Covid Recovery Premium

Covid Recovery Premium for 2021-22

Aims of 2021-22 spending

The school had approximately £36,000 available to spend for financial year 2021-22.

Despite the many disruptions to learning caused by school closures, many of our pupils maintained excellent attendance at school with additional support due to a higher staff to pupil ratio.

This was particularly true for more vulnerable pupils who were prioritised for face to face learning in school.

Those receiving remote learning continued to make progress as classes continued to follow our curriculum plans and offered a combination of online lessons or for those of whom this was not appropriate; physical learning resources sent home weekly and phone advice on how to use them.

Funds use for remote learning included:

• Additional zoom subscription to increase online learning capacity
• Additional ASDAN resources for learning that could take place in home
• Work books for pupils to use at home
• Twinkl upgrade to increase printable resources for staff to send home
• Laptop for family with no suitable device for online learning (supported siblings too)

Though there will inevitably be some loss of academic learning, the area where we have noticed that pupils have the largest need to catch up is in their physical development.

Many pupils need regular access to physical therapies and specialist equipment such as Rebound Therapy, Hydrotherapy and Sensory Enrichment. In addition, many homes are not as accessible as our school and therefore movement in the home can often be severely restricted for those using walking frames and wheelchairs.

These therapies cannot be replicated at home and for many the situation was made worse as many were also shielding and were unable to access the individual sessions offered in school.

On their return to school it was evident that many pupils had physically deteriorated since March 2020 and so our priority for this funding is to maximise and where possible increase the amount of therapies they receive.

In order to achieve this we used the funds to support the funding of a dedicated HLTA to support the planning and delivery of these therapies over the year including additional staff to ensure therapies are still provided when classes are affected by absence.

This member of staff is a rebound Therapy instructor and has considerable training and experience in delivering Sensory Enrichment programmes and Hydrotherapy.

This approach will also enable less experienced staff to gain knowledge and understanding by working alongside them.

During lockdown periods we had far more contact with parents and carers in supporting pupils’ learning at home, they were able to see what learning looked like for their children and therefore be able to extend learning in the home more effectively.

Parents were also able to contribute to assessment and give us a greater understanding of what our pupils can achieve when at home.

This was particularly obvious in EHCP outcomes, where extended periods at home with adults and supporting siblings meant many pupils made good progress towards their outcomes.

Improving this collection of evidence at home and sharing success from school was something we wished to continue and build on.

This extra engagement at home also helped us to understand many of the priorities of parents and carers, much of which is not part of the traditional subject based curriculum. We therefore needed a better way of recording wider outcomes in school and be able to personalise these as individual learning goals.

To achieve this we have invested in an online system for Assessment, Recording and Reporting (Evidence for learning) and the technology to support its implementation. This allows home access and will enable parents to be more involved in their child’s learning and progress.

This will be initially used for EHCP outcomes and then spread to all areas of the curriculum.

Summary of 2021-2022 spending

Additional Therapy
Salary for HLTA and additional support staff	£21,128
Evidence for Learning
EfL costs	£5,209
Devices for implementation	£10,680
Remote Learning resources
Additional ASDAn units	£50
CGP texts	£200
Twinkl subscription upgrade	£620
Zoom subscription	£150
Laptop computer	£200
Total	£38,237

Though overspent, we will use some of next year’s allocation to cover these costs.

Plans for Covid Catch-up Premium for 2022-23

We expect to receive approximately £21,000

For our pupils the ability to access and learn from and within the community is essential if they are to gain the cultural capital to live as active members of our community.

Since March 2020, pupils and their families have been severely restricted in their ability to access the usual range of enriching experiences in the community.

As a school we have also had to restrict school visits as well as visitors coming into school to provide learning activities, performances, sports and physical activities.

Now that covid restrictions are easing we plan to close the gap in this vital area of their curriculum and so we will allocate funds to promote enrichment activities both in and out of school.

This will begin with a whole school enrichment week in July 2022, which will include Norfolk Day, a celebration of our local history, culture and heritage.

The remaining funds will be spent through the following term supporting enrichment activities.