Year 7 Catch-Up Premium Report 2017-18

For this academic year, we expect (based on our 2016-17 allocation) a premium of £10,926. This premium will subsidise a range of measures the overall cost of which far outstrips the actual premium provided. Given that the new KS2 performance measure sees far more students falling below the expected level of 100 than fell below the previous expected level of a 4 in English and Maths, our system for identifying the students most in need of literacy and numeracy support incorporates baseline tests, Reading Age tests and Spelling Age tests.

This year’s premium will subsidise:

  • Developing and photocopying high quality, high culture resources in English that are in line with the Academy’s knowledge-rich focus across the curriculum. These resources will, under the guidance of the teaching staff and within the context of a smaller-than-typical ‘nurture’ group, expose students to high level reading and facilitate rapid progress in literacy (costing = 120hrs of after school English HoD time + photocopying)
  • Developing and photocopyingmaths booklets tailored to our least numerate students (costing = 20hrs + photocopying)
  • Outreach visits from key staff to help minimise the deleterious effect of transition worry on academic performance and reduce the July-to-September ‘dip’ (costing = cover for Heads of Y7 and KS3; Pastoral Officer; SENDCO; Learning Mentor)

In 2016-17, our allocation subsidised:

  • literacy and numeracy resources for our Direct Instruction classes
  • (in conjunction with much of our Pupil premium funding) the costs of having nurture groups in Y7 for various subjects that were primarily composed of students earmarked for the Catch-Up Premium
  • a breakfast club at which students could (and did) eat and read

Impact of 2016-17 spending:

Literacy Progress Tracker

STUDENT / RA Sept 2016 / RA May 2017 / Progress over 8 months / Progress against chronology
A / 8.02 / 9.03 / 1.01 (1 year 1 month) / +0.05
B / 7.02 / 8.06 / 1.04 / +0.08
C / 8.06 / 10.11 / 2.05 / +1.09
D / 7.02 / 12.00 / 4.10 / +4.02
E / 7.06 / 10.11 / 3.05 / +2.09
F / 7.02 / 9.11 / 2.09 / +2.01
G / 7.06 / 12.03 / 4.09 / +4.01
H / 7.10 / 10.07 / 2.09 / +2.01
I / 9.03 / 7.02 / -2.01 / -2.09
J / 7.02 / 8.10 / 1.08 / +1.00
K / 9.11 / 6.02 / -3.09 / -4.05
L / 6.05 / 11.04 (tested Sept. 17) / 3.11 (across 12 months) / +2.11
M / 8.10 / 15.00 (tested Sept. 17) / 6.02 (across 12 months) / +5.02

As this table shows, our strategies saw significant improvements in the Reading Age of a sizeable majority of the students identified as requiring literacy support. The working grades given in English for these students are less useful for ascertaining progress, since feedback is given using GCSE grades, and during Y7, nearly all of these students arrived and remained on a Grade U. However, given that the capacity to read information is central to the ability to process and learn it, these Reading Age improvements should stand these students in good stead to access and better succeed in their KS4 qualifications.

Numeracy Progress

The students identified as having the greatest mathematical needs were placed in the two smallest maths groups – the twenty students in the larger of the two groups all got a baseline grade of a U and an end-of-year exam grade of a 1 (eight got a 1+, eight got a 1 and four got a 1-). The nine students in the smallest group all got a baseline grade of a U, four of whom progressed to a grade 1 in the end-of-year exam (two got a 1 and two got a 1-).

Results of regular skills tests in Maths show progress is being made, but the grading system does not make such progress as transparent as it could be. To avoid this problem in future, raw scores (rather than any grade they may indicate) will be collated so the progress being made is more measurable.