catch-up | Schools Week

New £302m ‘Covid recovery premium’ to be allocated based on pupil premium

The government’s new £302 million “Covid recovery premium” will be allocated to schools on the same basis as the pupil premium, the Department for Education has confirmed. The fund was one of several initiatives announced by the government today to help pupils catch up. It is supposed to help schools to “bolster summer provision for […]

DfE pledges £302m ‘recovery premium’ for schools and £200m summer schools fund for secondaries

Schools will split a £302 million “recovery premium” to support catch-up and secondaries will get £200 million to run summer schools programmes under plans announced by the government today. Ministers have also pledged £200 million for the “expansion” of the National Tutoring Programme, extension of the 16 to 19 tuition fund and additional support for […]

Government to research ‘harms’ caused by Covid-19 to pupils and staff

The Department for Education is to commission research into how Covid-19 has impacted pupils and staff. The “rapid” data and literature review will consider “harms” to mental and physical health, domestic violence and loss of learning. Working on behalf of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), the DfE project is worth up to £85,000 […]

England outspends Wales and Northern Ireland on catch-up, but funding is ‘poorly-targeted’

England has committed the second highest amount of funding for pupil catch-up schemes out of the four nations in the UK, but its programmes are “poorly-targeted”, the Education Policy Institute has said. Analysis by the think tank found that funding for the catch-up premium and National Tutoring Programme in England worked out at £174 per […]

‘We don’t want these volunteers’ – heads reject catch-up proposal and demand more cash

Headteachers have rejected suggestions that volunteers could supervise extra lessons and summer schools, warning that more cash and opportunities for teachers to take the time back are needed to make catch-up approaches work. Longer school days and an extension of the summer term are among suggestions put forward to help pupils catch up. Some have […]

Sir Kevan Collins Q&A: Covid innovations can drive catch-up challenge

The new ‘education recovery’ commissioner believes Covid innovations such as virtual classes can be used to extend the school day and drive the catch-up challenge. Speaking to Schools Week today, Sir Kevan Collins said he was not interested in “gimmicks” to help children catch up, but is looking to the long term in his role as […]

‘All ideas on the table’ says catch-up tsar as Johnson won’t rule out extending school term

All ideas to address lost learning should be “on the table”, the government’s new catch-up tsar has said, after the prime minister failed to rule out extending the summer term. Sir Kevan Collins, the former head of the Education Endowment Foundation, told BBC News that the government was “going to have to ask teachers to […]

Extra uni or college year could ‘solve lost learning’ says social mobility commissioner

An extra year at university or college could solve pupils’ lost learning, a social mobility champion has suggested. Sammy Wright, the social mobility commissioner for schools and higher education, said calculating grades under this year’s plans to replace exams without looking at learning loss and catch-up “leaves young people at risk of catastrophic unfairness”. Writing […]

DfE’s Covid catch-up scheme set for expansion

The government is aiming to nearly double the number of children who will next year receive tuition under its flagship catch-up scheme. In a presentation to organisations interested in running the scheme’s £130 million second phase, the Department for Education said it was aiming to provide 15 hours subsidised tutoring to about 450,000 disadvantaged pupils, […]