Covid-19 ‘Catch up’ premium
In June, a £1 billion fund for education was announced by the government, split between a catch up premium and a national tutoring scheme. Guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-catch-up-premium
The catch-up premium is funded on a per pupil basis at £80 per pupil. This is based upon the previous year school census and does not include Nursery numbers, meaning Caldershaw Primary school will receive £16,810 (210 x £80). The spending of this money is down to schools to allocate as they see best. To support schools to make the best use of the funding, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has published a support guide for schools with evidence based approaches to catch up for all students.
At Caldershaw, this money will be used in order to provide:-
- Curriculum resources and materials that support ‘catch-up’ and mental health and wellbeing of pupils.
- Additional teaching support to improve the outcomes of children who have been identified as needing ‘catch-up’ in their learning.
There are two broad aims for ‘catch-up’ at Caldershaw:-
- Attainment outcomes at the end of 2020-21 for all year groups will be at least in line with those at the end of 2019-20
- The mental health and wellbeing needs of pupils are supported and met by the school.
For all children ‘catch-up’ is:-
- Working through a well sequenced and purposeful curriculum. School has identified non-negotiable key concepts, knowledge and skills required for curriculum recovery and catch-up.
- Focus on the consolidation of basic skills. The core skills which enable successful learning will require increased curriculum time across all year groups. These include: phonics, handwriting; spelling of high frequency words; basic sentence punctuation; multiplication tables recall; basic arithmetic fact recall and reading skills.
- Additional lesson time on core teaching. Phonics, reading, writing and maths teaching will require increased teaching time in order to cover missed learning – particularly in the autumn term. In order to keep a broad and balanced curriculum, some subject areas may be taught as blocked days rather than weekly lessons in the autumn term.
- Particular focus on phonics and early reading. This is always a focus in schools and will continue to be, in order to develop secure 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.
- Time spent on mental health, wellbeing and social skills development.
For some children ‘catch-up’ is:-
- Additional teaching and support and focus on basic core skills. Supported by additional teaching hours, utilising catch-up premium and dependent upon need identified through ongoing assessment.
- Additional time to practise basic skills. Dependent on need of children in order to re-establish good progress.
