13th October 2015 - Does Catch Up® fit Ofsted requirements?
Many schools now receive Pupil Premium funding, which they target specifically at supporting pupils who are underachieving. Ofsted now report on how schools make most effective use of the Pupil Premium but their findings could be applicable to the use of any targeted funding.
The key findings include:
- Schools understood the importance of ensuring that all day-to-day teaching meets the needs of each learner, rather than relying on interventions to compensate for teaching that is less than good.
- Schools did not confuse underachievement with low ability.
- The most successful schools ensure that pupils catch up with the basics of literacy and numeracy.
- Schools focused on supporting their disadvantaged pupils to achieve the highest levels.
- Schools thoroughly analysed which pupils were underachieving, particularly in English and mathematics, and why.
- Schools drew on research evidence (such as the EEF/Sutton Trust toolkit) and evidence from their own and others’ experience to allocate the funding to the activities that were most likely to have an impact on improving achievement.
- Schools used achievement data frequently to check whether interventions or techniques were working and made adjustments accordingly, rather than just using the data retrospectively to see if something had worked.
- Schools made sure that support staff, particularly teaching assistants, were highly trained and understood their role in helping pupils to achieve.
- Schools systematically focused on giving pupils clear, useful feedback about their work, and ways that they could improve it.
- Schools ensured that a designated senior leader had a clear overview of how the funding was being allocated and the difference it was making to the outcomes for pupils.
- Schools thoroughly involved governors in the decision-making and evaluation process
- Schools were able, through careful monitoring and evaluation, to demonstrate the impact of each aspect of their additional spending on the outcomes for pupils.
(Based on ‘The pupil premium: how schools are spending the funding successfully to maximise achievement (130016), Ofsted, February 2013’ and ‘Toolkit, The pupil premium: an update (140088), Ofsted, July 2014’)
incorporates all of the above – and more. Catch Up® Numeracy
and Catch Up® Literacy
are both included in the EEF/Sutton Trust toolkit.