COVID-19 Catch-up Premium

How much Catch-up Premium do schools get?

In June, a £1 billion fund for education was announced by the government. Further guidance has now been released, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-catch-up-premium, which shows that the money is split between a catch-up premium and a national tutoring scheme.

• The catch-up premium is funded on a per pupil basis at £80 per pupil. 

• The figure is based on the previous year’s census and will not include Nursery numbers.  

• Chestnut Street will be in receipt of £14,080. 

• This funding will be provided in 3 tranches with an initial part payment being made in autumn 2020, a second payment beginning 2021 and a final payment in the summer term of 2021.

What will the premium be spent on?

The spending of this money will be down to schools to allocate as they see best. To support schools to make the best use of this funding, the Education Endowment Foundation has published a support guide for schools with evidence-based approaches to catch up for all students.

Although funding has been calculated on a per pupil basis, schools should use the sum available to them as a single total from which to prioritise support for pupils according to their need. Schools should use this funding for specific activities to support their pupils to catch up for lost teaching over the previous months, in line with the guidance on curriculum expectations for the next academic year. (See also EEF - School Planning Guide 2020-21 ) Schools have the flexibility to spend their funding in the best way for their cohort and circumstances.

Who will monitor the spending of the Catch-up Premium?
As with all government funding, school leaders must be able to account for how this money is being used to achieve the government’s central goal of schools getting back on track and teaching a normal curriculum as quickly as possible. 

Given their role in ensuring schools spend funding appropriately and in holding schools to account for educational performance, governors should scrutinise schools’ approaches to catch-up from September, including their plans for and use of catch-up funding. This should include consideration of whether schools are spending this funding in line with their catch-up priorities, and ensuring appropriate transparency for parents. (DfE guidance - Coronavirus (COVID-19) catch-up premium - updated 24/08/2020)

How often will schools receive this fund?
As the catch-up premium has been designed to mitigate the effects of the unique disruption caused by coronavirus (COVID-19), the grant will only be available for the 2020 to 2021 academic year. It will not be added to schools’ baselines in calculating future years’ funding allocations. 

Spending:
       At Chestnut Street, our catch-up premium will be used to:

• £1000: purchase mental, health and well-being resources/workshops throughout the academic year in response to where the needs occur of children impacted by COVID-19.
•  £500: purchase curriculum resources and assessment materials that support children who have to self-isolate and for whom access to remote learning in not possible. These include CGP books for reading, grammar and maths.
• £2000:  to support the implementation of Read Write Inc phonics scheme including leadership days, assessment of children and training.
• £11,090: to pay for additional, experienced teaching staff who are already well-established members of our school community.  These members of staff will cover class teachers so that they can lead targeted catch-up interventions.   The aim of these groups/1:1 conferencing session is to accelerate the progress of these children in order to mitigate against the impact that the partial school closure had on their attainment (as identified in the October baseline assessments the school carried out.)

Aims
The broad aims for “catch up” at Chestnut:

• Attainment outcomes at end of 2020-21 for all year groups will be at least in line with those at the point of lockdown in spring. This means that if a child was working at an age-related expectation in a subject in March they are working at least to an age-related expectation in that same subject by the end of the year.
• By the end of the 2021-22 year, attainment outcomes for all year groups will be at least in line with those at the end of the 2019-20 year.
• The mental health needs of pupils that have arisen as a result of the pandemic are met and supported by the school