Covid Catch-Up Expenditure
COVID Catch-Up Premium Spending: Summary for Valley Park School
|
SUMMARY INFORMATION |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Total number of pupils/students: |
1346 in Years 7-11 |
Amount of catch-up premium received per pupil: |
£80 |
|
Total catch-up premium budget: |
£107,440 |
Budgeted expenditure laid out below |
£108,000 |
Strategy Statement
Students at Valley Park School have been impacted by the national lockdown between March 2020 and July 2020 in the following key ways:
- Literacy levels, some of which had already been identified as being low and limiting-factors in students’ progress, had been identified as a priority prior to the lockdown, but our Accelerated Reader deployment was delayed due to the lockdown being announced just after the STAR assessments had been completed, and before we could deploy books to students (other than those that we promoted on an electronic basis). Some new entrants to the school in Year 7 were also adversely affected by the closure of their primary schools, and so have joined Valley Park with ZPDs that are lower than those we have previously experienced.
- In general, students in all year groups had identified gaps in their learning, particularly in subjects that required practical elements, either due to the fact that students had not had access to specialist equipment, or because they lost confidence over the course of the lockdown to perform or contribute in front of their peers. We need to work in rebuilding confidence, particularly in the event of further periods when students will need to study from home via Microsoft Teams.
- Now that Valley Park School has fully deployed Microsoft Teams as the means of delivering online, virtual, lessons the school will work on developing strong methods of quality assurance, focusing in particular on the quality of assessment for learning, and in respect of dialogue in particular.
- As highlighted by the Return to School documentation produced by the government for September 2020, some students have struggled to readjust to their return to school. Some SEN students, for example, have really felt comfortable working from home, with specialist 1:1 mentoring via Zoom, and so they are reluctant to return. Other students now need a boost to their confidence, as described above, and others now need help regulating their behaviour (both inside and outside of school), having spent a number of months without the structure of school that previously benefited them.
The overarching aims of Valley Park School’s deployment of the Covid Catch Up funding are:
- To minimise, or eliminate if possible, the impact on students’ learning of the national lockdown between March and June 2020.
To ameliorate the gap in achievement (measured by progress from individual starting points) between disadvantaged students and their peers, and to certainly avoid the gap widening as a consequence of the lockdown.
Barriers to Learning
Use both Qualitative and Quantitative sources such as Internal Assessment and Reporting Data, Staff, Pupil and Parent Surveys, Attendance Records, Ofsted Reports, Reviews from External Partners to identify Barriers to Attainment in your school:
|
BARRIERS TO FUTURE ATTAINMENT |
|
|
Academic Barriers: |
|
|
A |
Low levels of literacy, limiting students’ ability to read and also impacting students’ ability to access the wider curriculum. |
|
B |
Gaps in students’ learning across all subjects, arising from the national lockdown between March and July 2020. |
|
C |
Identified low levels of IT literacy within students in primarily our younger year groups. |
|
ADDITIONAL BARRIERS |
|
|
External Barriers: |
|
|
D |
Volume of students working from home since the start of academic year 2020-21, either for reasons of self-isolation or due to health concerns. This manifests as sporadic absence (e.g. 14 or 10 days at a time) or longer-term periods of at-home provision. |
|
E |
Low self-esteem and lack of confidence arising from lockdown, leading to some students being reluctant to participate in online activities, and limiting some students’ abilities to self-regulate. |
|
F |
Absence, within some home environments, of appropriate IT infrastructure to support provision of high-quality online lessons. This can be due to more than one member of a household sharing a single device, but also down to insufficient bandwith. |
Planned Expenditure for Current Academic Year
|
Quality of Education for ALL |
|||||
|
Action |
Intended Outcome and Success Criteria |
Evidence and Rationale for Action |
How will you make sure it is implemented well? |
Staff Lead |
Review Date |
|
To implement 100% of lesson delivery via Microsoft Teams, on a live basis.
Live Microsoft Teams lessons to be of consistently high quality. |
|
As a school, we are committed to improving the online, virtual, school offer that was available during the national lockdown from March. Having migrated our systems to Office 365, we have already rolled out live video lessons to all year groups.
The quality of assessment (Assessment for Learning) within lessons is critical for students’ success, and we have already identified that the quality of dialogue in lessons is the driving force for improvement for our students. We therefore need to ensure that this dialogue continues to develop even when students are not present in school. |
|
MH, AW |
April 2021 |
|
To deploy GCSE Pod resources across Key Stage 4, and to embed across all relevant curriculum areas. |
|
We have, as a school, also been trialling the use of Massolit(following student requests during the national lockdown), and a similar resource has been requested for students in Key Stage 4 in the run-up to their GCSE examinations. A number of colleagues who have joined us from other schools were able to recommend GCSE Pod as a highly effective programme of ‘pods’ (tutorials) that are both engaging and impactful in terms of progress. A range of GCSE subjects, across a variety of examination boards, is available.
