Been thinking about Pupil Premium recently. The obsession with closing the gap has led to some pretty bizarre practices in schools; the insistence it is a performance measure. Maybe we think about it the wrong way round. Maybe we should consider what the gap might be if we didn't have the funding.

Closing the gap measures are generally nonsense

Forcing teachers to make notes and remember their PP students and to make specific adjustments for them feels counter to the concept of PP. PP money should focus on making sure everyone has access to enrichment or activities that many don't. Working in a 70% PP school changed my view completely

Some of us Govs read Equity in Education this summer - it makes interesting points including ones you make in this discussion e.g. schools can't fix this alone - needs political action to remove poverty barrier. I also like points they make re use of word 'disadvantaged' setting up deficit mindset.

It always boggles me when Ofsted praise a school for closing the gap, when all the evidence points to them merely allowing the outcomes of its non-disadvantaged to fall to the level of others. Data - so often misused to fit the prevailing narrative of the day.

I once read a blog which was a bit of lightbulb moment for me. @kateowbridge.bsky.social shared it on X - it was a great analogy which essentially said if you want to improve outcomes for disadvantaged, improve teaching generally in essence. Made a lot of sense to me.

When I was a head I once used PP to raise primary pupils’ aspirations by taking them to several work environments and the local FE college to have a look at courses. Broadened their horizons. But just one way of using it.

What’s that link? Doesn’t work

Was there a link attached to this post? It won’t open for me!

Because we are 65% PP I just look for while school things that need doing and that will benefit the most children.

Focus long on gap to national outcomes and the rising tide effect of improving outcomes for all is essential. We live an enormously unequal society and we will always strive to mitigate the effects of that but closing internal gaps is a fool’s errand.