Pupil Premium & Catch-Up Fund - 2020/21

The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers from wealthier backgrounds by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the students who need it most. Pupil Premium is allocated to schools per FSM student in the last 6 years (‘Ever 6’), and Looked After Children.

Research has shown that pupils who have been on, or are on, Free School Meals do not attain as highly as other children in school. The government provides this grant so that we can commission and allocate additional support to ensure that they do. The support can be in a short burst or over a long period of time and can take many forms which are described in detail below. The decision to offer a particular type of support must always be firmly rooted in evidence-based research and have an impact. It can also be in the form of additional resources, enrichment or access to opportunities that enhance the learning experience or foster aspiration.

St Augustine’s currently has a Pupil Premium figure above national average, although it is difficult at times to target specifically PP students separately due to other contextual deprivation indicators. Therefore, we target many interventions following extensive data analysis through our own school tracking systems. We monitor Pupil Premium students rigorously and separately so that we can ensure that these selected students make expected progress and an even higher percentage making more than expected progress. This is supported by our data collections in order to ensure that any historical under-achievement is tackled.

Year 7 Catch Up Fund 2020-21

Year 7 Catch Up Fund 2020-21 Following the Government decision in June 2020, the Year 7 Literacy and Numeracy Catch up has been discontinued for the academic year 2020-21. Despite no allocation of funds directly for this provision, St Augustine’s are continuing to target and support any Year 7 student who may have significant gaps in their learning, especially as their Key Stage 2 curriculum was cut short in March 2020 due to Covid-19.

There are no Key Stage 2 scores for the current Year 7 cohort that have been externally assessed. Therefore, identification of those students who are not ‘school ready’ in Year 7 has been established through our communication and information sharing with our primary feeder schools, and our own internal data assessments. Once these students have been identified they will be targeted by class teachers for specific stretch and challenge tasks in lessons and the provision for one-to-one support with homework clubs put in place for students... read more here.

COVID-19 Catch-Up Premium

The DfE has allocated a one-off universal £650 million catch up premium for the 2020 to 2021 academic year to ensure that schools have the support they need to help all pupils make up for lost teaching time. It aims to support pupils to catch up for lost learning so schools can meet the curriculum expectations for the next
academic year... read more here.