College plan re use of the ‘one off’ allocated 16-18 Tuition Fund (‘catch-up fund’) in 2020/21 year:

posted on the College website in accordance with stated Government expectations

 

  • In Summer 2020 the Government (DfE, ESFA) announced a new ‘one-off’ 16-18 Tuition Fund for the 2020/21 year, with specific criteria which means is it heavily targeted, for implementation in school sixth forms and colleges in England.  16-18 providers are to be allocated some additional targeted support funding to deliver their plans for ‘catch up’ for those 16-18 year olds who had not achieved GCSE Maths and/or English at grade 4 or above by the start of the 2020/21 academic year.  The ‘catch-up’ resource allocation clearly recognises that the progress and achievement levels of some learners has been significantly constrained by the coronavirus context.

 

  • The national Tuition Fund allocation to the College for deployment in 2020/21 year is just £49,582 – the level of allocation having been calculated upon their assessed number of students at the College who had not achieved GCSE grade 4 or above in English or Maths.


  • The College plan, as meets the Governments established criteria, is that the resources should be wholly deployed to support the specific students who have not achieved GCSE Maths or English at grade 4 or above (currently 160 students) which includes those students undertaking a programme of study comprising of GCSE/L2/L1 courses – The ‘Advanced Foundation Programme’ (currently 65 students).  None of the AFP students have achieved both GCSE English Language and Maths at grade 4 or above.

 

The College plan has been based upon the judgement that the most effective ‘catch-up’ arrangements for the specific students is to deploy the Government allocated resources, plus some match funding by instigating more personalised and individual tuition support through establishment of smaller group sizes re GCSE/L2/L1 courses/classes.   The College plan is ambitious and requires a ‘match funding’ commitment from the College of approximately £40,000 in 2020/21 year in addition to the deployment of the £49,582 Tuition Fund resourcing to be able to significantly reduce the group sizes in GCSE/L2/L1 Maths, GCSE/L2 English classes – and also in the range of other GCSE/L2 classes.

Significant reductions in group sizes enable ongoing increases in levels of individual and personalised support tuition from their teachers through the academic year and therefore support improved levels of progress and achievement (or at least maintain levels in a context of 2019/20 year disappointing constraining levels).


Background:

  • In September 2019, relating to the 2019/20 academic year, the average group size for GCSE/L2/L1 classes, including Maths and English at the College, was 18 students.   This was very similar to the level for A level/L3 classes in 2019/20 year.  The AFP cohort of students Personal Tutor groups averaged 27 in size in 2019/20 year.  The Senior Tutor who supported the AFP Personal Tutors and AFP students in 2019/20 had over 250 other students and many other Personal Tutors to support in 2019/20 – and therefore only around 20% of their allocated Senior Tutor time was available to support the AFP students.

 

  • In 2020/21 year, as a result of the deployment of the 2020/21 Tuition Fund resources and the match funding injected by the College to create much smaller GCSE/L2/L1 classes:
  1. The (September 2020) average class size of GCSE/L2/L1 classes is just 10.5 students (including more specifically, an average class size of 10 in GCSE/L2 English and 10 in GCSE/L2/L1 Maths) – a 45% reduction in class size in 2020/21 compared to 2019/20 enabling significantly improved levels of individual support and personalised tuition from teachers.
  2. This has effectively involved operating 11 extra GCSE/L2/L1 classes than we would have needed to achieve an average class size of 18 students (the 2019/20 level for GCSE/L2/L1 and the 2019/20 and 2020/21 level for A level).  (The 11 extra groups split into 4 re GCSE/L2/L1 Maths, 3 re GCSE/L2 English and 3 in other GCSE/L2 subjects).  Total additional 2020/21 costs of providing 11 extra groups of provision to achieve these small class sizes in 2020/21 is approximately £75,000 (which absorbs the entire Tuition Fund allocation).
  3. The AFP Personal Tutor group size in 2020/21 is just (currently) 21 students – approximately 25% smaller than the level in 2019/20 – and also 25% smaller than the A level/L3 Personal Tutor group sizes in both 2019/20 and also in 2020/21.  An extra AFP Personal Tutor group is operating compared to the level needed for an average of close to 30 students.  Total additional 2020/21 year cost is approximately £4,500.
  4. An extra Senior Tutor has been created for 2020/21 year – exclusively to support the AFP students.  Total additional cost approximately £9,000 in 2020/21 year.
  • Overall, the total additional cost to achieve the plan to provide the relevant cohort of students’ with the extra smaller class sizes and the extra tuition support in 2020/21 year is therefore approximately £89,000.  This fully commits the £49,582 Tuition Fund allocation from the Government and also then involves the College making a ‘match funding’ commitment of approximately £40,000 in 2020/21 year.


05/10/2020