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COVID-19 Catch Up Premium

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Catch-up Premium Strategy September 2020 – July 2021

‘Catch-Up Premium’ funding is available to schools to enable students to catch up following the unprecedented disruption to their education caused by COVID-19.  West Hatch High School will use this funding for activities to support our students in catching up any lost teaching over the previous months in line with the DfE guidance. The DfE guidance sets out the following expectations to ensure all students, particularly disadvantaged, vulnerable and SEND students, are given catch-up support. Education is not optional, curriculum must remain broad and ambitious and these principles must extend to remote learning provision.

To implement our catch-up premium strategy, we will:

  1. Identify which students need additional support using diagnostic tools and through our engagement with students to assess understanding, engagement with learning and well-being.  We will engage every student in the first 3 weeks with a curriculum designed to re-cover previous lockdown learning.  After 3 weeks, we will then assess them to see who continues to need support following this whole school intervention.
  2. Prioritise high quality instruction through professional development and effective remote learning.  Remote learning is a particular priority to ensure continuity of learning from this point and is therefore a key priority for funding of training.  This will help us to provide a continuous high level of learning for students, helping them to catch up and preventing students falling further behind regardless of the circumstances as the pandemic develops.
  3. Target academic support to improve progress using structured interventions such as small group tuition and one-to-one support. This will start in Maths and English.
  4. Use wider strategies to overcome non-academic barriers to success by providing students with support for their emotional and behavioural needs whilst working closely with families. 

Strand 1 Diagnostic assessment

High quality targeted diagnostic assessment, which includes low stakes assessments after a 3 week – re-engagement curriculum.  This will provide staff with both quantative and qualitative data about which students require support. Additional information from Student Support and Pastoral Teams will provide information about student welfare needs.  Students will be identified at three different levels of priority / need.  The Student Support and Pastoral team, led by the Designated Safeguard Lead (DSL) will oversee intervention strategies that support students social, emotional and behavioural needs. We recognise that these two areas are interconnected. Department leaders and the DSL will work closely together to ensure the most suitable approach is used with each student. Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 will be monitored through diagnostic assessment points throughout the year and Raising Standards Leaders will work with Heads of Department to target interventions.

Strand 2 High quality instruction:

Excellent teaching will have the greatest impact on student progress and facilitating a student’s ability to catch-up on lost learning.  To support this, we will focus on an approach that further develops the quality of instruction and student practice in lessons and builds upon Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction. Continuity of high quality learning is about the most important thing we can focus on to ensure students can catch up.  Staff will receive INSET that focuses on high quality remote education so that, regardless of the circumstances over the coming months, our planned curriculum should remain in place as our remote learning provision closely mirrors our in school curriculum. 

We will also invest in remote support and training for NQTs – bespoke support – through the ESSEX LEA training package and ring fenced Non-specialist teacher CPD.

Strand 3 Targeted academic intervention:

We will offer high quality, targeted, one-to-one and group academic support, initially focussed in Maths and English. A continual assessment strategy will identify the students requiring academic intervention. A programme of support for Year 11 and 13 students will be managed by the RSLs and led by departments as student’s needs become apparent. This programme will prioritise and target support for students with the greatest need. HoD’s will create a package of in-class support for students to learn in the first 3 weeks in September.  HoD’s working closely with their Senior Leadership Team (SLT) link will establish an action plan with resourcing and staffing intervention strategies identified. The Library and our LSU will also work on Read-Write-Ink for students with low literacy levels on their return to school.  A reading support programme for Y7 and Y8 during form time will also be introduced to encourage younger students back to regular reading.  We will also  keep our library safely open for as long as possible and invest in ways to allow students to access reading materials.  Finally, most of our subject areas have offered live and recorded revision sessions as well to older students who need support in the coming months.

Strand 4 Wider strategies:

Wider strategies will be employed to support students with social, emotional and behavioural needs that are a barrier to their engagement and ability to access the curriculum. In addition, other strategies will be employed to ensure we support remote learning, develop study skills of learners and communicate and support parents and carers effectively.  E.G. we have invested in a full time counsellor to work in the school to support our students alongside our experienced pastoral team as well as our full time Careers Support.  We are changing from house to year group forms – which is a change of structure to support tailor made PSHE provision for students as they return.  We will invest in mentor meetings for targeted students to support their return to school and we intend on continuing with a remote version of our year 7 Aspirations Days.

Investment in the Edulink One App membership will provide us with the tools to communicate with parents / carers effectively in real time with push notifications. This will support the link between home and school and will be particularly useful should staff move to teaching remotely. It will also improve engagement as the app has a feature rewarding both progress and effort.

