Archbishop Holgate’s School – Disadvantaged Improvement Plan 2026/27
At AHS, we believe there should be no barrier to success. Each child is supported, as an individual, to achieve their personal and academic potential. Our students, even if they face a disadvantage in their life, have a significant chance of achievement. This is due to a personalised approach which places the individual student at the centre of everything we do.
‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.’ John 10:10
‘Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.’
Historic Disadvantaged Results
Progress 8 Years:
The Progress 8 performance of our students has consistently been excellent and has exceeded the national average for all pupils. While it is not appropriate to make direct comparisons this year, due to Progress 8 not being a measure for 2024/25 & 2025/26 results, we are extremely proud of the continued progress our students have made, and the opportunities this progress unlocks for their future success.
Our disadvantaged students, in particular, have significantly outperformed their peers locally and nationally. Over the last five years, the average progress of our disadvantaged pupils has been +0.09, with the highest recorded progress reaching +0.30. This equates to nearly a third of a grade higher than the national average for similar students. Our unwavering focus on treating every student as an individual, alongside a whole-school strategy to address the disadvantage gap, continues to drive our efforts to close this gap further.
| GCSE Progress 8 | ||||
| Year | Progress 8 – All | Progress 8 – Disadvantaged | ||
| 5 year average | + 0.57 | +0.09 | ||
| 2023/24 | +0.24 | -0.33 | ||
| 2022/23 | +0.50 | +0.05 | ||
| 2021/22 | +0.73 | +0.30 | ||
| COVID | ||||
| 2018/19 | +0.79 | +0.26 | ||
| 2017/18 | +0.60 | +0.15 | ||
We are incredibly proud of our GCSE students’ resilience and dedication, with our disadvantaged cohort significantly outperforming national benchmarks across key English and Maths measures. Receiving National Government recognition and receiving a letter from the Education Secretary as our disadvantaged results were amongst the top nationally.
Key Highlights & Achievements
- English & Maths Pass Rate (Grade 4+): 52% of our disadvantaged students achieved a pass in both English and Maths, surpassing the national average for disadvantaged students (43%) by an impressive 9 percentage points.
- English & Maths Strong Pass (Grade 5+): 28% of our disadvantaged students secured a Grade 5 or above in both subjects, beating the national benchmark for disadvantaged pupils (26%).
- Defying National Trends: In a year where English and Maths grades fell nationwide, our students continued to push forward, outperforming national expectations and demonstrating exceptional progress.
Through hard work, tailored support, and a commitment to excellence, our students continue to prove that background is no barrier to high achievement.
Archbishop Holgate’s School – Disadvantaged Improvement Plan 2026/27
Guided by the core values of John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full,” and the Multi-Academy Trust’s vision of “Serving and Inspiring,” the 2026/27 academic year will focus on a whole-school priority to provide every disadvantaged child with the best possible start in life. This is built on last academic year’s brand new disadvantaged improvement plan
| OBJECTIVES FOR 2026/27 | ||
Objective 1Targeted Support – Effective Collaboration – Removing Barriers and Raising Aspiration | Raise the profile of disadvantaged pupils at all levels and areas of school to ensure all staff are aware of their individual needs and support their success. | |
Objective 2High-Quality Teaching & Learning | Implement whole school strategies to support vulnerable and disadvantaged students in their exam preparations. Including mentoring and coaching of staff. | |
Objective 3Targeted Academic Support – Transition | Provide additional support at key transition points to ensure pupil success in their next steps. Along with interventions and reviewing of revision strategies. | |
Objective 4Wider Strategies – Attendance | Improve attendance by fostering strong relationships between the school, pupils, and their families. | |
Objective 5Wider Strategies – Cultural capital | Increase the offer and the uptake of cultural capital experiences as well as positive engagement in a varied extra-curricular programme. Including a focus on careers planning and completing a poverty proofing review. | |
| OBJECTIVE 1: Raise the profile of disadvantaged pupils at all levels and areas of school to ensure all staff are aware of their individual needs and support their success. | |
|---|---|
| ACTION | TIMESCALE |
| Categorise disadvantaged pupils in KS3,KS4 to identify prior attainment and learning barriers (1,2,3). Whole school year team meetings (15 minutes) focussed on disadvantaged pupils in each year group. | Autumn term 1, to then be reviewed half-termly. |
| Hold weekly teacher around the PP pupils (TAP) meetings focused on KS4 disadvantaged pupils to share effective strategies. | Weekly,starting Autumn term 1. (Week 2.) |
| Prioritisation of disadvantaged pupils through standing agenda item in both academic and pastoral leadership meetings to improve communication and coordination. | Weekly with academic and pastoral meeting structures |
| Half termly staff briefing (SnS) and Yr 11 disadvantaged report to update on specific disadvantaged students, as well as the weekly bulletin. | Half termly |
| Curriculum SoW and lesson planning is appropriate for contextual background. | Termly review |
| Lesson observation/learning walk documentation highlights additional provision for disadvantaged pupils. Linked to this, staff will explicitly discuss disadvantaged students in lesson observation feedback. | Ongoing |
| OBJECTIVE 2: Implement whole school strategies to support vulnerable and disadvantaged students in their exam preparations | |
|---|---|
| ACTION | TIMESCALE |
| Implement ‘purple zone/independent practise’ strategy within each subject area to develop pupil independence and resilience. | Purple zone/independent practice activities to be built into each lesson. |
| Enhance the provision for iterative assessments from just KS4 to KS3 also to aid memory retention | Termly iterative assessments at KS4 &3. |
