Overview
Catch-Up Funding is allocated by the Government for each Year 7 pupil who has not achieved the expected level in reading and/or maths at Key Stage 2 before they joined Hornchurch High School. We received an additional premium of £500 for each Year 7 pupil who did not achieve the expected level in reading and/or maths (maximum £500 per pupil) at Key Stage 2.
Expected level means any student who did not achieve the secondary ready scaled score of 100.
“The money is to be used by schools to deliver additional tuition or intensive support in small groups, giving pupils valuable support to bring them up to speed so that they are more likely to succeed at secondary school. The funding will not be ring-fenced for catch-up activities but we expect that this funding is used for additional literacy and numeracy catch-up during Year 7 given that this can make a critical difference to pupils at this important stage.” (DfE Website)
2019/2021 Funding
In 2019/2021 Hornchurch High School received just below £20,000 in Year 7 catch-up premium funding. The funding will be spent as follows:
- All year 7 students will have a Literacy Lesson on their timetable each week. The programme of study will be created by the SLT member who is in charge of Literacy across the school
- Whole class texts have been introduced into year 7 and 8 Form Time. These are highly recommended texts, and are challenging, whilst being accessible
- All year 7 will be taken to the local library to become members
- All prizes across the school will be in the form of a book from Waterstones. All prize winners will be taken to the bookshop to choose their book
- A Literacy coordinator will deliver a bespoke Reading Programme for the students identified as being behind in their Literacy. These students will be supported in small groups of no more than 5, and will have the opportunity to spend 10 weeks (one hour a week), improving their reading skills
- In small groups, students who need ‘light touch’ support will read a short story from the ‘Badger Collection’ of easy readers and this will allow students to gain the confidence to be able to read in front of others and help improve their verbal skills through their analysis of the text. Time will be spent focusing on devices, including learning to identify them and being able to discuss the effect on the reader. In addition to this, extra focus on vocabulary will made to help the students expand their vocabulary and thus improve the quality of their own writing and ability to interpret the writer’s choices
- Grammar and sentence level work will also be completed to help consolidate the students’ learning during the 10 week programme
- Before the end of the 10 week cycle, the students will then complete a reading comprehension test (based on their selected text) and also complete a new reading test to confirm that their reading ages have increased.
- Upper school Reading Mentors are also offered on a weekly basis where KS4 pupils support those in need with their reading. Part of the budget has been spent on purchasing motivating and engaging texts for the pupils to read and share with their mentors
How will we measure the improvements in Literacy?
When the students return in the summer term, we will arrange for a full SATS test to be taken in both Maths and English. This will be used in a diagnostic way, and will also inform our targets.
The Maths and English programmes of study will be adapted to intervene in areas where the students seem weaker.
We’ll offer intervention classes where possible.