Bespoke support for students to improve their engagement and health will be an important part of this strand. The student support and pastoral teams will work with external agencies and access additional in-school counselling as the need arises.

We will establish an Instagram Account with the intention of posting material using social media to motivate, encourage collaboration and a sense of community alongside that crucial flow of  information.

We are focused on providing high quality remote learning through MS Teams. Students and staff are receiving training on the use of this teaching and collaboration platform. Work that is set online will follow the same high quality instruction as our normal curriculum.

Actions Taken So Far

Department

Year group

Action/Objective

English

7

Accelerated Reader tests completed to show the reading ages of all pupils – shared on the LG for other Departments to make use of.

English, used it to help inform creation of top sets.

Also used for literacy catch up arranged by H. Moynihan and run by A. Crathern.

 

Mini scheme of work on reading and writing stories as it is a skill that is common to all primary schools and enables teachers to both assess reading and writing skills quickly and identify any gaps in learning.

English

8

Accelerated Reader tests completed to show the reading ages of all pupils – shared on the LG for other Departments to make use of.

Also used for literacy catch up arranged by H. Moynihan and run by A. Crathern.

 

Mini scheme of work called ‘Exploring the world through poetry’ – pupils revise how to analyse poems as this skill was harder to teach remotely and then complete an assessment to see how much they have learnt.

English Language

9

Accelerated Reader tests completed to show the reading ages of all pupils – shared on the LG for other Departments to make use of.

 

Mini scheme of work called ‘Exploring Language Reimagined Fairytale Stories’ as it tests all of the skills taught remotely and others taught throughout the year. There was a mini assessment which was completed at the end of the scheme to check understanding.

English Literature

9

As Literature is not taught separately in Years 7 and 8 English started with a full scheme of work on An Inspector Calls with a mini test at the end of the first 3 weeks.

English Language

10

The mini scheme started with a Closing the Loop activity using the EOY9 assessment – Paper 1, Q2 and Q5 – leading to a reassessment of these skills. Lots of in class quizzes to check understanding of key terminology built into the SOW. 

English Literature

10

Where possible the Year 9 teachers were timetabled to teach the same classes in Year 10 for continuity and knowledge on well the pupils engaged over lockdown.  Revisit and re-teaching of Macbeth up to Act 2 – mini-assessment was a repeat of the essay that they were asked to complete over lockdown. 

Marks recorded on a Department database and Intervention coordinator uses the information to decide who is in need of intervention.

English Language

11

Mini SOW on AQA Paper 1 Revision – building on prior knowledge & skills with a focus on understanding & using Subject Terminology. Identifying & interpreting explicit information (Q1). Language and Structural Analysis (Q2&3) 

English Literature

11

We started teaching the conflict section of the Anthology as we predicted that the 19th Century text would be taken off the syllabus. GSCE Revision Pod is used to set revision material on to be completed by pupils. All Revision classes are being taught through Teams. Quizzes to check understanding set using Forms on Teams.

English Literature

12

A set of transition work to be completed before entry on to the course sent out to all pupils.  A unit of work on Tragedy was compiled by the KS5 Coordinator and taught by all staff. An essay assessing their understanding set and marked and marks recorded on a central database.

English Language and Literature

12

A set of transition work to be completed before entry on to the course sent out to all pupils.  A unit of work on Tragedy was compiled by the KS5 Coordinator and taught by all staff. An essay assessing their understanding set and marked and marks recorded on a central database.

English Literature

13

Continuation in teaching the course – no adjustments for lost time made by the exam board. Good transfer of information from previous class teacher, if left. Mini assessments to check understanding completed at the end of each half term. 

English Language and Literature

13

Continuation in teaching the course – no adjustments for lost time made by the exam board. Good transfer of information from previous class teacher, if left. Mini assessments to check understanding completed at the end of each half term. 

English Intervention with a qualified English teacher

Years 7-11

Literature

Year 11 – 5 students

Year 10 – 8 students

Year 9 – 9 students

 

Language

Year 11 – 6 students

Year 10 – 2 students

Year 9 – 3 students

Year 8 – 3 students

 

Plus 29 year 7 students in form time reading intervention

 

English have also created an Intervention programme for KS3 but not rolled it out as there were too many new or inexperienced staff to immediately start with it. The set changes in Year 8 and the lack of consistency of students in classes has also made this hard to roll out. Now that it seems to be settling down we will start the more formal intervention process in the next few weeks when allowed to have groups outside of curriculum time.

