Following the 2020 lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools have received an additional amount of money to provide catch-up support for those pupils that require it. The government have allocated 1 billion pound of funding to support children and young people to catch up. This includes a one-off universal £650 million catch-up premium for the 2020 to 2021 academic year to ensure that schools have the support they need to help all pupils make up for lost teaching time. Schools’ allocations will be calculated on a per pupil basis, providing each mainstream school with a total of £80 for each pupil.
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. Schools have the flexibility to spend their funding in the best way for their cohort and circumstances. To support schools to make the best use of this funding, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has published a coronavirus (COVID-19) support guide for schools with evidence-based approaches to catch up for all students. Schools should use this document to help them direct their additional funding in the most effective way. Strategies in this guide suggest using a tiered approach grouped into three categories:
- Teaching and whole-school strategies
- Targeted support
- Wider strategies
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. That is why, alongside the universal catch-up premium, the government have launched a £350 million National Tutoring Programme to provide additional, targeted support for those children and young people who need the most help.
In addition to the universal funding and the National Tutoring Programme the Department for Education is working with the EEF and other partners to scale up delivery of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI): this is a high-quality, evidence-based, 20-week intervention designed to improve the language skills of reception age pupils.
As with all government funding, school leaders and governors must be able to account for how the money is being used. Please click the link below to see our COVID Premium Strategy 2020-21.
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