Catch Up Funding 2020 - 2021

The government has released updated details of the payments to support catch-up activity. Here is a summary.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Catch-up Premium

As per this DfE update today (4th August), the government has updated its guidance regarding the coronavirus catch-up premium.

What You Need to Know

As the guidance states, this means a typical primary school of 200 pupils will receive £16,000 while a typical secondary school of 1,000 pupils will receive £80,000.

This payment is a one-off due to coronavirus; it will not be added to schools baselines when calculating future years' funding allocations.

What can we use this funding for?

The DfE guidance states:

"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.

The curriculum guidance can be found here.

Remote Learning: Mission Critical

As you'd expect, the DfE deem it important to plan for remote learning. This may be essential if there are further local or national lockdowns. The DfE curriculum guidance states:

Develop remote education so that it is integrated into school curriculum planning: Remote education may need to be an essential component in the delivery of the school curriculum for some pupils, alongside classroom teaching, or in the case of a local lockdown. All schools are therefore expected to plan to ensure any pupils educated at home for some of the time are given the support they need to master the curriculum and so make good progress.

Remote Learning and ReadingWise

You may be developing your plans for remote learning, and how you might deploy the Catch-up Premium to best effect. ReadingWise is ideal to support reading and literacy (all of our programmes and staff training is online). We are particularly well positioned to help struggling readers - one of the most important cohorts that you are planning for. If relevant, please read a short summary of our programmes and evidence below. You can also review our testimonials. Thank you for your interest.

Evidence

All online and with strong evidence, our reading programmes cover the various key stages. Our core work is in supporting pupils to catch up with their reading. Studies have been conducted with Cambridge University and with the Department for Education . The average reading age increase for pupils completing a ReadingWise programme is over 9 months in under 20 hours (12 hours on average). This has been confirmed by two randomised controlled trials. The DfE study found ReadingWise increased pupils' reading age 78% faster than usual lessons. Over 90% of pupils would reccomend ReadingWise to their peers.

Reading Catch-up for Every Phase

ReadingWise offers a programme for each phase of education, and covers the core components of becoming a good reader - decoding, comprehension and vocabulary. Here are our programmes with links to the relevant page:

KS1: ReadingWise Zip

(an online supplementary phonics programme based on letters and sounds; suitable for all children in reception, year 1 and year 2). Ideal support for the phonics check taking place in Autumn. £395 + VAT for a site licence (training included).
Learn more

KS1 / KS2 / KS3: ReadingWise Decoding

An online intervention targeting children approximately 2 years below their chronological age and struggling to decode: those for whom initial phonics teaching did not work. Pricing is school-size dependent.
Learn more

KS2 / KS3: ReadingWise Comprehension

An online programme that develops crucial comprehension strategies alongside a library of stories and extracts.
Learn more

KS1 - Zip Phonics
£395 + VAT site licence - training included - find out more
KS1 / KS2 / KS3 / KS4 - Vocab
Price dependent on school size - find out more
KS1 / KS2 / KS3 - Decoding
Price dependent on school size - find out more
KS2 / KS3 / KS4 - Comprehension
Price dependent on school size - find out more
  • For ages 5 - 7;
  • Supports the letters and sounds scheme of work;
  • Formed part of a DfE study;
  • Simple to use, easy to monitor - get started in minutes;
  • Free training for staff.

A teacher says: "ReadingWise Zip is a Godsend for our reception learners."

  • For ages 5 - 16;
  • Allows you to target vocabulary alongside texts you are reading as a class;
  • Uses overlearning techniques to support security of knowledge;
  • Simple to use, easy to monitor - get started in minutes;
  • Free training for staff.

"There is much evidence – strong correlations, several causal studies, as well as rich theoretical orientations – that shows that vocabulary is tightly related to reading comprehension across the age span." Bringing Words to Life, Beck, McKeown and Kuchan (2013)

  • To develop decoding skills;
  • Well evidenced in a variety of settings;
  • Formed part of a DfE study;
  • Personalised depending on a pupil's needs;
  • Free training for staff.

A SENCO says: “I have just benchmarked X again and he now has a reading age of 14 years... an improvement of 5 years from his initial reading age of 9!”

  • For ages 7 - 14;
  • Explicit teaching of comprehension strategies to develop key comprehension skills;
  • A library of stories and extracts to support ongoing reading;
  • Simple to use, easy to monitor - get started in minutes;
  • Free training for staff.

A teacher says: “...the children in the pilot group have spoken with excitement and passion about the programme with their friends and in their classes...”

Learn more about Zip Learn more about Vocab Learn more about Decoding Learn more about Comprehension

Next Step

Find out more by arranging a demo - at a time to suit you!

Arrange your 20-minute demo at a time to suit you.

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