Recovery Funding

Purpose

The recovery premium grant is part of the government’s package of funding to support pupils whose education has been impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19).

It is a time-limited grant providing over £300m of additional funding for state-funded schools in the 2021 to 2022 academic year and £1bn across the 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 academic years.

It is focused on pupil premium eligible pupils and pupils in specialist settings such as special schools, special units and pupil referral units (PRUs). This is because of the additional impact of the pandemic on these students.

However, schools can use it to deliver evidence-based approaches for supporting any pupil based on an assessment of individual need.

Eligible schools

The following types of school will receive an allocation of recovery premium:

• mainstream primary, secondary and all through local authority-maintained schools, academies and free schools serving children aged 4 to 15
• local authority-maintained special schools
• special academies and free schools
• non-maintained special schools
• pupil referral units
• alternative provision academies and free schools
• local authority-maintained hospital schools and academies

We will also provide funding to local authorities for eligible pupils they have placed in independent special schools, where the local authority pays full tuition fees.

Pupil eligibility and funding rates for academic year 2022 to 2023

Pupil eligibility

Recovery premium allocations for mainstream schools will be based on pupil premium eligibility. This includes:

• pupils who are eligible for free school meals (FSM), including eligible children of families who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF)
• pupils who have been eligible for FSM at any point in the last 6 years
• children looked after by local authorities, referred to as looked-after children (LAC), and children previously looked after by local authorities, referred to as previously looked-after children (PLAC)

For other eligible schools, and special educational needs units in mainstream schools, recovery premium allocations for 2022 to 2023 will be based on all pupils registered at the school.

Funding rates for 2022 to 2023

Recovery premium allocations will be calculated on a per pupil basis, based on the following rates:

Mainstream education:

• £145 per eligible pupil in primary schools
• £276 per eligible pupil in secondary schools

The higher rate for secondary schools reflects:

• evidence that the pandemic has had a greater impact on these pupils’ learning
• that these pupils have less time remaining in school

For other eligible schools, including special education units in mainstream schools, the rate is double the mainstream rate:

• £290 per pupil in primary education
• £552 per pupil in secondary education

We have included a minimum payment that we refer to as a ‘floor’ to ensure that:

• an eligible primary school will not receive less than £2,000
• an eligible secondary, or all-through school, will not receive less than £6,000

Funding for looked-after children will be paid to the local authority and should be managed by the virtual school head in consultation with the child’s school.

See the coronavirus (COVID-19) recovery premium allocations and conditions of grant 2022 to 2023 for further information.

Per pupil rates for academic year 2023 to 2024 will be confirmed in due course.

Payment schedule

The recovery premium for academic year 2022 to 2023 will be paid in 4 instalments on the following schedule.

Payments will be sent to local authorities on:

• 30 September 2022
• 30 December 2022
• 31 March 2023
• 30 June 2023

Payments will be sent to academies (and free schools) on:

• 10 October 2022
• 10 January 2023
• 12 April 2023
• 10 July 2023

Using recovery premium funding

Like the pupil premium, schools can:

• spend the recovery premium on a wider cohort of pupils than those who are eligible for the funding
• direct recovery premium spending where they think the need is greatest

Funding for looked-after children should be managed by the local authority virtual school head. They should work with schools, including the designated teacher, to decide how to use the funding effectively to support looked-after children.

Menu of approaches

As with pupil premium, schools must use their recovery premium on evidence-based approaches to support pupils. A ‘menu of approaches’ has been developed to help schools to use both grants effectively.

Any activities funded by recovery premium (or pupil premium) must align with the ‘menu’ from the start of the 2022 to 2023 academic year. It can be found on page 7 of Using pupil premium: guidance for school leaders.

The menu includes tutoring, but recovery premium conditions of grant for the 2022 to 2023 academic year state that schools must not use the grant to meet their portion of the costs of tuition provided through the National Tutoring Programme (NTP). Schools should meet those costs from other sources of funding, including pupil premium. Recovery premium is additional funding to provide further education recovery support on top of the subsidised NTP offer.

