Show Notes
🎙️ THE LEADERSHIP LENS Episode: Pupil Premium in Practice: Using the DfE Menu of Approaches With Integrity In this in-depth episode of The Leadership Lens, Rachael Snowdon-Poole explores one of the most significant levers for educational equity and inspection: the Pupil Premium — and how school leaders can use it with integrity, clarity and impact, in line with the Department for Education’s Menu of Approaches and the Education Endowment Foundation evidence base. This episode is designed for headteachers, senior leaders, trust leaders and governors who want to move beyond compliance and develop a strategic, defensible and morally grounded approach to supporting disadvantaged pupils. 🔍 What this episode covers Across the episode, Rachael unpacks: The true purpose of the Pupil Premium Why it exists, what it is (and isn’t), and why it sits at the heart of inclusion, leadership and inspection. The national disadvantage gap How gaps widen from Early Years through to GCSEs — and why early, evidence-informed intervention matters. Understanding disadvantage in context Why socio-economic disadvantage often overlaps with SEND, SEMH, attendance and language barriers — and why one-size-fits-all strategies don’t work. The four funding streams Early Years Pupil Premium Main Pupil Premium Pupil Premium Plus (Looked After and Previously Looked After Children) Service Pupil Premium Including how funding is allocated, managed, and monitored. Looked After and Previously Looked After Children Why this group faces some of the largest attainment gaps nationally, how funding is routed through Virtual School Heads, and how Personal Education Plans (PEPs) should drive decision-making. Grant conditions and statutory responsibilities What schools must do — including publication requirements, evidence-based spending, and impact evaluation. The DfE Menu of Approaches explained clearly How all Pupil Premium spending must align to: High-quality teaching Targeted academic support Wider strategies Practical examples within each tier From CPD and curriculum development, to targeted tutoring, language interventions, attendance strategies and pastoral support. The five-step planning approach How leaders can: Identify real barriers Use robust evidence Develop a coherent plan Implement with fidelity Evaluate and sustain impact What inspection really focuses on How inspectors evaluate leadership thinking, alignment with the menu, quality of teaching for disadvantaged pupils, and the impact of spending — not just paperwork. 🎯 Why this episode matters The Pupil Premium is not a bolt-on or a budget line. It is a moral, strategic and legal responsibility. Used well, it: Changes life chances Strengthens inclusion Improves teaching for all pupils Used poorly, it becomes: A list of disconnected activities A compliance exercise A missed opportunity This episode helps leaders ensure their Pupil Premium strategy is coherent, evidence-informed, defensible and impactful. ⭐ Premium Members’ Resource Leadership Lens Premium members receive exclusive resources linked to this episode, designed to turn insight into action. Premium members receive: ✅ A full training presentation A ready-to-use slide deck that explains: The purpose of the Pupil Premium The DfE Menu of Approaches The three-tier model What effective spending looks like in practice ✅ A detailed training script A facilitator script that enables senior leaders to: Deliver confident CPD to staff Support governors’ understanding Align team thinking around evidence-based spending Strengthen inspection readiness These materials are ideal for: SLT meetings Trust-wide CPD Governor briefings Strategy planning sessions 👉 Join the Premium Members’ Hub here: https://the-leadership-lens.mykajabi.com/premium-membership 🎧 How to listen You can listen to The Leadership Lens for free on: Spotify Apple Podcasts Amazon Music Search The Leadership Lens in your preferred podcast app and follow or subscribe to stay up to date with future epi
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In last week’s episode, I explored why so many school development plans don’t quite do what we hope they will. We looked at the idea that we often focus too heavily on goals, rather than the day-to-day systems and habits that actually drive change in schools. We also reframed the starting point for planning away from “what do we want to achieve?” and towards “what are our persistent problems?” This week builds directly on that thinking. Because once you’ve identified your persistent problems, the next step is deciding what to do about them. That’s the moment where most plans either become genuinely powerful… or quietly fall apart. In this episode, I introduce the concept of premortems, a simple but incredibly powerful way of strengthening your school improvement plans before you implement them. Rather than waiting to evaluate something after it hasn’t worked, a premortem asks you to imagine that your plan has already failed, and then work backwards to understand why. It sounds uncomfortable, and it is, but that discomfort is exactly where the insight sits. In this episode, I explore: Why we tend to move too quickly from identifying problems to implementing solutions What a premortem is and where it comes from How premortems create space for honest, risk-aware thinking within leadership teams A step-by-step walkthrough of how to run a premortem effectively in your school A detailed school-based example focused on improving reading fluency in lower KS2 Three non-examples of premortems that look right on the surface but fail in practice — and what goes wrong in each case How to use premortems to strengthen your school development plan before it reaches the classroom 🧠 Key takeaway Identifying the right problem is only half the work. Designing the right response, and properly stress-testing that response before you implement it, is where school improvement either succeeds or quietly falls apart. Premortems help you do exactly that. 💡 Premium Membership If you want to take this straight into your own setting, this week’s premium resource is designed to do exactly that. As a premium member, you’ll receive: A full slide deck that walks you step-by-step through the premortem framework Clear guidance on how to structure and facilitate the session with your team A resource you can use immediately in SLT meetings or wider leadership discussions Premium membership also gives you access to the full back catalogue of 36 episodes, each with accompanying resources including: Training scripts Slide decks School development frameworks Practical tools you can use straight away Topics covered include safeguarding, behaviour, personal development, curriculum design, retrieval practice, alternative provision, and much more. 👉 You can join here: https://the-leadership-lens.mykajabi.com/premium-membership It’s £11 per month, and each week you’ll receive a resource linked directly to the episode, designed to support your work as a school leader in a practical, usable way.