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COVID-19 Catch Up Premium

Covid-19 ‘Catch up’

Following the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent closures of schools, in June 2020, a £1 billion fund for education was announced by the government.  Further guidance has now been released (Government Catch-Up Premium) showing that the money is split between a catch-up premium and a national tutoring scheme. The catch-up funding is designed to support schools in narrowing the gaps in learning.

The catch-up premium is funded on a per pupil basis at £80 per pupil. This will be based on the previous year’s census and will not include Nursery numbers, meaning Loughborough Primary School will be in receipt of approximately £24,880.The funding is paid over two financial years in three instalments. The spending of this money will be down to schools to allocate as they see best. To support schools to make the best use of this funding, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has published a support guide for schools with evidence-based approaches to catch up for all students.

Spending:

At Loughborough Primary School, this money will be used in order to:

  • Purchase summative assessment materials to establish a gap-analysis of children’s learning and where the premium is best spent.
  • Pay the top up fee to access the subsidised national tutoring programme for disadvantaged pupils and others who are identified as needing “catch up” in their learning. This is done with Connex Education Partnership.
  • Fund additional support staff to develop the outcomes of children who have been identified as needing “catch up” in their learning.

Aims

The broad aims for “catch up” at Loughborough Primary School:

  • Attainment outcomes at end of 2020-21 for all year groups will be at least in line with those at the point of lockdown in March. This means that if a child was working at an age-related expectation in a subject in March they are working at least to an age-related expectation in that same subject by the end of the year.
  • By the end of the 2021-22 year, attainment outcomes for all year groups will be at least in line with those at the end of the 2019-20 year.
  • The mental health needs of pupils that have arisen as a result of the pandemic are met and supported by the school.

Catch Up at Loughborough Primary School is:

(For all children)

  • Assessment of learning and of basic skills to identify major gaps. Teachers will work to identify gaps in learning and adapt teaching accordingly. Summative assessments provided by Rising Stars will be administered termly. These summative assessments, along with regular teacher assessment, will provide an individual gap-analysis of each child’s progress. This is paired with corresponding Shine Interventions, run by teaching assistants outside of regular lessons. This allows an opportunity for these skills to be taught frequently in small groups.
  • 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, basic sentence punctuation, times tables recall, basic addition & subtraction fact recall and reading skills relevant to age.
  • Working through well sequenced, purposeful learning schemes. For example, in maths, we will utilise the White Rose Maths and Big Maths schemes as our spine of learning.
  • Additional lesson time on core teaching. Reading, writing and maths teaching will require increased teaching time in order to cover missed learning – particularly in the immediate return to school. 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 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.
  • 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.

In addition, some pupils may require…

  • Additional support and focus on basic core skills. Supported by additional staffing utilising the catch up premium – dependent on need as identified through ongoing assessment. This support will be offered through Shine Interventions and the school’s partnership with Connex Education linked to the National Tutoring Programme.
  • Additional time to practice basic skills. This is administered on a ‘needs – led’ basis in order to re-establish good progress in essential skills (phonics and reading, increasing vocabulary, writing and mathematics). It is essential teachers and support staff have autonomy and agency over how this is delivered within the school day, therefore there is a degree of flexibility within the timetable.

Catch up at Loughborough Primary School is not:

  • Cramming missed learning
  • Pressuring children and families into rapid learning
  • Teachers time spent highlighting missed objectives
  • Teachers time spent ticking off assessment points and extra tracking