Recovery Premium Grant
The recovery premium grant was additional funding that the Government made available to support pupils whose education was impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19).
Funding for the recovery premium grant finished at the end of the 2023 to 2024 academic year.
The funds were allocated to schools on a ‘per pupil basis’ for all pupils in Reception through to year 11.
Schools were free to spend the Coronavirus catch-up premium as appropriate based on the particular needs and the professional judgement of teachers and school leaders. However, schools are accountable for how they used the additional funding and are expected to evaluate the impact of different approaches.
Main barriers to educational achievement faced by eligible pupils
The main barrier to educational achievement for all of the children at Walton Leigh is their severe and complex learning difficulties.
Amount received
For the 2023-2024 academic year, Walton Leigh was allocated £33,672.
How the recovery premium grant was used 2023-24
Two days of Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) input - £16,452
We have observed through our work with students and their families that many of them, because of their SEND and individual circumstances have significant emotional issues, stress, anxiety and poor mental health. This often creates significant barriers to engagement, learning and positive wellbeing. The training and deployment of additional ELSA support enabled us to help more of our students to improve their emotional wellbeing, engage and learn.
Additional targeted Home School Link Worker hours - £5,000
Families of children with SEND are disproportionately disadvantaged by having extra pressures. This impacts on their ability to engage with their child's education and access to community support. Our HSLW supported parents and carers with early help, signposting to external agencies and helping with community engagement.
Social Club once a month - £4,027
Social club was held once a month to support development of social skills with peers, give students social opportunities outside of school to support their self-esteem, confidence and independence. We observed that in general and since COVID many of our pupils had restricted social opportunities. Very often, this negatively affected their social skill development, independence, confidence, self-esteem and emotional health. By offering a monthly after-school social club, we supported students to develop friendships, socialise outside of school with these friends and promote their social and emotional development.
Professional Development - £3,762
Professional development is essential provide high quality teaching in specific SEN strategies and to support teachers undertaking NPQs. Additional time for teachers was made available, which meant additional teaching assistants to support in the classroom.
Teachers of pupils with extremely complex needs and severe learning difficulties require training in specific strategies needed to support the engagement and learning of our pupils. These strategies supported pupils to make progress in all four key areas which are at the centre of our curriculum, particularly in SEMH due to COVID related issues. Teachers undertaking NPQs required supply cover. Their qualification will have a positive impact on the school and quality of teaching and learning.
Music Therapy - £4,431
Many of our pupils have sensory needs which impacts on their auditory processing and other sensory-motor, perceptual/ motor, gross and fine motor skills. All of these can be enhanced through music therapy and support the students to develop communication and physical skills. Music Therapy also had a highly positive impact on our students’ emotional wellbeing and self-regulatory skills.
We will complete some case studies which demonstrate the impact of the Recovery Premium funding for a cross section of pupils. (impact summary to follow)
How we measured the impact of the recovery premium grant
We use a range of approaches to collect, collate and analyse data on pupil progress, both for ILP and more academic progress. We also use existing self-evaluation systems to measure the impact of the recovery premium on the quality of teaching, assessment and curriculum through the School development Plan and Self Evaluation Forms.