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COVID-19 Catch-up

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) showing 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. This will be based on the previous year’s census and will not include Nursery numbers, meaning we are predicting Chester Blue Coat will be in receipt of £29,360 (367 x £80).  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.

At Chester Blue Coat, this money will be used in order to provide:

  • Curriculum resources and materials that support “catch up” and mental health of pupils.
  • Deployment of support staff to develop the outcomes of children who have been identified as needing “catch up” in their learning.

There are three broad aims for “catch up” at Chester Blue Coat:

  • Attainment outcomes at end of 2020-21 for all year groups will be at least in line with Local and National expectations and children in school are supported to bridge any gaps in their learning.
  • The mental health needs of pupils are met and supported by the school.
  • Children 

Catch Up at Chester Blue Coat is

(For all children)

  • Working through well sequenced, purposeful curriculum learning. For example, our school-created writing schemes are being adapted to focus on missed objectives and consolidate the basics. In Maths, we will utilise the White Rose Scheme as our spine of learning and we have been able to use catch up to access specific support from a mathematical consultant (Gareth Metcalfe).  A strong focus on early number sense and the core building blocks in number to allow children to be able to reason and problem-solve.
  • Focus on consolidation of basic skills. The core skills which enable successful learning will require increased focus in curriculum time across all year groups. These include: phonics, handwriting, spelling of high frequency words, basic sentence punctuation, times tables recall, basic addition & subtraction fact recall and reading skills relevant to age.
  • Particular focus on early reading and phonics. This is always a focus in the school and will continue to be so in order to develop children’s reading ability and vocabulary.
  • Assessment of learning and of basic skills to identify major gaps. Teachers will work to identify gaps in learning and adapt teaching accordingly.
  • Time spent on mental health, wellbeing and social skills development. This will be at the core of all catch up work as many children will have not been in formal school setting for a number of months.  Children will access My Happy Mind as a whole school tool to support in mental health and well-being.

 (For some children)

  • Additional time to practice basic skills. This again will be dependent on need of children in order to re-establish good progress in the essentials (phonics and reading, increasing vocabulary, writing and mathematics) and there will be flexibility on timetables to allow this.
  • Access to 1:1 or group sessions, provided online, for targeted support in specific areas.  Third Space Learning Intervention, White Rose group intervention.
  • Focused, targeted reading support - Reading Plus.

Catch up at Chester Blue Coat IS NOT:

  • Cramming missed learning
  • Pressuring children and families into rapid learning
  • Teachers time spent highlighting missed objectives
  • Teachers time spent ticking off assessment points and extra tracking

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