2020/21 Covid-19 Premium Grant - Planned Expenditure

Strategy Statement

“Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are likely to have been more affected particularly severely by closures and may need more support to return to school and settle back into school life. Whilst all pupils will benefit from the EEF recommendations, it is likely that some forms of support will be particularly beneficial to disadvantaged.” (Covid-19 Support Guide for Schools – June 2020

At Featherby we want to ensure that:

• No child is left behind as a result of COVID-19 
• That academic attainment, wellbeing and social development is not compromised in the longer term and that our values and aspirational targets continue to thrive. 
• To reduce the attainment gap between our disadvantaged pupils and their peers.
• To raise the attainment of all pupils to close the gap created by COVID-19 school closures
• Children’s social, emotional and mental well being is supported.

COVID-19 catch-up premium spending: summary

Barriers to Future Attainment

Academic barriers (issues addressed in school such as low levels of literacy/maths):

• Pupil attitudes to learning and resilience and stamina to access learning for longer periods of time
• Changes in behaviour, including anxiety, self-esteem and self confidence
• Poor writing stamina- children have had less exposure to sustained writing during lockdown
• Pupils not being able to make links to previous learning
• Phonics knowledge and application for pupils in EYFS and KS1
• Foundations of learning in Early Years

External barriers (issues which require action outside school such as home learning environment and low attendance): 

• Social disadvantage can manifest in limited aspirations, a lack of parental engagement and poor home learning environments. Children may not be exposed to rich and varied life experiences and this can put them at a disadvantage.
• Low attendance for vulnerable families
• Loss of learning due to school closure

How we will spend the allocation:

 Additional Information

The government announced £1 billion of funding to support children and young people to catch up lost time after school closure. This is especially important for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds. Featherby Infant and Junior School will make every effort to support disadvantaged pupils with their learning. For the purposes of this plan, the term disadvantaged goes beyond the Government’s definition of those eligible for Free School Meals or Pupil Premium and includes those who may struggle to access remote education whilst not attending school (i.e. pupils facing difficult circumstances in the home environment of those with limited or no access to technology at home). 

Schools should use this funding for specific activities to support their pupils to catch up for lost teaching over the previous months. School leaders must be able to show they are using the funding to resume teaching a normal curriculum as quickly as possible following partial or full school closure. Governors should scrutinise schools’ approaches to catch-up from September 2020, including their plans for and use of catch-up funding. This should include consideration of whether schools are spending this funding in line with their catch-up priorities, and ensuring appropriate transparency for parents. 

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.