COVID Catch-up Premium
Covid Catch-Up funding has been given to schools by the DFE to mitigate the impact of school closure on the education of pupils. The funding is around £80 per pupil. At St. John’s that came to approximately £14,880 (originally)
The government indicated that the catch up funding would be provided for a further year with a further £7500 (approx) arriving in September 2021. Our initial plans for using the catch-up premium centered around:
- Increasing the hours for our learning mentor to ensure she is able to meet the needs of pupils and families following the return to school.
- Increasing TA hours to provide additional support in the classroom, targeted support with reading and additional capacity to assist our learning mentor
- Increasing welfare staff levels to increase staff presence at lunchtime and help facilitate social interventions and play opportunities
- Increase club opportunities working with PDS to increase pupil involvement and activity levels.
- Increasing capacity for boosting the academic attainment and progress of children who had been adversely affected by the periods of lockdown
- Purchasing of additional resources to enthuse children – particularly in reading and phonics
The attached plan shows how we allocated the funding received. The plan is updated each half term and presented to governors so that they are able to ensure the premium is ultilised effectively. Any updates since the last governor’s meeting are in red; greyed out boxes are complete for now. The plan is fluid and progress on any actions may at times be inconsistent, for example due to the curriculum at festivals such as Christmas affecting timetabling and/or levels of staffing within school. Staffing levels have greatly impacted the implementation of plans in recent months (October 2021 onwards) with roughly 15% of staff missing each week on average and on occasion greater than 25%.
In addition to the COVID catch-up premium, St. John’s were informed in November 2021 that we were now eligible to apply for an academic mentor – a position 95% funded by the government – to work with targeted children. Miss Lloyd, who was already volunteering in school was appointed to this role until the end of the 201/22 academic year.
