Closing the gap: identifying groups to track

Spotting underachievement early on is key to helping pupils catch up and keep up with their peers. Find out how to identify vulnerable pupil groups and decide which ones to track.

Last reviewed on 18 November 2024
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 6254
Contents
  1. Track pupil groups to help with school improvement
  2. Track your pupil premium groups
  3. Identify other likely pupil groups
  4. Assess your school data to find other groups
  5. Decide which pupils count as a group
  6. Further reading

Track pupil groups to help with school improvement

While teachers track the progress of individual pupils, it’s more helpful for school leaders to look at groups of pupils to feed into your whole-school picture.

This overview of groups can:

  • Help you with intervention plans, curriculum adjustments and other top-level issues specific to your school
  • Address underachievement and the rate of progress
  • Close the attainment gap between your identified groups and their peers
  • Raise standards across year groups, phases and your entire school

Track your pupil premium groups

This is because you’re required to report on your pupil premium spending.

Tracking the progress of eligible pupils will help you show that your spending is improving their attainment.

You might want to track the 2 groups separately, as they’ll likely have different barriers