At Our Lady Immaculate we believe that when our children return to school in September, it is our mission to reignite the flame of learning in each child, journeying with them through a process of re-engagement, and leading them back to their rightful status as a fully engaged, authentic learner.
Therefore, alongside the National Curriculum, we will be prioritising the principles of a ‘Recovery Curriculum.’ The ‘Recovery Curriculum’ follows five principles (or ‘levers’):
Lever 1: Relationships – we cannot expect all our pupils 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 pupils 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 pupils to heal this sense of loss.
Lever 4: Metacognition – in different environments, pupils will have been learning in different ways. It is vital that we make the skills for learning in a school environment explicit to our pupils 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. We will 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.
Key messages from the Recovery curriculum are:
- The Recovery Curriculum is rooted in the lived experiences of the child (e.g. lessons are planned around understanding what the pupils have heard on the news, addressing fact from fiction, matching emotions to news etc.)
- Pupils may return in a fragile state (what this looks like will vary from child to child)
- Teachers remember this has happened to all pupils
- We know some pupils will struggle to re-engage
- We need to talk about the virus. We will not dismiss it.
Teaching staff will also apply in their teaching the ‘Six Principles of Nurture’:
- Children’s learning is understood developmentally
- The classroom offers a safe base
- The importance of nurture is known for the development of wellbeing
- Language is a vital means of communication
- All behaviour is communication
- The importance of transition in children’s lives.
References:
Carpenter, B. (2020) ‘A Recovery Curriculum: Loss and Life for our children and schools post pandemic’, https://www.evidenceforlearning.net/recoverycurriculum/
