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Recovery Curriculum March 2021 Worsbrough Common Primary School

Researching our approach to recovery

During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers and families across the country have provided extraordinary support to help children learn at home. However, for many children, the disruption caused by school closures will have had a negative impact on learning and wellbeing. With this in mind as a school we will be providing a recovery programme which will run, initially, During the Autumn Term.

This document is designed to summarise the strategies that WCPS is putting in place as part of our response to the pandemic.

The EEF state that it is important to recognise that every school will have been affected by Covid-19 differently and school leaders and teachers are best placed to understand the needs of their school communities. The right way to support pupils will differ between schools and must be informed by the professional judgement of teachers and school leaders.

They also make note that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are likely to have been affected particularly by school closures and may need more support to return to school and settle back into school life. This will be addressed in more detail in our PP spending plan.

In designing our recovery programme we have used the EEF COVID-19 support guide to ensure our practise is informed by extensive research.

It is important that all children are given the support needed to make good progress. Our quest, our mission as educators, is to ensure that all children receive a high-quality education that promotes their development and equips them with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life, leading them back to their rightful status as fully engaged, authentic learners.

Our curriculum, through the initial stages, will prioritise identifying gaps and re-establishing good progress in the essentials (phonics and reading, increasing vocabulary, writing and mathematics) whilst remaining broad and ambitious for all.

Teaching and whole-school strategies

How will my child be supported through transition?

High expectation, high quality and high engagement have been the key strands to our remote learning and we promote this throughout our remote education offer. We have taught the same broad & balanced curriculum remotely as we do in school wherever possible and appropriate. This consistency of approach through mirroring the school timetable will ease transition, as the planning and sequencing of lessons has continued to follow the same routines as in school.

During the first spring half term, class teacher have continued to use formative assessment and tracking documents to monitor pupil progress. This rigorous approach to assessment will support class teachers to identify areas where pupils are likely to require additional support and provide opportunities for teachers to share information about pupils’ strengths. This ensures that curriculum planning, on return, is informed by an assessment of pupils’ starting points and gaps in their knowledge, and an understanding of what is the most critical content for progression.

To motivate and engage our children upon return to school, teasers and snippets of engaging hooks and lesson content will be shared with them at home to re-establish early relationship building.

Will the style of teaching and lessons change?

We will continue to use accelerated learning are our teaching and learning approach for the delivery of our curriculum.

Our unwavering commitment to delivering highly effective teaching and learning is paramount. The accelerated learning approach provides opportunities to build on prior learning and develop skills and knowledge through a consistent cycle of connection, activation, activity, demonstration and consolidation. High levels of engagement are achieved through purposeful and stimulating activities which absorb pupils in learning and also through providing opportunities for pupils to work collaboratively.

Core knowledge and skills are at the heart of the learning process. A gather, skills, apply approach to planning and delivery of lessons is taken across school to ensure children develop a deep understanding and are able to apply these in a range of situations.

Early career teachers have been assigned a mentor to ensure their practise continues to develop to a high standard.

How will my child catch up on missed learning?

The curriculum we will offer will still be broad and balanced; however, opportunities for Reading, Writing and Maths links, in wider curriculum subjects, will be made to maximise opportunities for learning to be embedded. This will be achieved by identifying opportunities across the curriculum so children read widely, and developing their knowledge and vocabulary.

The taught curriculum for each year group will be carefully planned ensuring it meets needs. Curriculum planning will be informed by autumn term assessments of pupils and employing the effective use of regular formative assessment to identify gaps in their knowledge. As a result, this will be 'dove tailed' into the current spring and summer term curriculum to ensure a recovery approach is taken and not just the teaching of the missed curriculum. This ensures children are 'catching up' and not just 'keeping up'.

Through this academic year, including during recent school closures, trackers have been used to identify current attainment and gaps in learning. This, alongside HCAT year on a page documents, will be used to identify missed learning. Data will also be used to identify pupils who would benefit from additional catch-up support.

In order to further promote progress, effective formative assessment, marking and feedback and adult interaction within lessons is firmly embedded into our approach to teaching and learning. All pupils are supported to develop, progress and move their learning forward through support, questioning and feedback. Pupils demonstrate the impact this has on improving their learning through editing and response.

Targeted support

Will any additional support be offered to children within the school day?
Intervention programmes

Through careful timetabling the school day will allow for teacher led whole class and small group interventions outside of the daily literacy and maths lessons. These sessions will vary in focus but will address identified gaps to allow for learning to be built on a secure knowledge base. These sessions will be delivered by teachers to ensure they are high quality and meeting need. At times appropriately qualified TA's will lead other groups while the intervention groups are led. These sessions will be run daily.

How will the school address any mental health issues caused by COVID -19?

Research is showing that COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on children's mental health. Our response to this will be through the use of our nurture provision.

All teaching staff have accessed Trauma Informed Schools training allowing staff to offer nurturing approaches within all classrooms so that children are supported wherever they are learning. The nurture provision within Worsbrough Common Primary School is an approach where children have opportunities through out the week to work with the support of a nurture team.

Nurture sessions offer a short term, focused, intervention strategy, which addresses individual barriers to learning in an inclusive, supportive manner. Central to the philosophy is attachment theory; an area of psychology which explains the need for any person to be able to form secure and happy relationships with others in the formative years of their lives and our ongoing knowledge of neuroscience. Throughout the autumn term these sessions will also be offered before and after school.

We also support families to help them develop strategies to use with their children at home when they are displaying difficult behaviours. We work alongside professionals from a range of agencies to support our children and families to ensure they are able to reach their full potential and become well rounded members of society.

Part of our nurture provision is access to Forest Schools. Forest School uses the woods as a means to build independence, teamwork, problem solving skills and self-esteem. The Forest School curriculum compliments the classroom and the woodland environment is used to support all areas of learning including mathematics and literacy. Within sessions the woodland environment is used to support the development of a relationship between the learner and the natural world. Forest School uses a range of learner-centred processes to create a community for being, development and learning. Each session aims to promote the holistic development of all those involved, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creative learners. Children are offered the opportunity to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and to themselves. Forest School is run by a qualified Forest School practitioner. Each class will have access to the forest school session but individuals will also access through small group interventions.

PSHE has been and always will be an 'important and necessary' part of a child's education. Our PSHE curriculum will ensure that we give children the knowledge, skills and understanding to lead confident, healthy and independent lives.

We also support families to help them develop strategies to use with their children at home when they are displaying difficult behaviours. We work alongside professionals from a range of agencies to support our children and families to ensure they are able to reach their full potential and become well rounded members of society.

Small group tuition

There is extensive evidence supporting the impact of high quality small group tuition as a catch-up strategy. Taking this in to consideration booster catchup sessions will be run before and after school by teachers and TA's.

Wider Strategies

Supporting Parents and Carers

Throughout the pandemic we have provided extensive pastoral support to pupils and families. As school restarts in September we will continue to provide regular and supportive communications with parents, especially to increase attendance and engagement with learning. We will continue to use Seesaw as a method of supporting learning at home, including homework.

Homework tasks throughout school will focus on reading, spelling and timestables. Tasks will be set inline with pupils abilities and will be assign through individual seesaw accounts. HCAT learning projects will be assigned to pupils through Seesaw weekly as optional tasks and support for families to engage with. These will be focused on recapping learning and skills in engaging contexts.

Created By
Rebecca Paddock
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