Catch-Up Premium
The Government has announced additional funding to support children to catch up for lost time following the school closure due to COVID-19.
Please refer to the link below to view how we propose to use these funds:
16-19 Tuition Fund
The 16 to 19 tuition fund is £96 million of one-off funding for the 2020 to 2021 academic year only. It is ring fenced funding for schools, colleges and all other 16 to 19 providers to mitigate the disruption to learning arising from coronavirus (COVID-19).
The funding is being provided to support small group tuition for 16 to 19 year old students in English, maths, and other courses where learning has been disrupted. For example, vocational courses where assessment has been deferred because of lockdown. At Waterfront UTC, we will be utilising the tuition fund provided to us by the Government to give learners tailored support in groups that are no larger than five. The programme used to deliver the tuition fund is Pathways To Success.
This is based on our core Values and ethos, in supporting all of our students with their future aspirations. This will be an innovative programme providing tailored support in small groups to learners on full time 16-19 study programmes. Learners will be assessed on entry to the programme to ensure that support sessions are bespoke to discrete cohorts and staff at the end will celebrate progression and achievement.
It has been deemed that as a college, we are able to determine how best to use the Tuition Fund to support learners and raise educational attainment;
Eligible learners* will receive thirty hours of small group tuition over the course of the academic year with an English or maths specialist support tutor. These tutors will be from our current staff body and will be during an extended college day. To support assessment in Vocational areas, we will invest in additional IT facilities that will be used for students on the programme for independent study.
The hours of support, will be given in 1-hour blocks. Learners will be grouped into groups that are no larger than 5 to receive this bespoke support. A diagnostic assessment will be undertaken prior to support starting.
For maths, the Maths team have used a GAP analysis to identify strengths and weaknesses and are targeting specific lessons to address issues. This will consist of a recall starter, some routine questions with support the tutor, a revision element to infill any knowledge and skills gaps, a repeat of any content to address any misconceptions before finally learners are then ready to progress.
For English, the English team are focusing on the Language component of the exam. Recall tasks will be used to highlight any gaps in knowledge, identify weaknesses and consolidate previous knowledge. Students will read a wide range of texts, fluently and with good understanding; read critically, and use knowledge gained from wide reading to inform and improve their own writing; write effectively and coherently using Standard English appropriately; use grammar correctly, punctuate and spell accurately and acquire and apply a wide vocabulary, alongside a knowledge and understanding of grammatical terminology.
Revision will then take place and learners will be guided through texts and will undertake comprehension-based activities as well as developing note taking strategies. Finally, learners will repeat any content where misconceptions have been identified before being ready to undertake their own independent learning.
*For a learner to be eligible for, they must have achieved a grade 4 or less in GCSE maths and English.