COVID Catch Up Premium 20/21 and  21/22

This premium is an addition to the school budget and used to support 'catch up' for children, affected by lockdowns and absences.

The total amount received to October 31st 2022 is £19 440

How was this money utilised in 20/21?

The money was spent in a number of ways. These were:-

Initial tests in reading, maths and grammar, spelling and punctuation to provide a baseline of need;

Purchase of 100 initial licences  for Dynamo maths - a maths intervention program;

Purchase of 100 initial licences for Nessy - a literacy intervention package;

Purchase of additional licences if required in either program as need dictated;

Increased intervention support from classroom support staff

Other incidental resources

Impact of support?

After utilising the second set of maths and reading assessments, it was evident that many of the children who had Dynamo or Nessy licences had made more than expected progress and had exceeded the benchmark for intervention.

This was in part the result of using the intervention packages, but also due to additional support that the children were given.  This support through adapting the curriculum for them, or through small group intervention showed that progress was accelerating for a number of children.

Although Y6 SATs were cancelled in 2021, our internal tests (using 2019 SATs), showed that in reading 95.5% of children were at expected and above, with 56.8% at greater depth; and in maths90.9% were at expected and above , whilst 45.5% were at greater depth.  Although these figures were slightly down in maths, they were comparable to the last official tests in 2019 for reading.

Catch Up 21/22

Although numbers have decreased, we are still utilising specific intervention programs for maths and reading for children who scored lower than 90 standardised score on PUMA and PIRA tests.  These licences will continue as required.

We are also utilising Ready to Progress Intervention in maths for children and Little Wandle for those children who have missed the necessary phonics teaching over the last 2 years.

In addition to specific programs, classroom support staff are continuing to provide small group support for identified children, with with the class and lesson and outside of the class where necessary.  This is in addition to the support that teachers given to children in intervention groups.

Some of the money available has been utilised in providing Little Wandle SSP to identified children and the purchase of associated resources.  The programme has been fully integrated into Foundation and Key Stage 1.

In December 2021 PUMA and PIRA tests showed that in maths 79% and in reading 81% of children were achieving at expected or greater depth.  This provides further evidence that supporting the children towards expected success is on a positive upward trend, but that there can be no complacency as we continue to move through the year.

Results from July 2022, available on the school website, demonstrate that children performed well against local and national data, and in some cases exceed pre pandemic results.  This demonstrates the success of the strategies used for our children in school.

The catch up tuition money was used for identified children, giving them both support staff and teacher time away from the general differentiated approaches in class.  This supported their learning across a range of subject areas.

From September 2022, tuition support using school based staff has continued for identified children.