Transparency data

Bournemouth School (Bournemouth) URN: 137452

Updated 14 February 2020

This transparency data was withdrawn on 14 July 2023

The Selective Schools Expansion Fund is closed and there are no plans to run future rounds.

Applies to England

Fair access and partnership plan summary

The above school has made a commitment to deliver the following fair access and partnership plan by 2020 (and in subsequent years) as part of its successful Selective Schools Expansion Fund bid.

Admissions

The school has already increased its year 7 published admission number (PAN) by 30 places to 180 for September 2019 and will offer an additional 30 places in September 2021 should additional secondary school places be required in the local authority area.

After the admission of looked after and previously looked after boys, all boys eligible for the pupil premium will be prioritised for admission.

The catchment area from which pupils are prioritised for admission has been made smaller removing more affluent areas and making it easier for those disadvantaged children living in the furthest extent of the catchment to travel to school.

Outreach

The targeted primary schools for the intended outreach work have been selected because (i) they have high numbers of disadvantaged pupils on roll, or (ii) serve an area of relative disadvantage.

Current partner schools are:

• Somerford Primary
• Bethany CE Primary
• Kingsleigh Primary
• Avonwood Primary
• Kings Park Primary

The school intends to extend its support to:

• Heathlands Primary
• Kinson Primary
• Pokesdown Primary
• Malmesbury Park Primary
• Queens Park Primary

As part of a new initiative, at least ten hours of free familiarisation on the school’s selection test will be offered to children eligible for the pupil premium at the targeted primary schools.

The school will deliver open days and programmes targeted towards disadvantaged pupils and their parents. The format is to be determined but the events will enable parents and pupils to become familiar with the school’s facilities, expectations, and the nature of the entrance tests. Families to whom such events will be targeted will be identified by the partner primary schools.

A summer school covering the three components of the entrance tests (English, mathematics and verbal reasoning) will be offered to local pupils eligible for the pupil premium from partner primary schools.

The school will also work with partner schools to develop effective approaches to working with years 2, 3 and 4 to raise aspiration and broaden horizons. This aspect of the work is intended to ensure that more local children regard attending a selective school as a realistic prospect, and know what the school has to offer.

The school will address any negative perceptions or concerns parents might have of the grammar school through senior staff visiting a wide range of primary schools beyond those within the partnership to explain the admissions process, accompanied by current students who previously attended those schools, or who are themselves disadvantaged.

The school will offer free home to school transport for those eligible for the pupil premium living within its priority area, and will subsidise transport for those eligible for the pupil premium who live further afield.

The school is negotiating with local primary schools to enable the selection test to be taken in a child’s own school during the school day. This will increase access for disadvantaged pupils given they won’t have to travel to test centres to take the test.

The school already works in a local consortium (with Bournemouth School for Girls, Poole Grammar and Parkstone Grammar Schools) that has resulted in the testing arrangements being aligned. This means it is easier for all pupils, including pupil premium pupils, to be considered for all selective schools in the area.

Free familiarisation material is already available on the school’s website. The school will also actively make this available to disadvantaged pupils in partner primaries (printed copies of the material will be given to those disadvantaged pupils who have been identified by the outreach partners as potential applicants to Bournemouth School).

Senior staff already visit several local primary schools in the spring and summer terms to speak to parents about the school and to inform them of how to gain a place for their sons. This will continue.

Workshops have been run for primary schools in music, art, technology and science, these will continue with the partner primaries. The nature of the workshops will be determined by an analysis of need by the outreach partner primary schools. Some workshops may involve only those pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium. Other workshops will include a wider range of pupils. This aspect of the work aims to raise the aspirations and broaden the horizons of the primary pupils.

Primary schools already use the school’s facilities for sports days to raise aspirations and increase participation in physical activity, this will continue. Gaining familiarity with the school’s facilities will, the school hopes, reduce barriers to those who wish to apply to the school, and improve transition for those who are allocated a place.

The school will extend the work of sixth formers and staff going into primary schools with higher numbers of pupil premium pupils to offer mentoring or support in literacy and numeracy. The work will target areas of development that have been identified by the partner school, and the sixth form students will work with pupils identified by the partner primary school. The work is intended to raise standards, but also support disadvantaged pupils accessing a grammar school education should they or their parents wish to.

Finally, the school will continue with the following activities:

• working with a local uniform supplier to both ensure ‘value for money’ and the school provides free ‘Bournemouth School specific’ items of uniform to those pupils eligible for the pupil premium (jacket, tie, sports shirts)
• enabling the school’s own pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium to participate in school trips and visits free of charge (such as to the World War I battlefields)
• meeting the cost of sundries for the school’s own pupils who are eligible for pupil premium to participate in extracurricular activities (such as musical instruments, sports equipment)
• providing bursaries to enable students to participate in sports competitions and musical performances nationwide, to join the Combined Cadet Force and complete the Duke of Edinburgh Award

Partnership

Partner secondary schools are Bourne Academy, Avonbourne and Harewood Colleges and the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Virtual School. The following new initiatives will build on relationships that have already been established and formalise the way in which schools work together for mutual benefit.

Working in partnership with Bournemouth School is intended to enable the Virtual School to more effectively build capacity by providing training and support to other professionals, such as designated teachers for looked after children.

Work will include:

• Bournemouth School hosting designated teachers network meetings as a forum for exchanging information
• sharing good practice and delivering training in effective pedagogy and practice
• developing a consistent approach to evaluating local schools’ expenditure of the Pupil Premium Grant
• ensuring that the educational progress of individual children is closely monitored as soon as they become looked after, so that the impact of care upon educational outcomes is more accurately measured and understood
• ensuring that personal education plans (PEPs) are sufficiently challenging with targets and planned actions focused on academic achievements
• offering specific curriculum support and careers education, advice and guidance to schools serving looked after children and their key workers across the local authority

The school will work with Bourne Academy, Avonbourne and Harewood Colleges on:

• a shared approach to transition between years 6 and 7 for pupils using the ASDAN ‘Lift Off’ programme. Lift Off is an activity based programme that develops soft skills and builds self esteem to help learners make a successful transition from primary to secondary school
• a review of the key stage 4 curriculum informed by latest GCSE outcomes, specifically for high prior attainers from disadvantaged backgrounds, agreement on priorities and the actions, responsibilities and timescales for meeting them
• a review of whole school approaches to target setting for individual pupils, assessing and tracking progress to ensure that high prior attainers from disadvantaged backgrounds have appropriate targets set, their progress is closely monitored, and timely intervention secures the desired outcomes
• a strategic approach across the schools on advising students on their post 16 options
• sharing best practice in delivering key stage 4 subjects
• shared INSET to share good practice and further develop partnership working
• developing a strategic approach to the delivery of pupil premium expenditure by extending the successful approaches that are already being employed, for example, through providing targeted additional tuition to small groups
• undertaking joint reviews of pupil progress, identifying areas for improvement and developing agreed strategies for effecting improvement

The school will also extend delivery of shared events and extracurricular activities (such as in science, sport and the arts) to a wider range of primary schools to raise the aspirations of primary aged pupils and encourage them to consider applying for a place at the school.