Christabel Shepherd, NACE Challenge and Curriculum Development Director, introduces the new NACE Essentials guide on this topic.

There is strong evidence that an educational equity gap exists across all phases of the English educational system and that the effects of disadvantage are cumulative, so that the gap tends to increase as children grow older, especially during secondary schooling. 

Concerns about disadvantaged pupils have never been as acute as they are currently, nor felt as keenly following the coronavirus pandemic and related lockdowns. According to studies collated by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in its online collection Best evidence on impact of Covid-19 on pupil attainment, primary pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds have experienced 0.5 months more learning loss in reading and 0.7 months more in mathematics compared to their non-disadvantaged peers. Secondary pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds experienced two months more learning loss in reading than their non-disadvantaged peers. 

Information from the Education Policy Institute’s Annual Report (2020) points to the fact that the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has stopped closing for the first time in a decade. Disadvantaged pupils in England are 18.1 months of learning behind their peers by the time they finish their GCSEs – the same gap as five years ago. The gap at primary school increased for the first time since 2007 – which may signal that the gap is set to widen in the future.

The stalling of the gap occurred even before the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted the education system – as shown in reports commissioned for the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission (2014), briefings published by the DfE for school leaders (2015), and research from the Sutton Trust (2015 and 2018). 

Despite this worrying picture over many years, the plight of disadvantaged more able pupils continues to have been largely overlooked by schools. This may be based on an assumption that disadvantaged more able pupils will “be fine” and the misconception that, compared to less academically able learners, their needs are not as important or urgent. 

However, evidence shows that academically able pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are most at risk of under-performing (Sutton Trust, 2018). 

The DfE’s most recent guidance for school leaders on the use of the pupil premium (November 2021) demonstrates increased expectations in terms of the identification of the specific challenges facing disadvantaged learners, and the planning of focused, evidence-based approaches to address those challenges effectively. Although reference to more able disadvantaged learners has been made in previous iterations of the pupil premium guidance for schools, it is now far more explicit: these pupils should receive just as much focus as less academically able pupils.

This is a welcome change, which should help to narrow the widening gap between these learners and their non-disadvantaged peers, and address the “levelling up” agenda. Like any group of pupils, more able disadvantaged leaners have a right to have their needs met and it is our moral responsibility as educators to ensure that this is happening so that these young people have the same life chances as their peers.  

This month NACE has published a new NACE Essentials guide on the topic “Pupil premium and the more able”. Based on an in-depth review of education research evidence and literature, the guide provides support for school leaders to ensure that their school’s pupil premium funding can be used to maximise the opportunities for, and the achievement of, disadvantaged more able pupils. The key factors in developing a culture which will support the development and implementation of an effective pupil premium strategy are explored, and a range of specific evidence-based approaches aimed at meeting the needs of more able disadvantaged learners are exemplified. 

The guide is available free for all NACE member schools, along with the full NACE Essentials collection. Read now (login required).

Not yet a member? Join our mailing list to access our free sample resources.

Stephen Parry-Jones, Seren Network hub coordinator for Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil, takes a look at the network’s successes to date and plans to extend its coverage…

The Seren Network arose from concerns expressed by Lord Murphy, the former Cabinet Minister, that numbers of Welsh undergraduates at Oxford had declined. Lord Murphy was then appointed Welsh Government Oxbridge Ambassador and asked to explore possible reasons; he produced his final report in 2014, which can be viewed on the Seren website.

I was one of 11 individuals, drawn from every Welsh local authority, who were charged with turning his suggestion into some sort of reality. The emphasis was to be on bringing academically gifted sixth-formers together in “hubs” and providing them with super-curricular activities, as well as the additional support and guidance that a strong Oxbridge application requires.

Increase in Oxbridge applications from Wales

Many extension classes, visits from HE outreach officials, and trips to universities later, I was both pleased and relieved that the first independent evaluation, in 2017, was positive, in particular that “Seren makes a positive contribution to raising aspirations, boosting confidence and encouraging students to think more ambitiously about their university choices.”

The numbers are still being crunched, but it was encouraging that UCAS reported a 6% increase in “October 15th” applications from Wales – and this from a smaller pool of 17-year-olds, and with only the three pilot hubs functioning. Cambridge in particular has reported an upturn in the number of applications from Wales and, more importantly, the number of offers made. Applications to Oxford have also increased, though we have still to crack the challenging entrance tests that applicants face.

We quickly began to see that Seren was not just about Oxbridge, but about high-tariff university courses in general, whether in Wales, the wider UK or beyond. In my own hub, which serves some of Wales’ most deprived regions, I have been delighted to see Seren students taking up places at the most competitive universities, with Bristol, Imperial, Manchester and Warwick proving very popular. One student from our first cycle also gained a place at Yale, and others are now determined to follow her.

Plans to extend Seren’s work to KS3 and 4 

Of the evaluation’s recommendations, perhaps the most significant was the idea that Seren extend its work into Key Stages 3 and 4. This was something Seren hub coordinators and heads of sixth-form were already trying to do: we had very early on realised that remedial work post-16, focusing just on the sixth form, is simply too late. Ambitions often crystallise in Key Stage 3 and GCSE options, so critical for future pathways, are increasingly made in Year 8.