Maths

7

In order to ensure year 7 had a secure transition into Secondary School Mathematics they completed a number of crossover topics from the KS2 and KS3 curriculum.

They completed these topics over a three week period and were then given an assessment to gauge understanding and application. The majority of these topics will still be involved in the SOW for year 7 as it progress through the year.

Maths

8 & 9

Looked at the data from 2019-20 for all classes and matched up topic levels with the levels achieved by the classes in the two assessments they completed in the year.

The students were therefore recovering topics they had been taught in this year and attempting to bridge any gaps in knowledge and misconceptions.

6 year 9 pupil premium students also received 1:1 intervention, in these sessions gaps in knowledge were addressed. In addition our new staff member will be supporting 9 KS3 groups SO these groups will have 2 teachers in all classes. These are some of our low attaining groups with a high proportion of pupil premium students.

Maths

10

Students in year 10 started the year using a reconnecting scheme of work. The scheme of work concentrated on the number and algebra strands, the skills in these strands are essential for their basic mathematics. The skills covered in half term 1 were vital for their understanding of future topics covered during the course of the year.

 

The students were assessed on these skills for our first assessment.

After the first assessment students begun our new scheme of work, the scheme of work is designed to cover the majority of topics for the mathematics GCSE in year 10; the topics covered gradually get more challenging as the year progresses, the assessments consist of more problem solving questions to give the students the necessary skills for real GCSE exam questions.

In year 10, 11 pupil premium students were given 1:1 intervention from our intervention teacher. This will be discussed in greater detail in the intervention section.

 

We have also recently employed a new teacher that will be supporting 7 year 10 lessons a week. The classes selected for the new teacher to support consist of groups that historically underachieve, in addition they are also groups with a high proportion of pupil premium students and SEN. The teachers’ role is to provide additional support in lessons, check the learning of students and address any misconceptions.

Maths

11

Year 11 students began the year with reconnecting topics from KS3 as well as year 10.

It was also essential for us to start new learning due to the students having an extended period away from school due to COVID-19 so we combined the two together.

Year 11 students were assessed on a collection of GCSE papers in the first month which was undertaken over a period of 4 weeks. It was essential for the department to have some rich data on year 11 students, they had not sat their end of year exams in year 10 and their last assessment point had been in March 2020.

Weaker groups were targeted at specific grades to give them the necessary skills for their future GCSE examinations. After the first assessment, set changes were made to enable extra support for certain students as well as increasing stretch and challenge for others.

All the parents of students who had achieved below a grade 4 in their assessment were contacted, it is essential to communicate with parents about the progress of pupils. In year 11, 9 pupil premium students were given 1:1 intervention from our intervention teacher.

We have also recently employed a new teacher that will be supporting 9 year 11 lessons a week. The classes selected for the new teacher to support, consist of groups that are currently underachieving, in addition they are also groups with a high proportion of pupil premium students and SEN. The teachers’ role is to provide additional support in lessons, check the learning of students and address any misconceptions.

Maths

12

We used a transition curriculum which consisted of higher elements of the GCSE course.  In effect we went back to previous work more deeply to ensure understanding before progressing to A-level standard work. They have been thoroughly assessed on each aspect of learning so far and question level analysis support us to fill gaps with the students.

Maths

13

Continuation in teaching the course – no adjustments for lost time made by the exam board. They have the same teachers as last year and they were taught throughout the lockdown. Again they have been assessed thoroughly for us to understand any areas of weakness. 

Both year 12 & 13 are required to attend morning assessments prior to school starting so that curriculum time is maximised in class. 

1 -1 intervention with qualified Maths Teacher

 

Year 9   - 6 students

Year 10 – 11 students

Year 11 – 9 students

 

The students selected for catch up intervention were all Pupil premium students. KS4 students were the primary focus as well as some students from year 9, the rationale for this decision was based on future examinations. The breakdown is below:

 

In total 25 students received intervention for a 3 week period.  The students were all allocated a 30 minute session every week, we were only able to withdraw students from their normal mathematics lessons. The focus of all intervention was based on essential skills in Number and Algebra. In their very first session students sat an entry assessment for 15 minutes, from this the intervention teacher was able to assess where the gaps in knowledge were for each individual student. The intervention teacher and the student were then able to devise their learning plan for future sessions. The rest of the sessions were used to address the gaps in knowledge and misunderstandings. We did plan for the students to have an exit assessment but due to the intervention teacher being unwell that was not possible.

