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Our Recovery approach to year 1 WORSBROUGH COMMON PRIMARY SCHOOL

ASSESSMENT LED

Year 1 environment and approach to curriculum is heavily assessment led. Initially this will be using the data for exit EYFS however we appreciate some children will have not accessed school since March and so there may be a negative shift in data. We will also be using research to inform decisions and practise. 37% of this cohort is disadvantaged and this will also be taken into consideration when looking at our approach.

A gap and strength analysis has been conducted using the exit EYFS cohort data to look at particular areas of the curriculum which are a strength or and area needing support. This has allowed challenge within the environment to be provided for areas of strength and sufficient resources put into the environment to develop those areas less developed.

There is a high level of children not working at ARE across the board due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a high majority of children not returning to school since March. The graph shows that Moving and Handling and Writing are both areas with the biggest gap. This suggests provision in Y1 should have a high emphasis on promoting progress in these areas through fine motor and malleable areas, message station, creative areas and ensuring writing resources are available in all areas.

Maths is also an area needing development, resources which allow children to practise mathematic skills should therefore be available throughout provision through the use of open ended resources in small world and construction areas with adults using child initiated play to develop maths skills.

Through the use of open ended resources, effective questioning, and sustained shared thinking practitioners should aim to improve outcomes in Communication and Language.

The area of biggest strength within the cohort is Technology. The independent use of SeeSaw will be used to use this as a way of enhancing teaching and learning.

IMPACT OF COVID 19 on child development

The EEF reports that the Covid-19 pandemic has led to school closures across the UK and many countries across the world, with the majority of pupils in these systems out of school, though supported and taught in various ways.

There has been great concern that school closures will lead to slower rates of learning or learning loss, and there is a risk that the negative impact will be worse for pupils who are economically disadvantaged.

Early years education aims to ensure that young children have high-quality learning experiences before they start school. This cohort of children have only accessed 50% of this time.

Gaps between more affluent children and their peers emerge before the age of 5, so efforts to support children’s learning in the early years are likely to be particularly important for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. With missing 50% of their time it would suggest that this early gap will have already been widened.

Early education approaches typically include:

  • communication and language activities,
  • play-based learning,
  • interactive story-book reading, physical and creative activities, and
  • support for parents to encourage learning at home.

Taking this into consideration, our approach to year 1 will embrace these approaches to allow children to form a secure base for the rest of their more formal education throughout school.

WHAT DOES RESEARCH TELL US?

“ There is evidence that children with well-developed self-regulation skills are more likely to succeed. ‘Self-regulation’ refers to children’s ability to manage their own behaviour and aspects of their learning. Metacognition is the ability to reflect on your own thinking processes and is closely related to self-regulation" (EEF, 2018 & 2019)

An active learning approach will be adopted throughout the curriculum to allow children to manage aspects of their own learning. Active learning will follow the principles of the EYFS continuous provision and provide pupils with resources and opportunities to practise and rehearse skills. During active learning adults will support children to develop their ability to self-regulate by explicitly articulating their own thinking and support children to do this for their own. During active learning and adult directed tasks staff will encourage children to explain their thinking processes and strategies when solving mathematical problems. This will support children to gain understanding into their own thinking, learn from their errors, and develop their problem-solving skills.

Our use of Accelerated Learning will also promote self regulation and metacognition in pupils. The Accelerated Learning Cycle, based on the work of Alastair Smith, is applied in all lessons. It stems from the idea of a supportive and challenging learning environment. The cycle has active engagement through multi- sensory learning, encourages the demonstrating understanding of learning in a variety of ways and the consolidation of knowing.

Focusing on language and communication is especially important for young children and will support the development of a range of early literacy skills as well as their wider knowledge and understanding. In addition, developing communication and language is linked to other important outcomes including children’s self-regulation, socio-emotional development, and reasoning. (Preparing for Literacy EEF, 2018)

When looking at exit EYFS data Language and Communication was identified as a gap and need to continue to be supported as the cohort begins Year 1. Areas of the classroom will be set up to support and enhance children's communication and speech. Opportunities will be planned in to allow children to be supported and also explore language and communication independently. Adults will play a vital role to play in modelling effective language and communication. Through the curriculum approach adults will use a wide range of approaches including shared reading, storytelling, and explicitly extending children’s vocabulary. NELI intervention will be used to support children who show weakness in their oral language skills and who are therefore at risk of experiencing difficulty with reading.

In Key Stage 1, there is very extensive and consistent evidence that systematic phonics teaching should be included as part of an overall balanced approach to developing reading. (Preparing for Literacy, EEF 2018)

Our approach to phonics which follows Letters and Sounds will be taught daily as the children enter school. For more information please see our website.

"Practitioners should carefully consider how to embed purposeful mathematical learning opportunities at an appropriately challenging level." (Improving mathematics, EEF 2019)

During active learning a member of staff will be using Objective Led planning (OLP) to embed meaningful Mathematics and Reading and Writing objectives into children's self directed play. At points of high engagement, adults will use OLP to introduce purposeful concepts and move children's learning on at an appropriately challenging level.

At the age of six or seven...boys are six to twelve months less developed mentally than girls. They are especially delayed in what is called 'fine-motor co-ordination', which is the ability to use their fingers carefully and hold a pen or scissors. And since they are still in the stage of 'gross-motor' development, they will be itching to move their large muscles around - so they will be no good at sitting still." (Biddulph, 2003)

Understanding this we will provide opportunities within the environment for all children to access resources to support and extend the development of fine and gross motor skills. Jump ahead will also be run to support children who have been identified as working significantly below, this will be prioritised for boys and PP pupils.

Credits:

Created with images by Kelly Sikkema - "Building a rocket ship" • Pascal Müller - "untitled image"