Academy barriers to learning within specific context

Smallthorne Primary Academy is situated in the North of the city of Stoke-on-Trent, a key Opportunities Area In the 2018 Social mobility index, which compares the chances across the country that a child from a disadvantaged background will do well at school and get a good job, Stoke on Trent’s ranking is 263 out of 324 districts. The social mobility index by constituency (October 2018) shows constituencies as follows: North is 388/533, placing Smallthorne in the bottom 40% by early years’ life stage.

Barriers to learning within the context of the school relate to:
• Increasing % of pupils in need of SEN support, above national.
• Increasing % of in year transfers, moving slightly above national.
• Increasing % of vulnerable children displaying social, emotional and behavioural needs, in very many cases linked to family circumstances. This results in challenging classroom behaviours demonstrated by these children, impeding successful access to learning.
• For Early Years pupils, nursery and Reception, communication and language skills are, more frequently, a barrier to learning, along with low baseline entry skills across Early Learning goals.