COVID19 Catch up Premium

Summary Information

Total Number of Pupils Eligible

316

Total Catch Up Premium

£73,800

Planned Expenditure 

The Catch Up Premium will be used to support the funding of the following strategies:

The three headings below have been taken from the EEF Covid Support Guidance for Schools.

1.     Teaching and Whole School Strategies

Desired outcome

Chosen action / approach

What is the evidence and rationale for this choice?

To identify and effectively address gaps in learning

Students have undertaken reading speed tests

Students have taken mid-Cycle assessments

Additional referrals to the Educational Psychologist

There is now a considerable body of research to suggest that reading fluency is a key indicator of academic success. Improving reading fluency is also likely to help students speed up the rate at which they can acquire new learning. So, knowing students’ reading speed is helpful in identifying which students to target most closely.

It is also crucial that teaching staff are aware of where students have gaps in their knowledge of specific subjects so that these can be remedied. The whole school assessment strategy includes a 12 week assessment cycle but this seems overly long for this initial assessment, hence the introduction of mid-cycle testing.

We are receiving additional requests to have students assessed by the EP in order to make Requests for Statutory Assessment and there is a backlog post-lockdown. An EP report can help us identify and target need effectively and it is an essential element of applying for an EHCP.

To effectively address gaps in learning which have been identified

Recruitment and deployment of 2 Teach First teachers (along with the 2 teachers already recruited as part of the PP Strategy)

Recruitment of an additional Teaching Assistant

The Department of Education have recommended the recruitment of Teach First graduates as part of the nationwide Catch Up Strategy. They are also co-funding it so that schools pay only the ‘on costs’ which makes it cost effective.

SEND students within the school have historically made good progress and we believe this is in part due to the effective deployment of good quality TA provision. SEND students are a vulnerable group as so need additional support. We also suspect that staff absence may be higher during the pandemic and recruiting an additional TA may help to protect SEND students from the negative consequences of this.

Create online provision for both catch up/revision and isolating pupils to minimise any further widening of the gap between vulnerable students and their peers

The school has taken out a subscription to Google Classrooms

Staff will be paid to make additional resources and to supervise online learning, such as tracking attendance and work completion

The school has researched online learning platforms and Google Classroom was chosen as best meeting our requirements. Staff have received training in using Google Classroom (and additional IT related to it) to best effect. We have also had complaints about sound quality and want to address these.

Having high quality online provision is of no benefit if students if they do not access it. We have undertaken research that has enabled us to ensure students have access to IT at home so that we can be confident that this is not a barrier. We want to provide staffing to check that students are accessing their online learning and to provide them with support to do so.

2.     Targeted Support

Desired outcome

Chosen action / approach

What is the evidence and rationale for this choice?

To ensure high levels of attendance at school as this is fundamental to accessing academic support

We are buying in external Education Welfare Support

We have also made

We are also recruiting additional SLT support to oversee parental engagement and liaison as this is likely to play a significant role in re-engaging families

Good attendance at school has been shown to be consistently reflected in better academic results. It is also plays a crucial role in safeguarding students as if we are regularly seeing students we can safeguard them from external factors and can offer the pastoral support.

As the C19 pandemic has made it more complex to track who should and should not be in school, and we know that it has also contributed to poor mental health and other issues that can contribute to poor attendance, we also feel that additional capacity to address these issues is helpful. Close contact from SLT is likely to help improve relationships with home and to ensure that measures are in place to encourage attendance and rapid progress. It is likely that more Team Around the Family meetings will have to be held.

To target literacy support at those students whose literacy levels are lowest so that they can make rapid progress

 We have bought into Lexia as a literacy catch-up program and this is supported by a literacy specialist teaching assistant

Good literacy skills are the foundation for learning. We have historically had good results from Lexia and students engage well with it.

To reengage disengaged students who are sent to Refocus/Reset

To create a Inclusion Manager position within Refocus/Reset to more effectively target disaffected students, provide data relating to these students, and to deliver post-FTE interventions

PP students are more likely to spend time in Reset and Refocus and so it is essential that we monitor this data and respond swiftly and effectively in re-engaging them. Recent experience suggests we could do this more efficiently if we had one member of staff within the Inclusion Team who was managing the team day-to-day.

To ensure that students and their families are offered support to address the mental health aspects of the pandemic

All families were asked to complete a survey about their mental health and wellbeing before the summer holidays

Referrals for mental health and wellbeing support are being triaged by an Allocation Team within the school which includes CAMHS staff

Identified students are being targeted by specially trained staff

Research was undertaken in conjunction with CAMHS in order to ensure that the school could accurately identify the issues which were contributing to poor mental health and wellbeing so that we could better target them.

This research highlighted anxieties about returning to school and about the pressures of learning, interacting with peers, managing emotions, and concerns relating to contracting the virus or measures being taken to avoid this.

We believe that continuing to work with CAMHS and also targeting and tracking our support is likely to be most effective in addressing the anxieties which we have identified.

3.     Wider Strategies

Desired outcome

Chosen action / approach

What is the evidence and rationale for this choice?

