COVID-19 Catch-up Premium

COVID-19 Catch-up Premium 2021/2022

The DfE has allocated £650 million to be spent on ensuring all pupils and students have the chance to ‘catch up’ on any missed learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A proportion of this money has been provided to schools to support them in reducing the gaps in students’ knowledge alongside delivering the curriculum. The Education Endowment Foundation has published guidance on effective interventions to support schools, but the decision on how the money should be spent is for each Headteacher in response to the context of their school and the specific cohort of their school.

The DfE have stated that for pupils with complex needs, schools should spend this funding on catch-up support to address their individual needs. There is also an allocation of £350 million for a National Tutoring Programme, intended to deliver proven and successful tuition to the most disadvantaged and vulnerable young people.

Covid-19 Catch-Up Overview

SSA Summer School 2021

Overview

The DfE allocated to money for Secondary schools to host Summer Schools to support the transition of students from Primary Education to Secondary Education following two years of disrupted schooling.   Stratford School Academy invited 163 students who were set to join Year 7 in September 2021, focusing students that were:

  1. identified by primary colleagues as being ‘Not Secondary Ready’ in literacy, and/or
  2. identified by primary colleagues as likely to find the transition to secondary school difficult or more challenging than others, and/or
  3. the only person joining Stratford School Academy from their primary school.

Of the 163 students invited to intend the Summer School, 87 students took up the offer and attended, 51 of whom were eligible for pupil premium. The Summer School ran for 10 days starting on Monday 19th July 2021.  To support students in arriving to their new school setting, we ran with a staggered-start in line with primary school end of term dates, reducing the number of students’ having their first day at any one time, enabling a more enhanced level of support for the move into the new environment.

The DfE provided guidance and conditions of funding for schools and local authorities which can be accessed here:

Activities:

  1. Intensive literacy intervention: Skills needed to access the Secondary English curriculum.
  2. Reading intervention: Small group reading sessions to improve reading fluency.
  3. Enrichment activities: Activities giving a sample of the wider-curriculum and supporting team building amongst cohort.
  4. External providers: Fitness and sports companies from the local community providing sessions focusing on fitness and healthy lifestyles.

Funding Calculation: Available funding for Summer Schools was calculated based on the number of sessions completed by students, however, schools only claimed for the actual costs incurred. Based on the number of sessions completed, the funding available to Stratford School Academy was £31581.30.

Spending: In total, £19234.75 was spent on the 2021 Summer School, broken down as follows:

  Costing
Staffing (Internal) £9543.00
Staffing (External) £1205.00
Resources £4774.95
Catering £3712.80
Total £19235.75

Impact of Spending

The group of students will now be tracked through their first term, year and across the five years to fully measure the impact of the Summer School against their peers who were invited to attend, but did not attend the Summer School.