This one day conference will offer delegates practical strategies that can be adapted and implemented for their school’s unique circumstances.

The event will bring together senior leaders, Pupil Premium leads, teachers, and other experts to help attendees discover evidence-based and practical interventions and strategies for raising attainment, overcoming key barriers to learning and achievement, and narrowing the gap for disadvantaged pupils.

Themes include the removal of the barriers created by poverty; Covid recovery and catch-up work; Pupil Premium evaluation and reporting; long-term strategies; vocabulary and literacy; mental health and wellbeing; assessment; tutoring; and building relationships with vulnerable young people.

The event offers two keynotes:
• Opening keynote will feature the Cost of the School Day Team from the Child Poverty Action Group and Children North East. This three-year project seeks to identify the barriers that poverty creates to education – both large and small. This keynote session will explore how policies and practices in schools can pose barriers for low-income pupils and what schools can do to promote inclusion. The session will offer practical ideas and best practice examples to use in the classrooms and schools to help reduce the cost of the school day and make schools more inclusive for children from low-income families.
• Second keynote will feature the former government communication champion Jean Gross, who will discuss how to close the word gap for disadvantaged students. There is compelling evidence that limited oral language skills play a key role in the underachievement of many disadvantaged pupils. The DfE’s model Pupil Premium example statements strongly suggest that schools need to include an oracy focus in their spending plans. But what strategies are likely to have most impact? In this keynote session, Jean Gross will describe practical steps schools can take to build spoken language skills. She will touch upon three key approaches: scaffolded opportunities for purposeful talk, explicit teaching of vocabulary and listening skills, and additional interventions for those that need them.

The event offers 16 further sessions: five dedicated to primary school practice, five dedicated to secondary school practice, and six relevant to both phases.