To ensure that students and their families are offered support to address the mental health aspects of the pandemic

Key staff have received intensive training in Early Help for Mental Health from CAMHS

All staff have received a half day training session in Early Help for Mental Health

As stated above, we are aware that students and their families are experiencing additional anxiety and other mental health difficulties due to C19. We believe that this requires a whole school approach to be truly tackled and that staff need to know what to look for and which strategies can be effectively used to support the mental health and wellbeing of children in their care.

Catch-up funding 20-21

School details

Name of School

St James School

Total number on roll

972

Number of DS

% DS

% SEND

Number of SEND

Year 7

200

59

29

22

44

Year 8

198

57

29

19

39

Year 9

191

55

29

17

32

Year 10

195

59

30

13

26

Year 11

185

57

31

16

29

Total funding

£73,800

Context

This Report should be read in conjunction with St James School’s Pupil Premium Strategy.

Children and young people across the country have experienced unprecedented disruption to their education as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19). Although all children have had their education disrupted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, it is likely that disadvantaged and vulnerable groups will have been hardest hit. For this reason, the Department for Education has given a one-off grant to schools based on the number of vulnerable students on roll. This has become known as Catch Up funding. They have advised that schools should use this funding for specific activities to support their pupils to catch up for lost teaching over the previous months and that schools have the flexibility to spend their funding in the best way for their cohort and circumstances.

St James School has noted the research from the Education Endowment Fund and the Department of Education about the approaches that research has shown to be most effective in narrowing the gap between disadvantaged students and their peers. This is summarised in the EEF’s guide ‘Supporting School School Planning’ for planning a response to the C19 pandemic and which recommends a tiered approach. This tiered approach considers Teaching which as the most significant element should account for approximately 50% of the strategy. Then, Targeted Academic Support such as 1 to 1 or small group work is a further 25% of the strategy. And finally, Wider Strategies make up the final 25%, targeting pastoral elements such as parental engagement; social, emotional and mental health support; behaviour; and elements of wider care such as Breakfast Club.

St James School believes that this approach is likely to be most effective in narrowing the gap and providing the best possible provision and support for all. It is the approach already being used in our Pupil Premium Strategy and we believe it is important that Catch Up dovetails into our wider strategy in order to derive the most impact from it.

Aim

Action

Target students

Timescale

Impact

Lead

Allocated Spend

To identify and effectively address gaps in learning

Students have undertaken reading speed tests

Students have taken mid-Cycle assessments

Additional referrals to the Educational Psychologist due to backlog of referrals and additional needs emerging

All students

Autumn term onwards

To identify learning gaps for targeting

HoDs

Additional EP time £3,787 for 7 additional sessions

To effectively address gaps in learning which have been identified

Recruitment and deployment of 2 Teach First teachers (along with the 2 tutors already recruited as part of the PP Strategy)

Recruitment of an additional Teaching Assistant

All targeted students – Years 7 and 11 to take priority

From the spring term onwards

To intensively address learning gaps

EJH

c.£16,000 for Teach First on costs

c.£16,000 for a B grade TA

Create online provision for both catch up/revision and isolating pupils to minimise any further widening of the gap between vulnerable students and their peers

The school has taken out a subscription to Google Classrooms

Microphones to improve sound quality of live lessons

Staff will be paid to make additional resources and to supervise online learning, such as tracking attendance, work completion and facilitating access

Students who are unable to attend school

All year

To minimise learning gaps created by non-attendance

RJM

Google Classroom costs £2,500

Microphones

£1,200

Additional staffing c. £15,000

To ensure high levels of attendance at school as this is fundamental to accessing academic support

We are buying in external Education Welfare Support and will need to back-fill some admin time to allow for more Attendance Officer time

Provision of additional SL T time to oversee support and parental engagement

Students who have poor attendance

All year

To maximise attendance

MZB

EWO costs £2,730 for 10 additional sessions

£8,000 for ½ grade B post

SLT time cost

£2,000

To target literacy support at those students whose literacy levels are lowest so that they can make rapid progress

 We have bought into Lexia as a literacy catch-up program and this is supported by a literacy specialist teaching assistant

Students identified by Lexia testing

All year

To close the learning gap

TMB/LJN

Lexia costs £4,158

Additional support for disengaged students as these are  likely to end up in Refocus/Reset

Creation of an Inclusion Manager of Refocus/Reset

Students who are sent to Refocus/Reset

From late Autumn term

To reengage students in their learning

MZB

c.£2,000 for promotion of an internal member of staff

To ensure that students and their families are offered support to address the mental health aspects of the pandemic

All families were asked to complete a survey about their mental health and wellbeing before the summer holidays

Referrals for mental health and wellbeing support are being triaged by an Allocation Team within the school which includes CAMHS staff

Identified students are being targeted by specially trained staff

All students initially then those identified as needing additional support

All year

To support the mental health and wellbeing of students

MZB/TMB

Staff time not costed

To ensure that students and their families are offered support to address the mental health aspects of the pandemic

Key staff have received intensive training in Early Help for Mental Health from CAMHS

All students

All year

To support the mental health and wellbeing of students

MZB

Staff time which has not been costed

Total

£73,375