Did you know an increasing number of schools are using their Pupil Premium to fund a subscription to BrainPOP?
This funding has recently risen from £600 to £900 per eligible pupil so a typical 2 form entry primary school can buy a whole school, 24/7, 3 year subscription for approx 1 x Pupil Premium.
Why should you consider BrainPOP an ideal use of your Pupil Premium allocation?
1) Because BrainPOP is easily accessible at home on many different devices and there’s ZERO extra licensing cost for doing so
Successful use of Pupil Premium funding, as recorded by OFSTED:
“The school was very aware that its pupils seldom had access to good quality information communication technology in their homes so could not practise the skills they learnt at school outside school hours or use computers for research. Equally, pupils often lacked the wider vocabulary and knowledge that they needed to reach the higher levels in their writing. The school used the laptops that they bought with some of the funding to enhance pupils’ research skills in different subjects, to be able to conjure up instantly an image with which pupils may not be familiar, such a desert, a lion, or a snowy landscape, and to give them independent access outside of school hours to enhance their homework.”
“The Pupil Premium: how schools are spending the funding successfully to maximise achievement” OFSTED Feb 2013
As well as being accessible from any browser that can display Flash, such as Sony Playstations, BrainPOP has an app for Apple and Android devices. From the cheapest smartphone to a top of the range iPad many homes who may not have access to a computer will have a mobile device ready to show BrainPOP (“the UK has the highest smartphone penetration of any market covered in the survey, at 61%”, says Techcrunch). We’re very BYOD friendly, and would complement any school that is investing in mobile tech.
Remember, our apps are free to download, and ALL site subscribers get automatic full access.
2) Because it’s wonderful at engaging parents too
“Good quality home learning contributes more to children’s intellectual and social development than parental occupation, education or income.”
The role of parents in a child’s learning, Department for Education
If Mum & Dad are involved in their children’s education the child does better at school. The role of the parent or guardian cannot be underestimated in seeking better pupil attainment and towards improving achievement.
But they need support and guidance. BrainPOP resources are cross curricular and cross phase. They are highly visual, fully subtitled and very engaging. If you identify specific needs in literacy or numeracy advise families to explore a BrainPOP topic together. That level of family support can have a big impact.
3) Because it’s mighty useful during transition and term breaks
Keep learning alive during school holidays with BrainPOP. It’s an educational resource that kids will WANT to use out of school. Take advantage of this by suggesting movies to watch that link into the following term’s work.
BrainPOP can be employed to help with Year 6 to 7 transition across the summer break, especially those about to enter Year 7 who did not achieve at least level 4 in KS2 in English and Maths. As BrainPOP is cross phase you might want to discuss licences across both your primary and secondary schools to ensure that consistency of resource.
4) Because it’s ready made to support SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar)
BrainPOP has a wealth of related resources that can be used to tackle SPaG concerns, or simply improve understanding.
BrainPop covers nearly everything in the SPaG test put in a format that children can quickly understand and enjoy learning.
5) Because it can be deployed to assist with English and Maths intervention
If you have underachieving students in English and Maths and provide additional time to catch up to their target levels use BrainPOP to engage and assist. As BrainPOP is so simple to use it can be deployed easily and quickly to address concerns. When choosing where to allocate their pupil premium it is useful for schools to adopt an evidence based approach (see the EEF Toolkit). BrainPOP has been shown in a quantitative independent study to positively impact upon comprehension, vocabulary and science understanding when used for two hours a week.
See our research “A Study of the Effectiveness of BrainPOP” to see how students using BrainPOP experience substantial growth compared to students who do not use BrainPOP.
The message is essentially that BrainPOP is so flexible it can be used to effectively address multiple challenges AND it easily fits into a single Pupil Premium.
If you want to know what options are available please don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll help you understand more about how BrainPOP can work with your Pupil Premium ambitions.
