Covid-19 Catch up

In June, a £1 billion fund for education was announced by the government. Further guidance has now been released (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-catch-up-premium) 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 we are in receipt of £10,800 (135 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.

At Millfields, this money will be used in order to provide:

· Curriculum resources and materials that support “catch up” and mental health of pupils.

· Additional support staff to develop the outcomes of children who have been identified as needing “catch up” in their learning.

There are two broad aims for “catch up” at Millfields:

· Attainment outcomes at 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 needs of pupils are met and supported by the school.

Catch Up at Millfields is:

(For all children)

Working through well sequenced, purposeful learning schemes. For example, our use of the Power of Reading learning plans to support writing whilst maintaining focus on missed objectives and consolidating the basics. In maths, we will utilise the White Rose Maths Scheme as our spine of learning and we have been able to use catch up premium to part fund an additional teacher to support classes across school.

· 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 – 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. However, staff will be using the first half term to ensure children are in good mental health and familiar with the expectations and structure of the school day.

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. Academic mentor available full time with on costs covered through catch-up premium.

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 Millfields 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