HPAs & HAs

Our Mission Statement

To ensure able students make outstanding progress.
HPA (High Prior Attaining) and HA (High Attaining) students should strive for academic excellence within a curriculum with appropriate challenges. They need to understand their academic potential from early in their school career and fulfil it within a caring and challenging environment which will develop their personal growth.

This will enable these students to have access to top providers in further and higher education, resulting in an increased range and quality of job opportunities. The overarching aim is to create learners who are aspirational role models for others within the school community and future professionals who will contribute to the wider community.

How are our HPA & HA students identified?

Our HPA students are identified by prior data at KS2 (110+ in their SATS assessments) alongside CATS and NGRT tests that they complete at the start of year 7.

These are a fixed group of students and they are targeted at a higher grade range (6-8) for their KS4 exams at the end of year 11. Our HA students are identified by individual curriculum areas.

What is our HPA & HA Student Strategy Designed to Promote & Achieve?

Self-awareness and a sense of control and influence over learning
Curiosity and passion relating to learning
Knowledge of what is required to achieve excellence
Self-confidence and increased motivation
Good independent study skills
An awareness of linking learning to the real world
Learning beyond the syllabus
Good social skills
Good oracy, listening and critical thinking skills
An ability to use initiative and think quickly
An ability to be adaptive to the needs of a situation and apply skills students have learnt in a variety of situations
Determination, organisation and resilience in preparation to be a Global Citizen
Sophisticated vocabulary and a good command of the English language

How will we provide for HPA & HA students within the curriculum?

Regular low-stakes quizzing to help students commit core knowledge to their long-term memory, giving them a solid foundation from which to tackle more abstract and complex concepts.
Identifying what ‘Excellence Looks Like’ in each subject and modelling this to plan for what student success and progress looks like to support students to attain it. Using ‘exemplars’ to show students what high level answers and work looks like.
Using assessment and feedback to give students a clear understanding of what action they need to take in order to make future progress.
Asking lots of questions which are pitched at an appropriate level to challenge and stretch pupils to think about material in a more complex way. (HPA/HA identified on seating plans)
Encouraging pupils’ metacognition and teaching pupils how to learn effectively. For example, using visualisers to live model teacher thinking.
Helping students to develop effective study habits through discussing ‘high impact’ revision and independent study techniques. Termly focus groups.
Offering students multiple opportunities to read widely within and beyond the curriculum.
Having an explicit focus on oracy across all Key Stages to ensure students are learning ‘how to talk’ and also ‘learning through talking’; helping students to become confident in articulating their ideas.
Opportunities to work at higher cognitive levels

How will we provide for HPA & HA students beyond the curriculum?

All HPA and HA students will be offered a variety of opportunities which are designed to support with raising their aspirations and supporting them to fulfil these aspirations. These may involve:

Visits to Universities
1: 1 opportunities with careers advisors
Small group workshops with academics
Visits to places of cultural and professional interest, engagement beyond the Curriculum opportunities which may be out of their ‘comfort zone’
Mentoring and leadership opportunities

What role can parents and carers play in supporting the progress of HPA & HA students beyond the curriculum?

Discuss homework and school work with your child
Encourage your child to take part in extra-curricular activities
Encourage your child to read for pleasure, including demanding, challenging books
Emphasise the necessity for a healthy balance of school work and recreation time
Encourage your child to watch educational and current affairs programmes – news, documentaries
Visit museums, science centres, art galleries, use the local library as a learning and research resource
Fully engage with the school and all opportunities provided *

*Reminder: Cost should not be a barrier to enable your child to fulfil their potential at PCS, please contact Ms Turner at PCS if you have any concerns regarding costs for any activities.

Who is responsible for HPA & HA students?

SLT - The Senior Leadership Team
Will clearly articulate the link between provision and whole-school improvement. SLT will ensure that monitoring and evaluation of this group occurs at a strategic level across the year.

Lead staff
Josh Burns Deputy Headteacher - Academic Outcomes
Josie Turner Assistant Headteacher - Personal Development and Post 16 opportunities
Mark Hughes Deputy Headteacher - Literacy and Oracy

Curriculum Leaders
Curriculum Leaders will play a key role in making an informed, professional contribution to the identification process of HPA and HA students and will be responsible for developing Quality First Teaching within departments and developing curriculum provision which stretches and challenges all learners.

Learning