Pupil premium strategy statement – Talbot Specialist School

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

School overview

Detail	Data
Number of students in school	96
Proportion (%) of pupil premium eligible students	58%
Academic year/years that our current pupil premium strategy plan covers	2025/2026 to 2026/2027
Date this statement was published	December 2025
Date on which it will be reviewed	October 2026
Statement authorised by	Heather Partington
Pupil premium lead	Karen Halford
Governor / Trustee lead	Susanna Bradbury

Funding overview

Detail	Amount
Pupil premium funding allocation this academic year	£95,220
Pupil premium funding carried forward from previous years	£0
Total budget for this academic year	£95,220

Part A: Pupil premium strategy plan

Statement of intent

Our Mission Statement Students will achieve beyond expectations by: Making choices Creating memories Forming friendships Learning beyond the classroom In the next three years our school development plan details the action to be taken and when successful the students and their families should be able to see and feel the impact in the following ways: Statement of Intent Our aim is to use pupil premium funding to achieve and sustain improved outcomes for our disadvantaged students. While SEND is the primary barrier for most of our students, we recognise that socio-economic disadvantage can further impact attendance, communication development, access to wider experiences, and engagement with support services. Our strategy is built on three key principles: High-quality teaching We prioritise approaches that improve communication, independence and access to learning across the curriculum. This includes consistent communication systems, effective use of assistive technology, and ongoing staff development. Communication is at the heart of our approach. We have introduced a whole-school framework, Communication at the Heart of School (CATHS), to ensure that all staff use consistent, high-quality strategies to support, model and respond to students’ communication. This strengthens student voice (including for pre-verbal students), improves access to learning and reduces variation in practice across the school. Targeted support We provide structured, evidence-informed interventions to support communication, emotional regulation and social interaction. These are based on robust assessment and closely aligned with EHCP outcomes. Wider strategies We remove barriers through strong family partnerships, early intervention, and multi-agency working. This includes improving attendance, supporting wellbeing, and ensuring access to enrichment and preparation for adulthood opportunities. We will strengthen leadership capacity across inclusion, safeguarding and attendance to ensure consistent implementation and sustainable impact. Our approach is underpinned by evidence-informed decision-making and ongoing evaluation.

Challenges

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

Challenge number	Detail of challenge
1: Attendance	Internal data shows disadvantaged students attend below peers (approx. 1.5% gap), with higher persistent absence. For our cohort, barriers to attendance are often complex and interrelated, including: health and medical needs transport difficulties family circumstances anxiety and wellbeing needs These factors mean that disadvantaged students are more likely to require coordinated, multi-agency and early intervention support to sustain regular attendance.
2: Limited enrichment access	Internal tracking, along with discussions at annual reviews and with families, indicates that disadvantaged students are less likely to access a wide range of enrichment opportunities outside school. This results in: narrower lived experiences fewer opportunities to develop independence and social skills reduced confidence in engaging with the wider community For students with SEND, these missed experiences have a significant impact on Preparation for Adulthood outcomes, particularly in relation to choice-making, resilience and community participation.
3: Communication difficulties	Many students are preverbal or have significant communication needs. These barriers affect students’ ability to: access the curriculum express needs, choices and emotions build relationships Without targeted and consistent support, these gaps can widen over time.
4: Family support & early intervention	Through safeguarding records, wellbeing tracking and multi-agency work, we know that disadvantaged students and their families are more likely to require additional support to access services and sustain engagement with school. This includes: navigating external support systems responding to emerging wellbeing or behavioural needs engaging consistently with school-led interventions Where early intervention is not in place, needs can escalate, leading to: increased absence reduced engagement in learning greater reliance on reactive support Effective early intervention and strong partnerships with families are therefore critical to improving outcomes.
5: Consistency of practice	Variation in implementation across classes can limit impact of communication, behaviour and inclusion strategies.

Intended outcomes (3-year)

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
1. Improved attendance	Gap between PP and whole school reduces from ~1.5% to <1%; persistent absence decreases; 90% of identified students have early intervention plans
2. Access to enrichment	100% of students access at least one enrichment activity per term; increased breadth of recorded experiences; improved student voice in annual reviews
3. Communication development	Increased % of students meeting EHCP communication outcomes; reduced reliance on adult mediation; improved functional communication
4. Family engagement & early intervention	All identified students have support plans; improved family engagement; evidence of improved Preparation for Adulthood outcomes
5. Consistency of provision	Reduced variation across pathways; consistent implementation of communication, behaviour and inclusion systems

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.

