Covid Catch Up Premium Funding Plan

Irlam Endowed Covid-19 ‘Catch up’ Fund

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 predicting that Irlam Endowed will be in receipt of £17,200 (215 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 Irlam Endowed, this money will be used in order to provide:

• curriculum resources and materials that support “catch up” and mental health/well being of pupils.
• Additional support staff to develop the outcomes of children who have been identified as needing “catch up” in their learning. This will be reviewed throughout the year, as forced isolation absence impacts on the learning and emotional needs of our pupils.

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

• Attainment outcomes at end of 2020-21 for all year groups will be at least in line with those at the end of the Spring term of 2019-20.
• The mental health needs of pupils are met and supported by the school.

Catch Up at Irlam Endowed is for all our 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 White Rose 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, phonics, 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 Quality First 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. Some foundation subject areas already evaluated as ‘well covered’ in the year group may also be ‘paused’ during the first Autumn half term. The scheme of work will be resumed following the half term break.
• 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. This will continue throughout the academic year, to evaluate the ongoing impact of absence from school and the blended learning.
• 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.

Where deemed necessary, for some pupils, Irlam Endowed plan to provide:

• 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 practise 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.
• Subscription to the National Tutoring Programme:
• Irlam Endowed has subscribed to this initiative where selected pupils can access individual tutors. More information is to be provided to schools on how this scheme will work.

Catch up at Irlam Endowed 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

If you have any questions regarding this premium fund and the spending action plan, please email school at irlamendowed.primaryschool@salford.gov.uk