Covid-19 ‘Catch up’

 Catch up finding initiative – Planned spending – 43,600 = 545 pupils’

In June, a £1 billion fund for education was announced by the government.  Further guidance has now been released (press here to be directed) 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 will be based on the previous year’s census and will not include Nursery numbers, meaning Beam County Primary School will be in receipt of £14,960 (545 x £80).  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 has published a support guide for schools with evidence-based approaches to catch up for all students.

The priority, when lessons resume in school, will be community safety.

Academic provision will continue in the classroom, renewing the face-to-face dialogue and interactions that enhance learning and enjoyment of study.

‘Catch-up’:

There is a widespread assumption that, on return to the classroom, pupils will be in need of ‘catchup’. Extra individualised support may be appropriate for some, and teachers will – of course – need to make some adjustments to consolidate learning; but please understand that most pupils who followed our programme of remote learning, completing each task to their best, is ‘on track’.  Moreover, we believe that the mental health of our school community is paramount.  ‘Catch up’ can exasperate excessive negativity and negative self-talk.  (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-56293269?utm_source=Parent+Zone+Newsletter&utm_campaign=462280e7da-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_09_04_09_46_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1ee27d9000-462280e7da-179474781)

During this term, after returning from this national lockdown (less than a week at the time of writing), teachers are assessing their pupils. Comparisons with recent years will demonstrate if our pupils, are achieving in-line or ahead of our expectations. In some subjects, teachers are reporting that they are in-line or ahead of the normal content trajectory.

Spending:

At The Beam, this money will be used in order to:

  • Purchase curriculum resources and materials that support pupils to get “back on track”. These include assessment tools, mental health programmes and training.
  • 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.
  • Fund additional support staff to develop the outcomes of children who have been identified as needing additional support in their learning.

Aims

The broad aims for “catch up” at Beam County 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. Or they will continue to make their expected progress.
  • 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 Beam County Primary School is

(For all children)

  • Working through well sequenced, purposeful learning schemes. For example, our school-created writing schemes are being adapted to focus on missed objectives and consolidate the basics. In maths, we will utilise the Herts Essentials Maths Scheme as our spine of learning and we have been able to use catch up premium to purchase adapted plans that have been purpose written for catch up.
  • 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.
  • Additional lesson time on core teaching. Reading, writing and maths teaching will require increased teaching time in order to cover missed learning. 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.
  • 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. 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.

 (For some children)

  • Additional support and focus on basic core skills. Supported by additional staffing utilising catch up premium – dependent on need as identified through ongoing assessment.
  • Additional time to practice basic skills. This again will be dependent on need of children in order to re-establish good progress in the essentials (phonics and reading, increasing vocabulary, writing and mathematics) and there will be flexibility on timetables to allow this.

 

Catch up at Beam County 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