Covid-19 Catch-up Premium

School children across the country have experienced unparalleled disruption to their education as a result of COVID-19. The combined impact of lost time in education will be extensive, and it is important that the scale of response must match the scale of the challenge.

How will this be achieved? This question has been discussed widely and there has been a positive reaction from the government to combat the ever-widening gap in children’s education. Below we will explain what these are, detail what resources could be provided as well as how these can be used to help support our most vulnerable pupils.

A summary

In June this year, the Government announced that children in England are set to benefit from a £1 billion Covid “catch-up” package to directly tackle the impact of lost teaching time. £350 million of this will go towards a National Tutoring programme- targeting the most disadvantaged in Primary and Secondary schools over 2020/21. This will help accelerate their academic progress and prevent the gap between them and their more affluent peers widening. The rest of the £650 Million is to support pupils in state education that recognises that all young people have lost time in education because of the pandemic, regardless of their income or background. The Funding will not be available till September 2020. The Education Endowment Foundation have published a guide which focuses on supporting teachers and school leaders in primary and secondary schools in England. The guide is split into three strategies:

• Teaching and whole-school strategies that will involve supporting great teaching, pupil assessment and feedback, and transition support. These strategies review the support needed for teaching staff to improve the outcome for their pupils.
• Targeted Support - supporting those pupils who have fallen behind furthest with the use of structured interventions. These may also be delivered one to one or in small groups and are likely to be necessary. This will allow a rebuild in confidence for those pupils and aid them to catch up with their peers. Extended school time is another approach to this strategy; in which additional academic and or pastoral support should be provided to those pupils after school, as there is evidence to support that one to one or small group studying improves learning.
• Wider strategies like supporting parents and carers, access to technology and Summer support. Parents have been at the forefront of providing their kids with primary education during this pandemic therefore this strategy will continue supporting parents on how they can support their children from home during the summer and beyond.

The National Association for Education Technology (NAACE)

This is made up of a community of teachers, school leaders, advisors, consultants and commercial partners working across all areas of UK education who share a vision for the developing role of technology in education. When School representatives join NAACE they become part of a passionate community that provides peer to peer support, facilitates networking opportunities and acts as a catalyst for educational advancements which will ultimately benefit learners.

Evidence for Learning

This is an online platform that was set up to support SEND schools, colleges and provisions using evidence to assess, review and plan for meeting the unique needs of their SEND learners. Evidence gathered is automatically organised by the app and readily available on-demand to anyone in the school. The same tools support real time deep dives into any area(s) of your school’s curriculum – allowing you to see how individual learners are experiencing your curriculum and how teaching is being personalised to support that learner’s needs. Evidence for Learning have suggested a Recovery Curriculum for built on Five Levels.

• Relationships
• Community
• Transparent
• Metacognition
• Space

We know that we have the professional knowledge and expertise in the education system to ensure that children and young people recover and get back on track. Returning to normal educational routines as quickly as possible will be critical to our national recovery, and the government intends for schools and colleges to fully open in September. If you have any questions about the Covid-19 Catch-up Premium or another matter, please contact the SBS service desk on 0345 222 1551 • Option 2, or email financeservicedesk@schoolbusinessservices.co.uk.

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