Councillors have been investigating how disadvantaged pupils are being supported at schools across Bracknell Forest.

‘Pupil premium’ children are those children who come from low-income families and have special educational needs (SEND), and schools receive up to £2,300 per student in order to assist their learning.

An investigations group made up of councillors sitting on the children, young people and learning (CYPL) committee at Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) identified a need to scrutinise how teachers were held to account to ensure disadvantaged children were achieving to the best of their abilities.

From a survey of Year 6 pupils from 2017, it was found 5.5 per cent of children were from low-income families and had SEND, and a report produced by the investigations team outlined pupils from low-income families are more likely to be identified as having SEND, but are less likely to receive support that would address their needs.

The group visited six Bracknell Forest schools and Didcot Girls Schools, which has “outstanding outcomes” for children in receipt of funding, to understand and learn about good practice.

From their research, it was found effective schools across Bracknell Forest had “clear, responsive leadership” in their work towards supporting disadvantaged pupils and monitoring of the funding for them, good links to governors and staff worked hard to identify pupils needs as early as possible.

The group’s report also outlined that a number of schools in Bracknell Forest have a whole-school ethos, whereby quality teaching was “tilted” to ensure disadvantaged children’s work was checked first to ensure any difference between them and their peers was diminished.

However, findings did show variations between schools in disadvantaged pupils attendance, and some leaders at schools claimed they were not fully confident they knew of all the support available to them from beyond the council.

Although, effective schools had put in “thorough measures” to limit any risk associated with disadvantaged pupils transitioning at key points in their education, and for a number of schools ensuring this transition went smoothly was a priority for them.

Following the research, the investigations group produced 12 recommendations relating to how schools and the local authority can ensure disadvantaged pupils get the support they need.

Members of the council’s CYPL committee approved these recommendations at a meeting on Wednesday, March 20 after Cllr Dee Hamilton presented the findings.

She said: “We agreed that this issue needed more work.

“It was really lovely to see the passion and drive from senior leaders and that so much work is being done to achieve their aims.”

Cllr Michael Brossard, who was part of the investigations team, also commended school leaders, adding: “I think the one word I can sum it up with is passion. They really cared for their children.

“I would almost like to go back to school. It was quite a learning curve for me.”