|
|
MD |
April 2021 |
|
To raise literacy levels in students across Years 7-9 inclusive. |
|
Accelerated Reader has been adopted across the Valley Invicta Academies Trust, as a proven means of raising students’ reading and literacy skills. We have invested, last year, in the programme via our Literacy and Numeracy Catch Up Premium, but will now need to supplement our investment by purchasing reading books at a lower level, owing to the reading levels that some of our newest Year 7 students have, following the national lockdown. Colleagues within the English Department will complete the training necessary to take full benefit from Accelerated Reader’s monitoring systems in order to improve the programme’s impact. |
|
AW, MD |
April 2021 |
|
To strengthen Science department leadership for the purposes of supporting students in their post-lockdown catching up within this curriculum area. |
|
The Science Department, following a period of natural attrition and some internal promotions, was led by three separate Key Stage Coordinators for most of last academic year, with one appointed as Head of Science for the new academic year. The new Head of Science requires a small team of leaders with whom the curriculum can be reviewed, students’ progress can be kept under close review, and swift action can be implemented in the event of any gaps in knowledge/understanding are identified. Student Voice and Parent Feedback during the national lockdown period demonstrated that students struggled the most with their Science learning whilst working remotely, so the investment in Science (where students sit two GCSEs at the end of Year 11) has been prioritised, since this impacts all students across Years 7-11 inclusive, also strongly influencing their life chances post-16. |
|
MD |
April 2021 but reviewed, on an interim basis, fortnightly. |
|
Total Budgeted Cost: |
£20,000 |
||||
Targeted Support
|
Action |
Intended Outcome and Success Criteria |
Evidence and Rationale for Action |
How will you make sure it is implemented well? |
Staff Lead |
Review Date |
|
Specialist support procured for identified students, to improve their skills with respect to self-regulation and keeping themselves safe. |
Purchase membership of “Dare to Differ” programme. Complete case study portfolio to demonstrate impact on individuals and efficacy of programme, which should be tailored to individual needs. 100% engagement with the programme on the part of students who are put forward. |
Valley Park School is implementing a number of restorative programmes to sit alongside the system of sanctions. However, some difficulties experienced by students exceed the knowledge of the pastoral team, and students at times benefit from speaking to a professional who is outside the school. The school is aware that some students have been waiting some time to receive support from CAMHS and therefore Dare to Differ offers a viable alternative in the interim period. Student Voice and Parent Voice have both expressed concern about students’ mental health arising from the national lockdown, hence this kind of support being a priority for us. Recommendations were sought from other local schools, including Alternative Provision, and Dare to Differ was recommended as both impactful and accessible for students, even when they at risk of criminal activity and a robust approach. |
|
DS |
On a case by case basis, and overall in April 2021. |
|
Implement an administrative structure that effectively supports the growing need for SEND provision within Valley Park School, both as a direct result of lockdown, but also due to the increased number of EHCPs that the school now administers/support in Year 7. |
Appointment of highly-skilled communicator, ideally with SEND experience, to the post of SEND Administrator. |
Valley Park School historically had a dedicated SEN Administrator, however natural attrition led to this role being amalgamated into other positions within the school. The varying needs that have developed during the national lockdown, some of which continue now that students have returned to face-to-face provision now lead us to the conclusion that an equivalent role is required again, so that families have a familiar contact, and so that extensive reporting requirements can be met whilst our SENCOs can direct more of their time to the children who have specific needs, including those who have recently joined us in Year 7, and who did not receive the usual levels of Transition support. |
|
AE |
Twice-termly, and overall in June 2021 |
|
Introduce a small Catch Up Team for the purposes of coordinating catch up activities, mentoring and monitoring activities, impact and outcomes. |
· Appointment of Catch Up Coordinator · Appointment of Catch Up Mentor · Establishment of tracking mechanism, through which evidence can be collected, collated and analysed. |
From our past experiences in prioritising interventions for PP students, and in supporting literacy and numeracy catch ups, we know that these programmes of support work most effectively when one or more “champions” are in post to coordinate, track and promote engagement. For the past year, we have been working towards a solution that would allow us to have colleagues in school who could encourage reluctant readers, and so we have decided to create a small dedicated team that can incorporate both catch up post-lockdown and the promotion of reading/literacy (since the two are closely correlated). |
|
MH, DS |
April 2021 |
|
Total Budgeted Cost: |
£75,500 |
||||
Other Approaches
|
Action |
Intended Outcome and Success Criteria |
Evidence and Rationale for Action |
How will you make sure it is implemented well? |
Staff Lead |
Review Date |
|
Implement a programme of tutoring on a 1:1 or small group basis for the students at most risk of falling behind following the national lockdown (this may be due to the fact that they cannot yet attend school due to their being clinically extremely vulnerable). |
Valley Park School’s most vulnerable students to be prioritised for access to catch up tutoring. This strategy requires the establishment of a culture wherein the notion of tutoring is to be engaged with. |
The government recommends use of the National Tutoring Programme to aid students’ catch up post-lockdown. We have access to a small network of known teachers but will also access the National Tutoring Programme, where our contacts are not appropriate or available. |
|
AW |
July 2021 |
|
Total Budgeted Cost: |
£12,500 |
||||