By Gavin Macintosh-
Pupils in primary and secondary schools in the Uk are set to benefit from more support in maths and English, as part of a £10 million scheme announced today to boost numeracy and literacy sills
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 prioritized for the schemes in order to support those most impacted by the disruption to education.
The Department Of Education has launched an information site for parents, to support children of all age ranges and abilities and catch up on lost learning from the pandemic. The site features advice and support for parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), as well as programmes for the summer.
The scheme will begin in the Autumn term and is part of the Government’s long-term ambitious plans, backed by over £3bn to date, helping to build back better from the pandemic.
T will provide a much needed opportunity for children who suffered serious losses to catch up on lost time by attending extra tuition funded by the Uk government.
The initiative is one of the best in the world , and attaches values to the education of British pupils. Not all schools are expected to practically benefit from the free service which will have to be claimed by parents of children who feel their child has fallen behind seriously enough to call for special funding to help them catch up.
Schools will be expected to conduct a kind of means tested system which will examine the various academic support different children had during the lockdown, and gauge this with the standard demonstrated by the student in class.
Vast differences in the support offered to different students during the lockdown, much of which depended on their background and the passion of different parents to ensure maximum support for their children, has left a gap in the academic system.
Children in many private schools received up to 4 times more support than children from mainstream schools, because many parents who send their children to private schools go the extra mile to assist their academic developed, either by coaching the children themselves of hiring expert tutors to keep them motivated , while enhancing their academic and intellectual development.
Pupils who are part of Bedrock learning for example, benefited from regular and sustained training during the lockdown. Authourities from Bedrock learning
to the National Curriculum, our comprehensive Bedrock Vocabulary learning scheme supports the early development of strong reading skills and a broad vocabulary and helps you answer questions Ofsted may ask about your literacy teaching under its new Education Inspection Framework.
Ongoing research by the Eye Of Media.Com has revealed wide differences in the literacy ability of primary and secondary school pupils of the same age between many mainstream pupils and pupils in private schools. It reflects wide gaps in the social status of parents of pupils from different socioeconomic backgrounds, but also in the attitude and commitment of parent s to the education of their child.
Pupils at many private schools are encouraged to read regularly and are supported and tested by both teachers and tutors, while also psychologically motivated to achieve great heights that would guarantee them a bright future.
Standards are also different among pupils from mainstream schools in the same borough, usually influenced by the private school experience of the leadership of the school.
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 scheme reflects year groups where pupils can have significant difficulties catching up on maths and English if they fall behind. 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. 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.
The Maths programmes are based on the department’s successful “Teaching for Mastery” programme and curriculum guidance. 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.
The funding for English will be focused on systematic synthetic phonics, a highly effective method for teaching early reading and an important component in the development of early reading skills, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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, all of which have been quality assured by an expert panel.
The offer will be rolled out from Autumn term 2021. Schools can find out more about how to participate in the Maths programmes by contacting their local Maths Hub or visiting the NCETM website for maths.
Schools that would like to find out more about the funding for English should contact one of the following English Hubs.