Washington Academy receives an additional premium of £500 for each Year 7 student who did not achieve at least a level 4 in reading and/or maths at Key Stage 2.

These additional funds have been used to deliver additional tuition and intensive support for students in small groups, giving students valuable support to bring them up to speed to ensure they are more likely to succeed.

2015-2016

The academy had provided:

• Intensive small group tuition supported by pertinent materials and resources which include after school sessions.
• Reading challenge and literacy intervention.
• Keyworker programme.
• One to one session particularly for assessment.
• Small group work for numeracy.
• Group work to identify skills gaps for students in literacy followed by tailored sessions to facilitate personalised learning.
• Resources for Accelerated Reading programme.

2016-2017

The academy had provided:

• A detailed programme of intervention to support Reading in Y7.
• Reading challenge and literacy intervention.
• Provision of small group and 1:1 support for Literacy and mathematics for vulnerable students in Y7.
• Purchase of resources for use in the Accelerated Reading programme.
• Development of intervention and support materials for use in Y7 English and mathematics lessons to ensure continued progress from Y6.

2017-2018

The academy had provided:

• A detailed programme of intervention (Reading Plus — identified through AR testing) to support Reading in Y7.
• Reading challenge and literacy intervention provided during registration.
• Provision of small group and 1:1 support for Literacy and mathematics for vulnerable students in Y7.
• Purchase of resources for use in the Accelerated Reading programme (Licenses, variety of texts).
• Development of intervention and support materials for use in Y7 English and mathematics lessons to ensure continued progress from Y6.

In mathematics, students with a scaled score of less than 100 in maths made on average 1.81 subgrades progress. This is in comparison to the same subset of students from the previous cohort making on average 1.67 subgrades progress throughout the year.

The impact of the above objectives have increased progress within English and literacy for pupils who did not achieve 100 standardised scores.  The gap between these pupils and those who achieved 100 or above has lessened.

2018-2019

The Year 7 catch up funding provides schools with funding for students in Year 7 who did not achieve 100 standardised Score (equivalent to Level 4) in Reading and/or Maths at the end of Key Stage 2.

Washington Academy was allocated £10,469 in March 2019 in funding for students who met the criteria in either Reading or Maths.

This funding, as the name suggests, is to help these students to ‘catch up’ with their peers during their first year at Washington Academy. The objectives for the use of the funding were as follows:

• To close the progress gap by providing intensive literacy and numeracy support to students entitled to catch up Premium
• To raise self-esteem and aspirations of students entitled to Catch up Premium
• To enhance existing provision within mainstream lessons
• To identify concerns and target intervention and support to accelerate progress
• To ensure that parents are informed and involved where appropriate.

Summer School Success 2021

Washington Academy’s summer school ran from Monday 16^th to Friday 20^th August 2021 and hosted 70 incoming Year 7 students from feeder primary schools and other local schools within the Washington area. 

The children participated in a wide range of activities over the course of the week, designed to improve learning, build confidence, familiarise students with the staff and school site whilst easing the transition from Year 6 to Year 7. The students were placed into three groups which followed a carousel of various curriculum based activities led by subject teachers and specialist support staff. The school also hosted several external agencies who completed work with the students around drugs and alcohol and healthy relationships. The Head of Year 7 was on site all week for students to talk to if they had any concerns about the move from Primary to Secondary School.

The activities throughout the week had a focus on developing literacy and numeracy skills in order to prepare students for their educational journey. Students also took advantage of the healthy meals on offer each day, both at breakfast and lunch times, and getting to know the school environment prior to commencing year 7. 

On the final day, students benefitted from an outdoor disco and ice cream van to celebrate their new relationships and hard work throughout the week. Feedback from both students and parents was that the week was hugely beneficial to students.

The £7520 cost for Summer School was funded by the Government’s Catch up for School’s programme.