What is the summer school grant?

Department for Education (DfE) research estimates that in the first half-term of autumn 2020, pupils in:

• year 3 to 9 were on average around 1.6 to 2 months behind on their reading
• year 3 to 7 were around 3.2 months behind on their maths
• schools with high numbers of pupils eligible for free school meals were on average further behind those in schools with low free school meals eligibility

Anecdotal evidence also points to children and young people’s mental health having suffered from lockdown and from periods of individual or class isolation even after schools reopened fully in the autumn term.

Summer school provision with an academic focus has the potential to support attending pupils to make up for some of their missed education. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) finds that, on average, pupils attending a summer school can make:

• 2 months’ additional progress (compared with pupils who do not attend)
• up to 4 months’ additional progress if the summer school offers small group tuition led by highly-trained and experienced teaching staff

Evidence suggests a broader benefit for families and communities, support for vulnerable children and young people, pupil mental health and wellbeing, improved education engagement and transitions, and reduced youth violence.

At Venture Academy

We invited 8 pupils from years 7 to 10 to join us for a two-week summer school programme running for 3 days a week. The focus of the summer school was literacy and the pupils invited were identified as benefiting from this intervention.

We offered additional activities such as:

• English and Maths support
• Sports based activities
• Arts based activities such as drama including visiting the local Royal Shakespeare Theatre
• Wellbeing activities such as team building activities and 'getting to know each other' activities

We were awarded a grant of £7157.72 to support the summer school offer.