Pupil premium/catch-up

Programme of Additional Support

As outlined in the ‘RKLT closing the gap’ document, all schools have been provided with additional funding to help support students in their return to school. Whilst this document gives an overview across the Trust regarding how this funding will be spent, we wanted to share with you the programme that we are putting in place specifically for Harrogate Grammar School students.

We are determined to use the additional funding made available by the government in the most effective way, and recognise that children have been impacted by the school closure in different ways. Our aim is that our programme of additional support, alongside our broad and balanced curriculum, will provide the very best support for our students.

There is substantial research evidence supporting the impact of high-quality one-to-one and small group tuition as a strategy of support. As a result, we have created a programme that we believe will support students after the period of school closure. These include:

• All students in Years 7-10 and any new Year 12 students will undertake a Reading Age test.
• Students will be identified by their teacher to attend a Wednesday Period 6 lesson in an identified subject for additional taught lessons.
• Students will be identified by their teacher to attend a mentor study group of up to five students where a member of staff will support their study time. This will take place after-school.
• Students will be identified by their teacher to attend a tutoring session of up to three students in an identified subject, where a member of staff will deliver additional teaching. This can take place after-school or remotely.

Alongside using the funding for additional learning and support, we recognise that the pandemic may have had an impact on emotional well-being. Therefore, we will use some of the funding to support our pastoral teams in being able to provide this additional emotional support.

The 16 to 19 Tuition Fund

The Government have universally provided schools with extra-funding to support students in their return to school after the school closures. However, schools were also able to ‘opt-in’ to receive further Government funding to offer additional support to students who have not been able to achieve a Grade 4 or above in GCSE English and Maths, and whose opportunity in gaining these qualifications was impacted by the school closure.

The 16 to 19 tuition fund was first provided for the 2020 to 2021 academic year and is being extended beyond 2021 to 2022 for a further two years into the 2023 to 2024 academic year, and we have opted into this funding to offer additional support to students aged between 16 and 19. We recognise that children have been impacted by the school closure in different ways, and therefore, as a school, we want to use this additional funding to support students in the best way possible.

The effect of the expenditure was assessed in 2021 by an external review through our partnership work with the Red Kite Learning Trust. Internal data including data progress measures and qualitative student voice were used to measure the impact of the additional support.

The students who are eligible to receive additional support from this funding this year will have access to small group tuition and will have additional lessons with a teacher in the relevant subjects. In doing so, these students will have access to an increased level of academic support throughout the 2021 to 2022 academic year.

Please do contact mail@hgs.rklt.co.uk if you require any further information about this support.