Catch Up Funding

Our Catch Up Funding Rationale

The Government have acknowledged that the Covid19 lockdown has left children with gaps in their knowledge. They recognise that whilst many children will be able to continue to make progress and fill those gaps through Quality First Teaching, there will be children in need of additional support to ensure that gaps created by a lack of face-to-face teaching during lockdown are closed, ensuring that no child is left at a further disadvantage.

What is the Catch-up Premium Funding?

To support this, the Government have announced ‘a package worth £1 billion to ensure that schools have the resources they need to help all pupils make up for lost teaching time, with extra support for those who need it most. £650 million will be spent on ensuring all pupils have the chance to catch up and supporting schools to rise to the challenge. This one-off grant funding will be paid to all state-funded primary, secondary and special schools in the 2020 to 2021 academic year.’ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-recovery-support 

How will St Mary's allocate our Catch-up Premium funds?

St Mary's has been allocated £15,920 of Catch-up Premium funding to support the children within our school and we have carried out careful research into how best to use this funding to close the gaps for those children affected. We are aware that individual children will have specific gaps in their knowledge and that they learn in different ways. Therefore, our approach has to be centred around the needs of the individuals. The decisions regarding the allocation of funds will be driven by the detailed knowledge the staff hold on the children’s current attainment, as well as their mental health and wellbeing. Support and interventions implemented will draw upon approaches that are evidence-based and are proven to have a positive impact on closing gaps.

Examples of approaches St Mary's will be taking

Using the Education Endowment Fund for guidance, we have identified the approaches outlined in the document below to be the best fit for the needs of our children. As a school, we are also aware that the plans that we put in place must be fluid.
We will be taking a ‘tiered approach’ to closing gaps and raising attainment. Firstly, the catch up funding will be used to support the enhancement of high quality teaching for all - ensuring all children have access to the best teaching and support within their classrooms. Secondly, funding will be allocated to high-quality, research-evidenced intervention support for identified individual children in need of further academic support beyond what is on offer in the classroom. And finally, the funding will be used to support the emotional well-being of pupils who may have experienced some form of trauma during the pandemic; leading to barriers to their learning.

Who will benefit from the funding?

Funding will not be allocated by child but by need. All children will benefit from teachers continuing to develop quality teaching through CPD. The impact of this will be monitored by the leadership team.
Some children may need additional support on top of the quality first teaching. This will be reviewed regularly during Pupil Progress Meetings and Achievement Teams.