As with the hubs geared to sixth formers, work here will probably start with pilots, though existing hub coordinators are well placed to broker partnerships between schools, universities and organisations such as NACE and The Brilliant Club.

Local universities are also a supremely valuable resource, and Rhondda Cynon Taf has for several years organised an intensive day for its most academic Year 9 pupils at the University of South Wales. Subjects on offer have included philosophy, Mandarin, solving unusual maths problems, and Latin. Many of those attending had previously been unaware of the university’s existence, and were surprised to find they were able to cope with intellectual exercises of demanding nature. For some, it was the first time they had realised that they were “clever.”

Another crucial asset is local students at top-flight universities who are willing to talk to school pupils. Rhondda Cynon Taf has run an Oxbridge day for Year 10 pupils, featuring stimulating Q&A sessions with current undergraduates. We have now extended this to parents, and have been lucky to be able to call upon access and outreach fellows from both universities to talk to parents on a “cluster” basis. This has been particularly important in busting those Oxbridge myths which can do so much to deter able learners who are not from privileged backgrounds.

Our challenge now will be how we avoid diluting Seren’s offer without excluding those who might benefit – keeping in mind NACE’s core principles that ability is fluid, can be developed, and is closely linked to mindset.

After reading modern history at Oxford, Stephen Parry-Jones taught for 38 years. Apart from a five-year stint in a London direct grant grammar school, his career was spent in comprehensive schools in South Wales. He retired as a deputy head in 2015, and is now Seren hub coordinator for Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil education authorities. 

Reading’s Maiden Erlegh School recently gained NACE Challenge Award accreditation for the third time, marking its continued commitment to high-quality provision for more able learners in a context of challenge for all. In this blog post, deputy headteacher Sara Elliss outlines some of the key initiatives undertaken at the school to ensure more able learners are challenged and supported throughout their studies.

Whole-school leadership

The lead school within Maiden Erlegh Trust and Maiden Erlegh Teaching School Alliance, Maiden Erlegh School is a mixed comprehensive with approximately 1,800 students, with a high proportion of more able learners identified based on KS2 results on entry from a diverse local population.

For a number of years, the School Improvement Plan has included a section specifically referring to provision for the more able, which has been progressed by curriculum areas through annual Department Development Plans. All quality assurance documentation includes a section relating to provision for the more able, and all staff are encouraged to include a teaching, learning and assessment appraisal objective centred around challenge.

There is a more able coordinator to ensure provision is in place and student progress is tracked. All students choose their own aspirational target grade, which is based around FFT-5, with approximately 40% of students achieving these aspirational targets at the end of KS4.

Within the classroom

All schemes of work have been developed with the philosophy of teaching to the more able learners, and differentiating work to the support learners who are not able to access it at that level. A number of CPD sessions have been run by staff at all levels within the school with an emphasis on challenge.

Beyond the classroom

The Gold Programme was established for Year 9 students in 2012, aiming to:

• Give students every opportunity to broaden their intellectual experience well in advance of applying for university;
• Expose them to discussions and thinking beyond GCSE;
• Introduce them to universities, courses, and university alumni;
• Model a passion for learning and intellectual rigour.

In 2013, following our reaccreditation with the NACE Challenge Award, the NACE report recommended that Maiden Erlegh School should “create opportunities for younger [more able] students to work together as a group in the way that older students do through the Gold Programme”. In 2014, the school launched the KS3 Gold Programme, which has now evolved into the Silver Programme. This programme aims to:

• Provide students with the opportunity be stretched and challenged beyond the classroom;
• Help them become independent, higher-order learners;
• Celebrate their academic ability.
  

Students and parents are invited to a launch event at the beginning of Year 7 (Silver Programme) and Year 9 (Gold Programme). They are invited to join the programme if they are interested in the events that will be run throughout the year. Participation is not compulsory; the emphasis is on the student to engage with the opportunities provided. Each student is given a badge to wear on their blazer if they are a member of the Silver or Gold Programme.

The Gold and Silver Programmes offer a selection of sessions run voluntarily by staff after school, including:

• Studying… grade 9 skills which are subject-specific and include debating, critical essay writing, questioning
• Introducing… Latin, Greek, Italian, Chinese
• Exploring… psychology, criminology, philosophy, scene of crime officer (SOCO)
• Informing… medicine, Oxbridge, careers, developing resilience and using failure
• Thinking… “Gender neutrality: the way forward or PC gone mad?”; “Will we get a white Christmas?”; “The Lightning Process”; “The Palestinian Israeli conflict”; “Siege of Kenilworth Castle 1215”; “The Economics of Brexit”
• Reflecting… “If only I’d known then…”
• Visiting… Reading University, Thales, Tech Deck, STEM challenge days, Cambridge University

What has been the impact?

Learning walks and lesson observations indicate that there has been a noticeable shift in the pedagogy being used. Staff ensure students have enough time to think, question and explore ideas. At every data collection point, the more able data is analysed separately and included in the self-evaluation form for governors, senior leadership and teaching staff to evaluate. From this data it is clear that over 90% of the more able Year 7 students are making at least good or expected progress, or are now above national or well above national levels. KS4 and KS5 results analysis has also shown that students involved with the Gold Programme have performed well.

How is your school developing provision and support for more able learners? Contact us to share your story.