Following the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of schools, the government issued an amount of catch-up funding to all schools to support with closing gaps in learning.

At Thomas Whitehead CE Academy we have considered the age of our children when deciding how to allocate and spend our money. We have also used the government recommended, 'COVID-19 Support Guide for Schools' published by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to identify the best strategies, based on long term research, that will enable us to achieve the most positive outcomes.


Catch up at Thomas Whitehead CE Academy IS NOT:

• Cramming missed learning
• Pressuring children and families into rapid learning
• Teacher time spent highlighting missed objectives
• Teacher time spent ticking off assessment points and extra tracking

Reception Year Early Language Programme

The Department for Education is working with the EEF and other partners to scale up delivery of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI).

NELI is a high-quality, evidence-based, 20-week intervention designed to improve the language skills of reception age pupils. It involves scripted individual and small group language teaching sessions, delivered by trained school staff, usually teaching assistants. Several EEF trials have found that NELI improves both children’s oral language and early literacy skills. A recent trial of the programme found that children made on average three months of additional progress compared to children in the comparison group.

We are a participating school and will receive free resources. We will be able to access online training from the start of the spring term 2021.