Reporting and accountability

Schools must show they are using their recovery premium effectively:

• by reporting on their use of recovery premium as part of their pupil premium strategy statement
• through inspections by Ofsted - inspectors may discuss plans schools have to spend their recovery premium funding
• by declaring that they have spent the funding in line with the conditions of grant (including that it has not been spent on NTP) and can demonstrate this upon request - a tick-box declaration will be added to the 2022 to 2023 year-end statement for NTP

The following advice from the Education Endowment Foundation has supported our plans to utilise our catch-up funding. We have recieved £22,040. This is based on the government allocation of £145 per pupil (reception to Y6). Details of how this will be utilised can be found in our Pupil Premium Development Plan 2022-2023.

Supporting great teaching :

Great teaching is the most important lever schools have to improve outcomes for their pupils. Ensuring every teacher is supported and prepared for the new year is essential to achieving the best outcomes for pupils. Providing opportunities for professional development—for example, to support curriculum planning or focused training on the effective use of technology—is likely to be valuable. Almost all schools will also have made significant adjustments to organisational and logistical aspects of school life. Ensuring teachers have training and support to adjust to these changes is likely to improve the quality of teaching as all pupils return to school. Early career teachers, who may have had opportunities to develop their practice curtailed by school closures, are particularly likely to benefit from additional mentoring and support. Additional information about effective approaches for supporting great teaching is included in the EEF’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit.

One to one and small group tuition:

There is extensive evidence supporting the impact of high quality one to one and small group tuition as a catch-up strategy. To be most effective, creating a three-way relationship between tutor, teacher and pupils is essential, ensuring that tuition is guided by the school, linked to the curriculum and focused on the areas where pupils would most benefit from additional practice or feedback. As a rule of thumb, the smaller the group the better. However, both small group and one to one tuition can be effective catchup approaches. Tuition delivered by qualified teachers is likely to have the highest impact. However, tuition delivered by tutors, teaching assistants, or trained volunteers can also be effective. Where tuition is delivered by teaching assistants or volunteers, providing training linked to specific content and approaches is beneficial.

Access to technology:

Pupils’ access to technology has been an important factor affecting the extent to which they can learn effectively at home. In particular, lack of access to technology has been a barrier for many disadvantaged children. As all pupils return to schools, technology could also be valuable; for example, by facilitating access to online tuition or support. Some schools might find it helpful to invest in additional technology, either by providing pupils with devices or improving the facilities available in school. To support learning, how technology is used matters most. Ensuring the elements of effective teaching are present—for example, clear explanations, scaffolding, practice and feedback— is more important than which form of technology is used. In addition, providing support and guidance on how to use technology effectively is essential, particularly if new forms of technology are being introduced. Additional information about supporting effective remote learning, including using technology, has been published in the EEF's 'Best evidence on supporting students to learn remotely'.

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Publications/Covid-19_Resources/Covid-19_support_guide_for_schools.pdf

Research shows that Quality First Teaching is one of the most effective strategies to support children to catch-up. We also know that our children work best when they are working with adults they are familiar with. We therefore intend to spend the majority of our catch-up funding on additional teachers to support learning through targeted interventions. We will also use the catch-up funding to support remote learning and the use of interactive learning platforms in school. As a school, we now subscribe to Now>Press>Play and Sats Companion, as well as continuing our subscriptions with Accelerated Reader, Times Tables Rocks Stars and Purple Mash 

Nuffield Early Language Intervention:

The Acorns Primary and Nursery School will also be part of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention project (NELI). NELI is a high-quality, evidence-based, 20-week intervention designed to improve the language skills of reception age pupils. It involves scripted individual and small group language teaching sessions, delivered by trained school staff, usually teaching assistants. Several EEF trials have found that NELI improves both children’s oral language and early literacy skills. A recent trial of the programme found that children made on average three months of additional progress compared to children in the comparison group.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/catch-up-premium-coronavirus-covid-19/the-reception-year-early-language-programme-neli 

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/neli/