Covid-19 Catch up Premium

In June, a £1 billion fund for education was announced by the government. Further guidance has now been released here showing that the money is split between a catch-up premium and a national tutoring scheme.

The catch-up premium is funded on a per pupil basis at £80 per pupil. This is based on our Census data and we anticipate we will receive  £8,240 (103x £80) at Burton Green CofE Academy and £10,640 (134x£80) at All Saints’ CofE Academy.

 

The spending of this money is for schools to allocate as they see best. To support schools to make the best use of this funding, the Education Endowment Foundation has published a support guide for schools with evidence-based approaches to catch up for all students.

 

There are two broad aims for 'catch up’ at the Green Leek Federation:

 

• Supporting curriculum recovery post covid 19 lockdown for pupils by identifying gaps in learning, and planning / assessing to make up deficits. (e.g. a child on track to meet year 3 expectations last year will be on track to meet year 4 expectations this year)

 

• Support pupils’ resilience and good Mental Health

 

 

At The Green Leek Federation ‘catch up’ is characterised by:

 

Working through well sequenced, purposeful learning schemes. For example, developing our Powerful Words project across the school. In maths, we utilise a mastery approach with Rapid Mathematics/Abacus resources.

Focus on consolidation of basic skills. The core skills which enable successful learning will require increased curriculum time across all year groups. These include: handwriting, spelling of high frequency words, grammar and punctuation, times tables recall, maths fluency for fact recall and reading/phonics skills relevant to age.

Additional support and focussed time to practise basic core skills. Some children will be supported by additional staffing via extra teaching assistant support guided by class teachers. Particular focus on early reading and phonics. This is always a focus in the school and will continue to be so in order to develop children's reading ability and vocabulary.

Assessment of learning and of basic skills to identify major gaps. Teachers will work to identify gaps in learning and adapt teaching accordingly. Teachers will use the results of assessment to focus on key children who need a targeted intervention delivered by class teachers, teaching assistants or tutors.

Time spent on mental health, wellbeing and social skills development. This will be at the core of all catch up work as many children will have not been in formal school setting for a number of months.

 

The plan is an evolving one.

• We intend to spend the first half of the Autumn term welcoming children back to school and settling them into the routines and expectations of school life, both socially and academically.
• The second half of the Autumn term will be characterised by in-class support, using our teachers and teaching assistants to offer pre-learning, over-learning and support groups.
• As we move into the Spring term we will be looking at greater detail on additional support for pupils who are no longer on their expected trajectory and analysing the gaps for all children using Pira, Puma and SPAG testing and teaching assessment.