Additional funding has been made available by the DfE to support those students who do not reach a level 4 in English or mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2.
This funding has been used to establish two Subject Specialist Teaching Assistant (SSTA) roles, one in each of mathematics and English. Each SSTA is a member of the subject department and works with teaching staff to support students with low prior attainment and to develop or adapt materials and resources to help these students to access the curriculum. The SSTAs also work after the end of the school day so that they have greater opportunities to liaise with the subject teachers. This means that each SSTA becomes an ‘expert’ in supporting low prior attaining students in their respective subject areas.
Increases over the past four years in the NJC salary scale and on-costs together with reducing catch up funding mean that the school budget now supports the SSTA roles more than originally envisaged. However, the success of these assistants is such that this is considered to be good value for money. The use of the funding is calculated as follows:
Standard 2016/17 TA gross salary, 26.25 hours per week, NJC point 27 | £15,176 |
Subject specialist gross salary, 37 hours per week, NJC point 34 | £26,680 |
Increase | £8,425 |
Plus on-costs @ 30% | £11,504 |
x 2 for two postholders, one for each of English and mathematics | £23,008 |
/2 for Year 7 cost (posts cover Years 7 and 8) | £11,504 |
Year 7 catch up funding (2015/16) | £8,000 |
Balance | (£3,504) |