The government has announced a 16-19 tuition fund for the 2021-22 academic year. The purpose of this funding is to to mitigate the disruption to learning arising from coronavirus (COVID-19).
This year there has been a broadening of the eligibility to include economic disadvantage in addition to low prior attainment.
The government has said:
“The funding is to support small group tuition for students aged 16 to 19 in English, maths and other subjects that have been disrupted, including vocational and/or academic learning. Students aged 19 to 24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan are also eligible for support. All students must be on a 16 to 19 study programme and the funding should be used to support the tuition activity above and beyond the programmes of education already planned. It is for students who:
– have not achieved a grade 4 or 5 in English and/or maths
– have a grade 4 or above in English and/or maths, are from an economically disadvantaged background and would need catch-up support. These are defined as students from the 27% most economically deprived areas of the country based on the index of multiple deprivation”
At this point, the school has been awarded £8,663 for 16-19 support, it is clear that, like the pupil premium funding, schools will be accountable for how well the additional money is spent. It is therefore essential that South Wirral High School has a plan in place which identifies what the funding will be spent on and how successful it has been.
South Wirral High School is using the 16 to 19 tuition fund to help mitigate the disruption to learning arising from coronavirus (COVID-19). English and Maths faculties will support students who have not achieved grade 4 or above in at least one of these subjects. All of these students are on a 16 to 19 study programme. The additional funding is being used to provide external tuition in small groups. This extra tuition is in addition to their scheduled classes in these subjects. During the first half-term all students have received an additional one hour a week of tuition in preparation for the external November exams. From January 2021, students are continuing to receive one hour additional tuition via remote learning with virtual classes created and live tuition taking place with no more than three in a group. The January 2021 cohort has been reduced due to student success in the 2020 November resit.
“The extra tuition was really helpful. I chose the topics I found difficult. Mr McLoughlin taught me easy ways of remembering how to do it”.
“Miss gave me past papers, to see what I needed to improve. It gave me more confidence and definitely helped”.
“The English tutor was really good. She was patient with me and allowed me to take my time. She gave me lots of good ideas.”
“The sessions with Kate I found very useful. It helped my confidence and reassured me. She chatted with us at the start to put us at ease. That helped us to focus on the lesson.”
