Covid Catch up funding

[Hexagon2]

Boris talked a lot about this but have you heard of extra catch up sessions being put on for your children? Is there really any funding?

My DD is Y6 and I've got a sinking feeling that the headteacher is choosing not to spend any money on Y6 as with no SATS taking place anymore he doesn't need to worry about league tables. I really hope this isn't true.

My DD has just scored 17 out of 34 in a Maths class assessment which is not a pass. I really don't want her going off to secondary school feeling left behind in Maths.

No sign of it here (NW)

Interesting... They said originally it would be for extra classes during the Summer holiday but I can't see that happening.

Our school has published a catch-up plan on their website - according to that they got £30k and have hired an intervention teacher.

Primary schools here (Hertfordshire) have received it and are public (on their websites) about how its being spent.

Ah, I tell a lie, it's on our website, they got £44K which seems to be being spent on a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Its about £80 per pupil with some settings getting £240 per child.
Usually the £80 is paid in two instalments. We have had only about half as yet. The rest will be paid in the summer term.

There are two separate steams here. There is what has been talked about in the posts which is a sum of funding to help in terms of catch-up for pupils. Many schools have used this for extra one to one help. The other stream is the National Tuition Programme, which the government is paying 75% of and the school 25% for trained tutors to come into the school and work with a small group of pupils who the school believe have fallen behind the most. My school has done this and it has been an unqualified success with major improvements in performance. However it is all about the right tutors and the right pupils and I have also heard of some disasters on this programme

I love it when costs are quoted as 'per pupil' and would be really interested if all pupils do get some benefit or just some pupils get all the benefit.

I'm a chair of governors : Schools have to publish how they will use the covid Premium funding. This should be on their website now.
The funding is allocated per pupil, but does not have to be spent that way (just like pupil premium payments every year). The school decides what the best approach is for their pupil population.
Your headteacher will no doubt be happy to chat if you have worries about your DC.

The use of the funding paid per pupil is quite wide ranging. It can be used for staffing, resources, specific interventions etc. It doesn't all have to be spent this year.

The school I work at are using the money to hire two "academic mentors" who are teaching small groups and interventions all day - one in Y3 and one in Y6 (Junior school). We are also having online 1-2-1 tuition, weekly, for 3 or 4 pupils in each class, either in Maths or reading.

Amanda Speilman has made it quite clear that children shouldn’t be being taken out of “wider curriculum” lessons such as art or PE to do Maths/English.
The push from her (and the EEF) is that Catch-up premium should be spent on making teaching as good as possible rather than taking children out for interventions.
We’re constantly being told that children mustn’t have a narrowed curriculum and that ofsted will check on this.

My school have published the draft catch up plan on the website. Some of it has been implemented and some we are still working on. Some things may not be visible to all people (like books for specific groups of children - if your child isn’t in that category you won’t see that)

Are people finding their kids are falling behind in any particular areas? I'm quite surprised by how far my kids seem to have fallen behind in writing, having always achieved ARE/GD before. (Y4 and y6)

Our schools is being cagey about the catch up sessions and doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to who is being selected. Nothing on the website either and I know one parent who's questioned why her child hasn't been offered any catch up sessions was told because her child's too far behind it wouldn't benefit them 🤯

There was a story in the Times at the weekend about Y6 going into Y7 pupils losing two weeks at the end of the summer holidays for catch-up summer school (I imagine this would be targeted, not all Y6)

Just checked our school and apparently they are running special homework club after school sessions and these would be the same sessions that have been running for as long as I've had a child at the school

Our primary extended the school day for everyone!!!! Works out about an hour. I chose not to do this but now have the narrower curriculum as to avoid parents doing this they put art/pe/etc at the end of the day....

Apparently its been a big success though. My GD child still is, but I didnt3 agree witht the extended day

Yes. I am employed for an extra half day per week to carry out catch up interventions (I work part time)

Nothing as far as i can see on dc school website. If they are true to form it will be on a need to know basis, ie if you don't work at the school you don't need to know

Schools can spend their catch up premium in the way they consider most effective to help pupils catch-up for lost learning; this could include small group or one-to-one tuition

Whilst the money may sound significant in whole total soundbites, the actual amount coming into schools, particularly smaller, one-form primaries, isn't as much as you may think. Even if you used external subsidised tutoring companies, you'd only get a couple of hours each if you did this for all children.

Some schools have chosen to focus any use of this money on their lowest attaining 10-20% of children. Some are looking at certain year groups or subjects. Some are focusing specifically on the children who are now off-track as a result of the pandemic rather than those who were already off-track before it, for various reasons.

We need to be careful about the terms "catch-up" and wary of telling children that they are behind. Pushing that sort of mindset could have further reaching consequences than the impact of school lockdowns.

OP
Whilst that score doesn't sound great, there is no end of KS2 assessment out of 34 which means that isn't a "SAT" but a different type of test, bought in or school created. It may be worth chatting with the teacher to see if they have done any actual past papers and what the outcomes were then.

With Maths specifically, I wouldn't overly worry: a lot of the Y7 curriculum in many secondary schools serves as a repeat/refresher of chunks of the Y6 curriculum.

If your kid is behind i would address that at home. You can get cgp books or do say a practice maths sat paper on gov website. Then target those areas.
My kids was behind in yr 1/2 in maths as young in year and i helped them pass the y2 sats and now in y4 is in top 25%.
Your school are probably just not doing much practice as no test. Revision can make a huge difference

Thanks for all the really useful information everyone, your insights are really appreciated.

@Iamnottheone Yes, you're right she's been doing these assessment papers since Y5, and I've always thought they are particularly tough. She hasn't always scored highly. She does Explore Learning outside of school and has a Maths tutor once a week. Her teacher is very good at boosting her confidence and not making her feel behind. There is a group of about 5 children who find Maths a struggle including DD. Yesterday they went through the test question by question with a TA. I guess I'm just frustrated for her as she's worked so hard, and we took home schooling seriously. I'm trying hard to keep her feeling positive.

I have just checked the school website, and there is a document there that I remember reading before the Autumn term 2020. It says they will spend the extra money on extra help.in Literacy (using Read Write Inc) and Maths. Money is also allocated from this find for improving Nurturing resources and restocking the library. I remember DD being told that she would have an extra Maths session once a week after school (with those 5 children). But it never happened, and then we went into lockdown again.

I'm just concerned that as soon as Gavin Williamson announced there will be no GCSEs, SATs etc, the school breathed a sigh of relief and Y6 have been forgotten. The head runs the school very much like a business.

I'm not sure if it will help my DD overall mentioning all this though. You are right, support at home is very important and we have been using the CPG books.

Another governor here (and parent of a Y6) - yes, writing is the one that seems to have suffered most. Parents least equipped to support at home? Less parental awareness of what's required? Also the writing expectations have changed recently, placing less emphasis on ticking off all the technicalities, and more on individual flair. Which is good, except perhaps the timing!