£10 million Catch-Up Funding to Support Pupils Maths and English Skills
New government funding and support has been launched, targeted at pupils starting primary and secondary school in England, to take part in focused English and maths catch-up sessions.
A £10 million funding initiative has been announced today (9 July) to help pupils in participating schools to benefit from more support in maths and English.
Specialist training and materials will be provided to support focused sessions to boost numeracy and literacy skills and help pupils catch-up in these core subjects.
Schools with high proportions of children from disadvantaged backgrounds will be prioritised for the schemes in order to support those most impacted by the disruption to education.
School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said:
“Maths and English are the foundations for every child’s education. Being sure we are using the most effective teaching methods – phonics for reading and the maths mastery approach for teaching maths – is key to ensuring every child has the best start to their time at primary school and the best introduction to the challenges of secondary education.
“This programme is designed to support schools in using evidenced-based methods proven to give children the best start to their education.”
The programme includes:
- For maths, participating schools will receive fully funded training to deliver focused sessions. The sessions (covering Reception, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 7) will help children to have a strong grasp of numbers by the end of Key Stage 1, while the Year 7 programme will focus on supporting a secure start to secondary school maths. The training and resources will be provided to participating schools by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching Maths (NCETM), in partnership with local Maths Hubs across the country.
- For English, eligible primary schools will receive up to £6,000 each for validated phonics programmes, along with additional training and support days for teachers to support the delivery of these programmes. A number of English Hubs working across the country will allocate funding to eligible primary schools in selected Local Authority Districts and support them to purchase training and resources for one of the phonics programmes on the DfE’s validated list.
The programme will be rolled out from Autumn term 2021.
To find out more about how to participate in the Maths programmes, schools should contact their local Maths Hub or visit the NCETM website for maths.
Schools that would like to find out more about the funding for English should contact the relevant English Hub:
• North: Jerry Clay English Hub
• Midlands: Learners First English Hub
• South: New Wave English Hub