Maths Intervention Friday Swap

 

 

Year 11s, have five timetabled hours of maths a week.  To take full the opportunity of this time, we are now planning an intervention only lesson during the class time I the last lesson of the week.  The rationale behind the change in teacher is to avoid stagnation with the class and the change of atmosphere of the class. This should create a more productive lesson. The only exception is set 1 who will remain with their main teacher and will use the lesson to teach the further maths course.

The resources for these sessions will be grade booklets (designed by Jason) for students to work through. Depending on the group some classes will work more independently whereas weaker will have more teacher involvement.

 

After School Intervention:

There is an aim to start some after school intervention with year 11s in two types of session before and after school – these will be a targeted intervention and a drop in.

Some students will have to attend an intervention session with their classroom teacher. These students are selected from students who performed below target on the first mocks but some students may be added if they are weak in class (these should have a maximum of 15 students).

All other students will be invited to attend the maths support session. Students will be expected to bring the target books (purchased through parent pay) to complete in this time but also use the session as a chance to ask about topics they are unsure on. If students do not have their target book skills checkers can be used (these will be put on a folder in Teams) and can be used throughout maths support sessions if needed. Students can only attend support sessions if they are not in intervention and they can only attend one support a week as there is a limit of 30 students to the support sessions and students must sign up to these.

Science

All years

Re-planned the curriculum to regularly reteach lockdown learning in the context of the new topics without making it obvious to students. Because of the range of experience of teaching staff, we decided to meet once a week to plan the teaching for the following week and use SKE and curriculum planning sessions to show staff how to do this and to incorporate a more synoptic approach to teaching and learning.

After 3 weeks, well crafted assessments were put together with question level analysis and the current curriculum is partly based on the key misconceptions from these assessments.

 

Science intervention

 

  • The lowest 10 students in year 11 targeted for after school intervention and individual teachers had at least one after school session where the students they targeted were invited to attend.
  • TMG went full time to release staff to do intervention with targeted students.  Intervention covered topics that were the fundamental building blocks for each science.
  • Form time videos for year 7 – 10 produced to recap key skills
  • Year 11 science forms provided with key work to complete with science form tutors or HoD during form time.
  • Assessments changed to mainly multiple choice to make identifying gaps easier without impacting on workload.
  • Heads of subject produce a video or a PowerPoint for assessment feedback; this explains the answer to every question. This is provided on Teams and SMH and avoids staff spending a whole lesson going through the assessment with the whole class (where students often don’t listen if they got the question right or staff go too fast for a particular question that some students just don’t understand). Staff can still go over one or two key questions.
  • Feedback (RAG) sheets changed to the end of the closing the loop cycle (not the beginning) and marked by teachers to identify areas where more work was needed.
  •  
  • Re-teaching key concepts a key part of lessons even when covering new learning.
  • A closer link between homework and do now; both focusing on gaps in skills and knowledge and understanding.
  • Year 12 chemistry and physics started with recap/re-teaching of key GCSE learning needed to access the A level courses and the topics started were the ones that utilised this learning; traditional/exam board starting points were not stuck to. The idea of start slow accelerate later seems to be working.
  • Year 12 chemistry teachers get 2 main home works a week; the first is to complete the work from the new learning; the second is to prepare for following week’s learning which they are tested on at the start of the week’s lessons.
  • Year 13 encouraged to sit in year 12 lessons to complete their independent studies periods; the background noise of the previous year’s work may be useful for these students but the main purpose was to seek help when the teacher was available with the work they were set.
  • Mid topic tests (30 multiple choice questions) introduced to check learning and identify learning needs earlier. Students tested every 3 weeks instead of 6 weeks.

Form period

7, 8, 9, 10

All 3 core subjects have produced 15 minutes videos to recap key skills once a week in each of the 3 subjects to support all students in year groups 7, 8, 9, 10.

 

 

 

1st ½ term data

2nd September 2020 – 27th November 2020

 

Autumn 2019 all

Autumn 2019 PP

Autumn 2020 all

Autumn 2020 PP

all pupil difference

PP difference

To Date

To Date PP

Year 7

97

95.79

96.4

95.31

-0.6

-0.5

96.8

95.46

Year 8

94.3

93.14

94

92.62

-0.3

-0.5

94.4

92.66

Year 9

94.1

93.38

93

90.7

-1.1

-2.7

93.6

90.91

Year 10

93.2

88.21

93.3

91.38

0.1

3.2

93.8

91.85

Year 11

94.1

92.16

90.1

80.28

-4.0

-11.9

91.1

82.02

Year 12

96

91.72

96.9

95.18

0.9

3.5

96.6

95.31

Year 13

94.7

89.19

94.2

88.46

-0.5

-0.7

94.4

90.01