Balwearie High School

Equity Planning

The Pupil Equity Funding is an additional funding stream allocated directly to schools from the Scottish Government and targeted at closing the poverty related attainment gap.

Pupil Equity Funding must enable schools to deliver activities, interventions or resources which are clearly additional to those which were already planned.

Although the Pupil Equity Funding is allocated on the basis of Free School meal eligibility funding must provide targeted support for children and young people affected by poverty to achieve their full potential.

Funding is focused on activities and interventions that lead to improvements in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing, leadership, learning and teaching, links with Communities and Families. 

For 2023/24 Balwearie High School allocated funding from PEF within the framework of "Interventions for Equity" and they include.

 

Reducing the cost of the school day by;

Offering free breakfasts for all pupils

Free uniform shop for all pupils 

Food parcels for families in crisis 

 

Breakfast Clubs

A Free and Healthy Breakfast club is open every morning from 8.30 a.m and pupils can also grab a take away breakfast if they are running late and do not have time to sit in for Breakfast .

 

Balwearie Raising Attainment Groups B.R.A.G

To establish partnerships to enhance the curriculum for our most vulnerable pupils

To raise the attainment and life chances of our SIMD 1 / 2  and free meal pupils.

To ensure equity of curricular provision for young people through improved engagement with our Community and partners .

Various projects have been created to raise the attendance, attainment and inclusion of pupils in all year groups. See the BRAG page for more details.

 

Furthest From Attainment 

PT Health & Wellbeing has been employed to identify and work with our most disadvantaged pupils through fitness and personal development and is currently working with 2 groups on Duke of Edinburgh

 

Pupils who have English as a second language: EAL 

PEF pays for a member of teaching staff to deliver support to our EAL pupils to deliver one to one and small group lessons with the aim to  engage pupils into all mainstream classes. PEF pay for specific dictionaries when required.

 

Numeracy

PEF has allowed the Maths department to purchase Sumdog which is an adaptive electronic learning package which research has shown aids closing the gap

'Show me' boards and the general upgrading of Numeracy resources will benefit the targeted groups and provide resources for different pedagogy styles, allowing all to develop interest, enthusiasm, learning in numeracy, supporting access to other areas of the curriculum.

 

Literacy

PEF has allowed the purchase of resources such as The Book Box which develops a range of reading skills and pupils can work their way through the colour coded levels acquiring different skills and confidence.

The Barrington Stoke books are specifically targeted at dyslexic or poor readers. They have a reading age level of 6-8, but content appropriate for early teens.