Teaching

Budgeted cost: £2,982 (training) £17,365 (50% Level 3 TA)

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge(s) addressed	Outcome(s) supported
TA3 to support communication across school	Evidence shows that improving communication is central to students’ ability to access learning and develop independence. The Communication Trust and EEF emphasise the importance of structured support for speech, language and communication needs. This role will ensure consistent implementation of communication strategies across classrooms.	3, 4, 5	3, 4, 5
Whole-school staff training on communication: ‘Communication at the Heart of School’ (CATHS) approach	Whole-school communication approaches are shown to improve consistency and quality of interactions for students with complex needs. Embedding a shared framework (e.g. CATHS) ensures that communication is recognised as central to learning, inclusion and student voice. This aligns with evidence that high-quality teaching and consistent implementation across staff have the greatest impact on student outcomes.	3, 5	3, 5

Impact statement:
The implementation of a whole-school communication approach through CATHS will ensure consistency in how staff support, model and respond to communication. This will lead to improved student independence, stronger communication outcomes, increased student voice (including for pre-verbal pupils), and reduced variation in practice across pathways.

Targeted academic support

Budgeted cost: £466 (ICT) £26,675 (50% HLTA Communication)

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge(s) addressed	Outcome(s) supported
1:1 and small group communication interventions	EEF evidence shows that targeted small group and one-to-one interventions can accelerate progress when linked to classroom practice. These interventions are assessment-led and linked directly to EHCP communication outcomes, ensuring skills are generalised across school and home.	3, 4	3, 4
AAC technology (iPads/software)	Evidence suggests assistive technology can improve access to learning and support communication development, particularly for students with SEND. Early access to AAC reduces delays caused by external referral processes and enables students to communicate effectively sooner.	3	3

 

Impact statement:
Targeted interventions will accelerate communication development, reduce reliance on adult mediation and improve engagement.

Wider strategies

Budgeted cost: £6,751 (enrichment subsidies) £38,429 (HLTA Wellbeing Team) £2952 (medical tracker, IRIS and CPOMS)

Activity	Evidence that supports this approach	Challenge(s) addressed	Outcome(s) supported
Attendance leadership and early intervention systems	DfE attendance guidance emphasises early intervention, strong relationships with families and multi-agency working. A structured, data-led approach enables faster identification of barriers and targeted response.	1, 4	1, 4
Behaviour and wellbeing support (Inclusion Team)	EEF evidence highlights that behaviour and social-emotional support improves engagement and increases time available for learning. A trauma-informed, relational approach is particularly important for students with complex needs.	1, 4, 5	1, 4, 5
Data and tracking systems (CPOMS, provision maps)	Evidence indicates that responsive, personalised interventions—based on individual barriers—are most effective in improving attendance. This includes coordinated support involving families and external professionals.	1-5	1-5
Enrichment, trips, arts and community learning	EEF evidence suggests that arts participation and enrichment can improve engagement, confidence and wider outcomes, particularly when linked to curriculum and personal development goals. These experiences are essential for students with limited access outside school.	2	2

 

Impact statement:
These strategies will improve attendance, increase engagement, strengthen family partnerships and ensure students access a broad and meaningful curriculum.

Part B: Review of the previous academic year

Outcomes for disadvantaged students

Attendance

Disadvantaged students’ attendance remained below the whole-school average (approx. 1–2% gap). Early intervention improved engagement for targeted students, particularly where family support and multi-agency work were embedded.

Communication

Students receiving targeted support made the strongest progress. Increased use of AAC and visual communication improved engagement, but consistency across classes varied.

Enrichment

Most students accessed enrichment opportunities, leading to improved engagement and confidence. However, tracking lacked consistency, limiting evaluation of impact.

Wellbeing and family engagement

Strong relationships with families supported early identification of need. Early intervention improved outcomes, but delays in some cases led to escalation.

Overall evaluation

The performance of disadvantaged students partially met expectations. Effective targeted support demonstrates strong impact, but greater consistency and earlier intervention are needed.

How this has informed the current strategy

In response to our review, we have refined our approach to:

• strengthen attendance systems and leadership, with a clearer focus on early intervention
• improve consistency of communication approaches, including increased staffing and targeted intervention
• ensure all students have equitable access to enrichment, supported by improved tracking
• enhance multi-agency working and family engagement, particularly at an earlier stage
• develop robust tracking and evaluation systems to better evidence impact over time

In addition, we have introduced a whole-school communication framework (Communication at the Heart of School – CATHS). This reflects our evaluation that, while targeted communication support is effective, greater consistency across all staff and pathways is required to maximise impact.

This strategic development will ensure that communication is embedded across all aspects of teaching and learning, strengthening student voice, improving access to the curriculum, and reducing variation in practice across the school.

Additional Information

Our pupil premium strategy is closely aligned with our Quality of Inclusion strategy, ensuring that safeguarding, attendance, behaviour and communication are fully integrated.

We use evidence from:

• EEF guidance
• DfE attendance and pupil premium guidance
• Internal data and EHCP outcomes

We will continue to review and adapt our approach through:

• Termly evaluation
• Data analysis
• Professional dialogue
• Case study reviews