COVID-19 Catch-up Statement
In June, the government announced a £1 billion fund for education. The catch-up premium portion of this funding is allocated on the basis at £80 per pupil and pupil-roll will be based on the previous year’s census, meaning Longlands Primary School will receive a total of £24,000 (300 x £80). How this money is spent will be down to individual schools to decide as they see best.
To ensure we as a school make the best use of this funding, we have considered support published by the Education Endowment Foundation containing evidence-based approaches to catch up for all students. We have also looked closely at baseline assessment data taken in September 2020 designed to give our teachers and leaders a snapshot of the academic impact of the lockdown period between March 23rd and September 1st 2020. This has been cross-referenced with a comprehensive analysis of children’s engagement with the school’s remote learning offer during the lockdown period.
Spending:
At Longlands Primary School, it is our intention that the money will be used in order to:
- Part-fund the recruitment of a Learning Mentor, with the intention of having this newly created post support both the academic and social/emotional wellbeing of children in re-engaging with ‘normal’ school life.
- Part-fund whole school development and training regarding Teach Happy’s ‘Seeds of Wellbeing’ approach, designed to support children’s mental health by teaching positive psychology for children.
- Fund additional staff to develop the outcomes of children who have been identified as needing “catch up” in their learning – with a particular focus on year groups with a high-proportion of children classified as ‘disadvantaged’ or where low engagement with remote learning has been identified.
Aims
The broad aims for “catch up” at Longlands are:
- Attainment outcomes at end of 2020-21 for all year groups will be broadly in line with those expected by the end of the summer, however with some adjustments to factor-in outcomes from baseline assessments. These will be year-group specific and based on between 70-80% of children achieving age-related expectations and between 15 and 20% exceeding.
- To reduce gaps in specific groups of learners where the effects of lockdown may have caused them. These may include (but are not limited to) attainment gaps between boys and girls, disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils and EAL and non-EAL learners.
- The mental health needs of pupils that have arisen as a result of the pandemic are met and supported by the school.