The aim of this funding is to support children and young people to catch up on missed learning caused by coronavirus (COVID19).
This is especially important for the most vulnerable pupils and pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds who have been most affected.
Schools are able use this funding for specific activities to support their pupils’ education recovery in line with the curriculum expectations
How we plan to spend the premium
The school will receive £32, 160 in additional funding before the end of the summer term.
Despite the many disruptions to learning caused by school closures, many of our pupils maintained good attendance at school or were well supported by school staff and parents/carers at home to continue their learning and to make progress.
We have used £1050 on resources for pupils remaining at home during the partial closure this spring so they can continue to learn with their peers still attending.
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.
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 range of therapies they receive.
In order to achieve this we will use the funds to provide an HLTA to support the planning and delivery of these therapies over the next year including additional supply 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.
A small amount of the funding has purchased extra equipment for these therapies.
The school has robust systems of monitoring academic progress and these will be used in the Autumn term identify and to provide individual support to pupils who are falling behind.