The structure of our ‘Recovery Curriculum’ uses Carpenter’s ‘5 Levers’ (A Recovery Curriculum: Loss and Life for our children and schools post pandemic)
Lever 1: Relationships – we can’t expect our students to return joyfully, and many of the relationships that were thriving, may need to be invested in and restored. We need to plan for this to happen, not assume that it will. Reach out to greet them, use the relationships we build to cushion the discomfort of returning.
This will be done through increased opportunities to focus on wellbeing:
In the return to school in March 21 a focus on re-establishing relationships with adults and peers
Continuation of at least daily wellbeing activities and a focus on social skills with peers in different situations, e.g. play and structured games
A learning focus which provides at least daily opportunities to work collaboratively beyond learning partners since we know that children have not had an opportunity to learn in this way
Implementation of ‘Embers the Dragon’ emotional wellbeing programme at home and in school
Lever 2: Community – we must recognise that curriculum will have been based in the community for a long period of time. We need to listen to what has happened in this time, understand the needs of our community and engage them in the transitioning of learning back into school.
This will be implemented through:
Re-establishing how Facebook is used when the children are at school
Relaxing of uniform policy to support families financially coming back to school
Continued pastoral support to families to make the return to school as successful as possible
Continued use of Zoom tuition outside of the school day for those eligible
Continuation of community projects, where possible, e.g. ITU Wonderwall project with Southend Hospital, ‘Hares ABout Town’ project for Havens Hospices
Continued reflection on how we can take part in usual school events and activities in a different way, e.g. catch ups
Lever 3: Transparent Curriculum – all of our students will feel like they have lost time in learning and we must show them how we are addressing these gaps, consulting and co-constructing with our students to heal this sense of loss.
This will be implemented through:
Evaluation of the Recovery Curriculum and revisiting priorities
Staff CPD to ensure joint vision for the Recovery Curriculum
Lever 4: Metacognition – in different environments, students will have been learning in different ways. It is vital that we make the skills for learning in a school environment explicit to our students to reskill and rebuild their confidence as learners.
This means we will:
Finalising ‘Character Curriculum’ implementation
‘Embers the Dragon’ emotional health and wellbeing scheme
Lever 5: Space – to be, to rediscover self, and to find their voice on learning in this issue. It is only natural that we all work at an incredible pace to make sure this group of learners are not disadvantaged against their peers, providing opportunity and exploration alongside the intensity of our expectations.
Caroline Pudner of Cornerstones states that: This is a crucial lever. Children deserve to experience joy and to be engaged if they are to feel secure and positive about being in school again. Lockdown may have been a narrow experience for them, but school can lift children’s spirits and provide welcome relief.
We will do this by:
Continued focus of ‘happy and safe’
Continued focus on different types of play to engage children back into school
In EYFS focus on positive interactions and adults facilitating play, cooperation and communication