Year 7 Literacy & Numeracy Catch-up Premium

The Literacy and Numeracy Catch-Up Premium for Year 7 Pupils has been axed this year (2020-2021). The Government have advised that the national funding formula coming in next year “provides for schools to attract low prior attainment funding for pupils in year 7 to 11 … who need support to catch up”. As a result the catch-up grant will “no longer be made available.”

When asked whether the funding will continue, the department said the pupils who benefited under the scheme will now be provided for through the national funding formula.

The department said it had always been its intention to end the premium. They said the national funding formula includes a low prior attainment factor which it said was allocated on a similar basis to the year 7 catch-up premium, but across all five secondary years.

A Department for Education spokesperson added: “This Government is providing the biggest funding boost for schools in a decade, giving every school more money for every child…. These additional funding streams go significantly further in directing support to pupils with lower attainment than the previous year 7 catch up grant.”

Amount received academic year 2019-2020

The literacy and numeracy catch-up premium gives state-funded schools, including special schools and alternative provision settings, additional funding to support year 7 pupils who did not achieve the expected standard in reading or maths at the end of key stage 2 (KS2).

In March 2020, the school will receive £12,680 of Numeracy & Literacy catch-up funding.

Details of intended spend

Some of the budget this year will be spent on resources for the Library. We need new soft furniture and shelving in the Library. A new electronic system is needed for the Librarian to keep records and resources current. We would like to have time for staff to do more one-to-one reading support for slow readers.

New computers are needed for the students to do testing on Accelerated Reader and general research. This system will help us to have an accurate guide on the Reading Ages of all students in KS3. It will catalogue books at appropriate age range for students. The program supports reading comprehension.

Details of last year’s spend

Last year, we received £11,907 worth of funding. This went towards;

We have bought ‘Accelerated Reader’ to support literacy within the school..

We have purchased Show My Homework aiding the completion of homework and increasing communication of homework with guardians.
We provide one to one tuition to students requiring extra help to fully access school’s literacy and numeracy strategies.
We have increased the teaching time in English and Maths for students struggling to develop key skills so that they have better access to the entire curriculum.
We held nurture groups for students who were targeted to work in smaller groups to enhance their skills and confidence and facilitate their transition to secondary school.
New books for the Library to support girls joining
Electronic Library system and Accelerated Reader
Reference books for A Level studies and general research

At Christ’s College Finchley we have a high usage (80%) of Show My Homework
from our students, in addition to this, a higher than average teacher and parental
activity. The impact this has on our students education.

Our intent, when using Show My Homework, is to allow for a digital platform to
help us in reducing the amount of paper we use, create a consistent approach to
setting and receiving tasks of varying natures as well as reduce the time teachers
spend for the production of homework.

It has been evident that Show My Homework has made a positive impact on all of
these. Approximately 190,000 pieces of paper (equivalent to 22.8 trees) have
been saved since using the digital platform. By teachers reusing and resetting
homework, they have saved approximately 35 working days in total.
Additionally, every subject is using Show My Homework to set homework tasks,
allowing for a range of resources to be utilised across all key stages.

Impact on attainment

The English team have noted a rise in the progress of Year 9 and 8 students in English Language. It is within the English Language studies that reading skills are most essential. Students in KS3 have benefited from having structured reading sessions. Teachers take their Year 7 and 8 classes to the Library on a rota bi-weekly.

The Electronic Library System supports the Librarian to catalogue books for a wider range of IT systems. This helps with general organisation. It gives the Librarian the ability to support the students' needs better. We have a need for a new system to support IT changes for the future.

Accelerated Reader has been useful in supporting the choice of books that each child should read; depending on their reading levels.It informs teachers and helps us to create intervention groups for KS3. We still need more reliable computers to support the continuous testing needed for reading.