in the spring term that allows children not exposed to music provision to experience playing instruments, writing music and taking part in performance.	1, 3, 4, 5

• Total Budgeted Cost: £ 165,000

Part B: Review of the Previous Academic Year

Outcomes for Disadvantaged Pupils

Metric	School Data Performance
Basics 9-4	34.6% (Non-Pupil Premium: 43.5% / National Average: 67.1%)
Basics 9-5	11.5% (Non-Pupil Premium: 15.2% / National Average: 45.2%)
Attainment 8 (A8)	27.1 (Non-Pupil Premium: 39.9 / National Average 2024: 46.3)
Progress 8 (P8)	(0.38) (Non-Pupil Premium: (0.26))

The school has put in place a number of strategies to make rapid improvements in outcomes at KS4. The Pupil Premium plan dovetails with the RISE development plan which is funded through the Department for Education. The school has received £240,000 for this work and is partnered with Cumbria Education Trust.

Externally Provided Programmes

Please include the names of any non-DfE programmes that you used your pupil premium to fund in the previous academic year.

Programme	Provider
Music Programme	Queen’s Hall, Hexham

Service Pupil Premium Funding (Optional)

• How our service pupil premium allocation was spent last academic year:

• The impact of that spending on service pupil premium eligible pupils: