What is the 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 students in English, maths, and other courses where learning has been disrupted.”

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-funding-16-to-19-tuition-fund

How much has the UTC been awarded?

SGS Berkeley Green UTC has been awarded £4,200 under the 16-19 Tuition Fund.  This is in addition to the funding we are given from the DfE to support those students who start a programme of post-16 study without a GCSE in English and/or Maths.  At the UTC, there were 17 students who, at the start of the academic year 2020/21 did not have a pass in English and/or Maths.

How will the UTC spend this funding?

English and Maths are incredibly important subjects as they underpin all other areas of study and employment.  Our aim is to give students the confidence to re-sit these qualifications by providing small-group lessons and tuition.

We use our annual catch-up funding allowance to lay on regular, timetabled lessons for students, with a view to entering them for the re-sit at a time that suits the progress they have made.  For some, they are ready for a re-sit in the November series of exams, for others it may be the summer series.  The lessons are delivered by English specialists.

The 16-19 Tuition Fund gives us the scope to use extra measures to support students without a grade 4 in English or Maths, in particular:

1. Introducing a new functional skills group for those students who need a stepping stone qualification before attempting a GCSE re-sit.
2. Providing 1-2-1 support for vulnerable students (those with EHCPs, with a social worker or who are in receipt of a bursary) to support with particular pieces of work, especially where extended writing is required. This support may be provided by our Intervention Teacher, our Learning Support Assistant, or a member of the English team.

As the numbers of students involved is small, we are able to respond to student needs in a timely manner.  Where a student is not making appropriate progress, or where there are identified gaps in learning, we can act quickly to put in place some small group or 1-2-1 support.

We will track the use of this funding, and its impact, through our usual feedback and assessment processes.  Staff will assess progress using formative and summative assessment methods and this data will be monitored by the Line Manager for English and Maths.