A Recovery Curriculum: Loss and Life for
our Children and Schools Post Pandemic

Introduction

Manford Primary School has put the child’s well-being at the centre of our thinking.  We acknowledge that the children will have had different experiences during this time. However, the common thread running through all is the loss of routine, structure, friendship, opportunity and freedom.  These losses can trigger anxiety in any child.  Some of you may have experienced this with your own children.  

We know that an anxious child is not in a place to learn effectively.   So with this in mind, the school community has thought about the most effective way to support your child’s ability to learn.  This approach will encompass and support the academic expectations for your child.

What is it?

Professor Barry Carpenter has developed the Recovery Curriculum, as a response to the losses described above.  It is a way for schools to help children come back into school life, acknowledging the experiences the children have had.  We want children to be happy, feel safe and able to be engaged in their learning.  We have decided that a way to achieve this for the children is to acknowledge the importance of helping them lever back into school life using the following 5 Levers as identified by Professor Barry Carpenter.

The 5 Levers of Recovery

 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

 Professor Barry Carpenter, CBE is Professor of Mental Health in Education at Oxford Brookes University.

How will Manford Primary School achieve this?

The following is to be implemented from September 2020 for a minimum of 4 weeks:

1. Whole school approach to PSHE- Jigsaw ‘Recovery Package’ 

• Understanding Coronavirus
• Loss & Bereavement
• Gratitude
• Managing worries and fears
• Being positive and looking forward
• Reconnecting with friends
• Belonging and feeling safe

There will be plenty of opportunities for children to talk about their experiences, for one-to-one conversations with trusted adults where this may be supportive and opportunities to renew and develop friendships and peer groups.

2. Re-establishment of routines and procedures around school

• Visual timetables
• Classroom charters
• Continuous provision- specifically ‘What’s in the news?’
• Classroom re-orientation
• Smart School Council- discussions based around returning and well being
• Lunchtime games timetable- to reignite socialising

3. Community

• Continue to engage with parents via year group emails
• Google classroom to be established for continuous remote learning
• Use of specific agencies to support any specific needs highlighted in children and families

4. Academic Curriculum

• Low stakes testing- quizzes to establish gaps in learning
• Revisit and embed the Key Performance Indicators of core subjects for a period of 4 weeks
• Revision and revisiting of Phonics teaching and learning from the previous year
• Baseline assessments
• Focused intervention to diminish the gaps
• Extra staff allocated and available to support children individually/as groups
• Texts chosen will allow for relevant themes to be explored

What does your child learn at school each day?

Find information about our curriculum subjects here.

Phonics and Reading

In September 2019 we changed the organisation and resourcing of phonics teaching. We predominantly teach phonics using the resources produced by 'Read,Write,Inc.'  We look forward to seeing the rapid progress that children make with their early reading as a result.

Reading has been overhauled ready for September 2019. We use resources from a number of reading schemes and have just purchased £5,000 of new books so that children have books matched to their abilities and interests. Reading is taught 'whole class', individually and sometimes in small groups, according to children's needs.  Class teachers regularly hear children read individually.

Curriculum

Manford’s Curriculum

The curriculum at Manford Primary is significantly more than the ‘lessons’ which make up the timetable. We have re-invented our curriculum to ensure that our children receive a broad and balanced programme across their time at Manford.  Our aim is to prepare pupils for the next stage in their education and for successful futures.  As such, every moment in school is part of the process of preparing for adulthood, providing positive role models and giving children resilience, independence and ambition which, along with a host of other characteristics, will set them on a positive path. This is intertwined with our adoption of UNICEF’s Rights Respecting Schools project which includes British Values.

INTENT

The breadth of our curriculum is designed with three goals in mind:

1. To give pupils appropriate experiences to develop as confident, responsible citizens;
2. To provide a relevant and rich ‘cultural capital’
3. To provide a coherent, structured, academic curriculum that leads to success for all learners

We have established three key ‘Curriculum Motivators’ which will enable us to provide our children with knowledge and skills to develop into responsible, successful citizens.  These will be reviewed as the school cohort changes to ensure they are relevant to children in school.

1.      Global Identity:  children will learn to understand their place in the world

2.        Possibilities:  we will create inquisitive problem solvers who have aspirations for their  futures

3.            Appplication: children will apply what they know, can do and understand, in developing new knowledge, skills and understanding

Our curriculum development has taken these goals and these motivations and used them to create a classroom curriculum and the principles of a whole-school curriculum. In addition to these, carefully planned curriculum enhancements and extra-curricular activities will provide pupils with improved ‘cultural capital’ which will allow them to have a greater understanding of their world, to express themselves in a more mature way and access texts which will challenge their reading abilities and preferences. 

At Manford Primary we have chosen to follow the Chris Quigley Essentials Curriculum which sets out essential coverage, learning objectives and standards which are required for all subjects. Furthermore, it provides progress measures for all subjects including personal development. One of the main reasons why we have chosen to adopt this curriculum is because it emphasises the importance of developing the depth of children’s learning.

Essentials Curriculum Map- Key Stage 1

Essentials Curriculum Map- Key Stage 2

We also use a number of other schemes to support our curriculum as listed below:-

Other schemes used

PSHE- Jigsaw

Computing- Switched on Computing

RE- Redbridge Syllabus

PE- Enfield Scheme of work

Online Safety- SWGFL scheme

Details of our curriculum aims and content can be found here:

Mrs L James is our curriculum lead and assistant Headteacher. If you would like more information about our curriculum you should speak to your child's teacher. Alternatively Mrs James can be contacted through the school office.

Due to the current COVID restrictions in place there are limitations in place within certain subjects taught.  Unfortunately, there is currently no singing allowed from Years 1-6, PE and dance must take place outside and in wet weather children will learn aspects of these subjects within classrooms.  There are also no school trips booked for the Autumn term, only local area walks are permitted.