The government is investing £10 million in maths mastery and phonics schemes to help pupils recover learning lost to the Covid crisis.

Targeted at schools with high proportions of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, the programmes will deliver “specialist training and materials” to support “focused sessions to boost numeracy and literacy skills”, helping pupils to “catch up in these core subjects”, the Department for Education said.

The maths sessions, based on the Department for Education’s Teaching for Mastery programme and curriculum guidance, will cover Reception, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 7.

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The DfE said the scheme will help younger children to develop a “strong grasp of numbers by the end of key stage 1”, and support a “secure start to secondary school maths” for Year 7s.

Covid catch-up: Funding for maths mastery and phonics schemes

Meanwhile, the English sessions will have a phonics focus. Eligible primary schools will receive up to £6,000 each for validated phonics programmes, along with additional training and support days for teachers.

English Hubs will allocate funding to schools in selected areas and support them to purchase training and resources for one of the phonics schemes on the DfE’s validated list.

Both the maths and English programmes will begin in the autumn term.

The news comes two months after the government pulled a multi-million-pound contract for school Covid catch-up resources on the same day that bidding was due to close.

The DfE said at the time that it had “already taken significant steps” to address the impact of the pandemic, and was now “working on a longer-term strategy to support education recovery, building on the evidence that is still emerging”.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said: “Maths and English are the foundations for every child’s education. Being sure we are using the most effective teaching methods - phonics for reading and the maths mastery approach for teaching maths - is key to ensuring every child has the best start to their time at primary school and the best introduction to the challenges of secondary education.

“This programme is designed to support schools in using evidenced-based methods proven to give children the best start to their education.”