Our effective deployment of Year 7 Catch-Up premium was acknowledged by Ofsted (2018); ‘Catch-up funding is used effectively for Year 7 pupils who are not yet fully prepared for the secondary curriculum. School information shows there is a good improvement for these pupils in reading, writing and mathematics.’
How we spent the allocation of funds for 2019-20
In 2019-20, Dean Trust Ardwick was allocated £14,718 in funding as part of the Year 7 catch-up initiative. Year 7 catch-up funding provides an additional £500 for every pupil who has not achieved the desired level for reading and/or mathematics at Key Stage 2. The funding aims to help these children ‘catch-up’ with their peers during their first years at the school.
Each year, after an evaluation of the impact of the previous year’s spend, research into effective literacy and numeracy intervention programmes and an analysis of the incoming cohort’s needs, our strategies for the forthcoming year are amended and updated. The table below outlines how the Year 7 catch-up premium was spent and its impact upon pupils’ literacy and numeracy development during the academic year 2019-20 so that they could ‘catch-up’ to their peers.
Literacy
Desired Outcome
- To rapidly close the gap between pupils’ chronological age and reading age.
- To improve pupils’ summary and comprehension skills.
- To rapidly close the gap between pupils’ chronological age and spelling age.
- To improve the accuracy of pupils’ written work with a specific focus on sentence and paragraph construction.
- To widen pupils’ tier 2 vocabulary.
Summary of Spend
- 1 part-time literacy assistant who will provide intervention sessions and mentor identified pupils through Accelerated Reader, run reading groups and liaise with parents/carers over the progress of pupils and at-home reading strategies.
- Purchase and copying of resources for intensive literacy and modified curriculum sessions. (Wave 3 interventions)
- Purchase of a variety of appropriate books and texts for the programme which have been levelled.
- Purchase of appropriately levelled Accelerated Reader texts to be available to borrow from the library.
- Purchase of rewards/incentives.
- Staffing and resources for parent/carer literacy and English Language development sessions.
Evidence of Impact
Across initial 7 weeks of intervention
- Average increase in Word Recognition Age across initial 7 weeks was 4.3 months
- 92% of cohort closed the gap between chronological and Word Recognition Age by making more than 4 months’ progress.
- 91% of cohort closed the gap between chronological and Reading Comprehension Age by making more than 5 months’ progress.
- Average increase in Spelling Age across 7 weeks was 5 months
- 92% of cohort closed the gap between chronological and Spelling Age by making more than 4.1 months’ progress.
- 100% of cohort closed the gap between chronological and reading age in 7 weeks by making more than 6 months’ progress.
- Average reading age of the cohort in September was 9.04 which increased to 9.11 by mid-October giving an increase of 5 months above expected progress.
By March 2020
- The average reading age of the cohort increased by 11 months from 9 years and 4 months to 10 years and 1 months giving an accelerated increase of 4 months more than previous progress over time.
- Against their aspirational Dean Trust target grades in English the cohort of 36 pupils achieved a +9 residual in English.
- A slightly higher proportion of the English catch-up cohort (71.1%) were working on and above their aspirational flightpath targets compared to their peers (68.8%) suggesting that these pupils make slightly accelerated progress compared to their peers (where previously they have not) as a result of the interventions delivered.
Numeracy
Desired Outcome
- Develop mathematical confidence of identified pupils.
- Improve progress and attainment in maths for identified pupils.
Summary of Spend
- 1 part time numeracy co-ordinator.
- Purchase and copying of resources for intervention sessions.
- Purchase of rewards/incentives.
Evidence of Impact
- Pre and post assessment scores reveal 79% of the cohort improved their score on the assessment.
- The cohort’s mean increase was 26%
- Before intervention, 100% of pupils were working below their aspirational flightpath target whereas at the end of the academic year 60.2% of the cohort were working at or above target.
- After intervention, a slightly lower proportion (60.2%) of the maths catch-up cohort were working on and above their aspirational flightpath targets compared to their peers (77%).
- Pupil voice revealed that 92% of the cohort agreed or agreed strongly that their confidence in maths had improved.
Plans for 2020-21
Due to the nature of the change in the way funds will be allocated from September 2020, strategies to support pupils entering Year 7 below age rated expectations to make rapid progress in English and Maths, will be outlined as part of the Covid-Catch Up spending plans. Identifying specific gaps in all Year 7 pupils’ knowledge as they enrol in September is a priority and addressing these will include the delivery of our recovery curriculum which has been developed across the Trust in collaboration with Key Stage 2 specialists.