| Ensure that Yr11 disadvantaged pupils receive Knowledge Organisers. | Knowledge organisers to be produced each half term per subject area. |
| Bespoke intervention targets disadvantaged pupils in core subjects. Pastoral/ HoD/teachers and Ebacc leads to support attendance | Autumn term onwards |
| Continued focus around adaptive teaching strategies, ensuring that these key teaching strategies are used in lessons to address learning gaps. | On going. |
| Prioritise marking and feedback for disadvantaged pupils. Ensure detailed feedback allows disadvantaged pupils to respond and improve. New marking policy of sample marking and prioritise PP students. | Formal marking and feedback to follow each individual school’s marking policy. |
| Use meta-cognition strategies like ‘exam wrap-arounds’ for KS4 disadvantaged pupils. | Post mock examinations. Year 10, summer term 2. Year 11, Autumn term 2 and Spring 1. |
| Reading strategy | Ongoing |
| Curriculum revision weekend scheduled to Boggle hole prior to summer examinations | May |
| Mentoring and coaching of staff to ensure strategies are embedded and puts PP at the forefront. | Ongoing |
| OBJECTIVE 3: Provide additional support at key transition points to ensure pupil success in their next steps. | |
|---|---|
| ACTION | TIMESCALE |
| Year 11 disadvantaged students meetings with leadership post mocks for a supportive meeting. Run weekly/fortnightly mentoring sessions with school leaders | After mocks for formal leadership meetings. |
| All year teams to meet disadvantaged pupils three times a year to establish barriers. | Termly |
| Career guidance for disadvantaged students is structured, formalised and ensures high aspirations. Opportunities are provided in both KS3 and KS4. Careers advisor tracks and evidence outcomes for disadvantaged students. Careers advisor to prioritise disadvantaged student work placements, ensuring they are appropriate and engaging. | Throughout the academic year. |
| Equipment ensuring all students are provided with a full set of equipment | September 2025 |
| Reviewing of revision strategies. | Ongoing |
| Interventions – BRAG | Ongoing |
| OBJECTIVE 4: Improve attendance by fostering strong relationships between the school, pupils, and their families. | |
|---|---|
| ACTION | TIMESCALE |
| Review disadvantaged student attendance daily and weekly. Make daily morning phone calls & nudge texts to support parents, tracking calls on a central spreadsheet. Conduct targeted home visits. Identifying and assisting pupils needing transport to school. Consistent application of the whole school and MAT attendance procedures. | Daily, weekly and half termly. |
| Foster positive engagement with parents through in-school and community events. To support this, introduce the new booking system and QR code registration process to monitor attendance. | Half termly |
| Bespoke rewards are used to motivate disadvantaged students to improve attendance and motivation. These are used on an individual basis, based on knowing the child as an individual. Ensure that there is fair representation of subgroups in rewards eg. HT breakfast. Support for PP students in applications such as signature ties and the School Parliament. | Throughout the academic year. |
| OBJECTIVE 5: Increase the offer and the uptake of cultural capital experiences as well as positive engagement in a varied extra-curricular programme. | |
|---|---|
| ACTION | TIMESCALE |
| Fully funded cultural enrichment/entitlement trips to be offered to all Year 9 pupils. Bespoke cultural capital trips for Y7-10 for all PP students. Disadvantaged pupils to only ever be asked for a financial contribution for trips and visits. | Throughout the academic year. |
| Staff to provide a rich variety of activities for the extra-curricular offer. Pastoral colleagues to monitor the uptake and the attendance of disadvantaged pupils at extracurricular with a view to encourage active participation. Tracking through Evolve. | Weekly. |
| A review on careers planning – ensuring PP have applications in for next steps. | Throughout the academic year. |
| Completing a poverty proofing review. | Throughout the academic year. |
Pupil Premium
Pupil Premium was introduced in 2011 to break down barriers to achievement for students from lower income families and those from less stable backgrounds. It is hoped that this funding will level the playing field in education and close the gap between the achievement of the richest and poorest.
At Archbishop Holgate’s School we believe that every student should have every opportunity to succeed and to maximise their potential, regardless of circumstances outside of school. Our ethos of ‘Care, Values and Achievement’ underpin all our systems and structures that are designed to support all our students. Pupil Premium students are supported within the whole school structures but have access to extra resources available to ensure their inclusion into the everyday life of the school and to maximise their academic success. We believe that each student is an individual and that by targeting support we can ensure that any gaps that exist can be closed.
We aim to remove any barriers to learning for our students and ensure every student has the opportunity to maximise their potential. This can take the form of academic intervention; financial support for uniform and equipment; mentoring and bespoke curriculum plans. Further information is outlined in our Pupil Premium Plan.
The school develops positive working relationships with students and parents, in order to ensure that the student is supported and resources are targeted to maximise their academic achievement.
Downloads
Pupil Premium Information 2025-26
Disadvantaged Plan 2025-26
Pupil Premium Strategy Statement 2025-26
Pupil Premium Strategy 2025-26
Pupil Premium Information 2024-25
Pupil Premium Statement 2024-2025
Pupil Premium Information 2023-24
Pupil Premium Statement 2023-24
Disadvantaged Plan 2023-24 (DfE Template)
Pupil Premium Information 2022-23
Pupil Premium Statement 2022-23
Disadvantaged Plan 2022-23 (DfE Template)
If you think your child may be entitled to Free School Meals please visit City of York Council’s website for more information and how to apply: https://www.york.gov.uk/free-school-meals/eligibility-free-school-meals