School catch-up support for your child in Wales

Are you worried that your deaf child has fallen behind their peers throughout the Covid-19 pandemic? Are you worried for their mental health and the impact of a prolonged time away from their school, teachers and friends on their wellbeing?

If you answered yes to either of the above, you may be pleased to know that the Welsh Government has announced funding for its ‘Recruit, Recover and Raise Standards programme’ to help school pupils catch up on what they might have missed during the pandemic. It’s a bit of a mouthful so we’ll call it RRRS for short.

What is RRRS?

RRRS is a funding pot created by the Welsh Government designed to provide extra support to children who have faced particular challenges in school or socially as a result of Covid-19.

The RRRS funding could be used for many different types of support, depending on each learner’s needs. For example, it might be used for extra one-to-one sessions to help learners catch up.

It is a pretty broad pot of money, but at the National Deaf Children’s Society Cymru, we think the funding could be used to help deaf learners. Especially as many of our members have told us about the challenges deaf learners have faced as a result of the unprecedented circumstances of the past year.

We wrote to Education Directors in all of our local authorities and asked them, given the particular barriers deaf learners have faced during the pandemic, to use the RRRS funding to reach out to deaf young people. The good news is that we have had positive responses back from a number of authorities already, confirming that deaf children will be eligible to receive support through this funding.

What to do if you think your child needs extra support to catch up

We know that local authorities have this funding available to them to help learners catch up as a result of the pandemic, and that many have said they will specifically include deaf learners in this – so don’t be afraid to ask for extra support if you think your child needs it.

In the first instance, it is helpful to talk to your child’s ALNCO, teacher of the deaf, class teacher or headteacher and ask them if they can look into providing catch up support for your child. There might be things your school can do straight away, or they may be able to talk to the local authority to access funding through the RRRS.

Of course, our helpline is also always here to help you get the support your child needs too.