Please find all relevant documentation that relates to our response to Coronavirus

Below you can find information about how as a school we will endeavour to ensure children continue to receive access to education in the event of a covid 19 outbreak in school. Also we detail  the actions and measures that will be considered and implemented in response to specific situations arising.

Meadow Green Primary School Recovery Curriculum 2020

Intent

Our aim is to provide a curriculum that is adaptable and responsive to the diverse needs of individual learners and which reflects the uniqueness of our community and that will be vital during the recovery phase with the blended learning approach.

 Rational

Children returning to school following lockdown have experienced loss ( routine, freedom, relationships, social interaction, structure) and have lived through a collective trauma. From loss emanates three significant dynamics that will impact majorly on the mental health of our children. Anxiety, trauma and bereavement are powerful forces for them all to appear at once in an untimely and unplanned fashion is significant for the developing child. Our children are vulnerable at this time and their mental health fragile and on top of that they are witnessing a sea of adult anxiety which they unwittingly are absorbing.. Independent learning without their teacher to intervene can lead to mistakes, misunderstandings and misconceptions going unchecked.

Our Recovery Currciulum is based on ' A  Recovery Curriculum:  Loss and Life for our children and schools post pandemic'. By  Prof. Barry Carpenter CBE, Professor of Mental Health in Education at Oxford Brookes University.

It is a response to the losses described above and acknowledges the importance of helping them lever back into school life using the following 5 Levers.

• 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.

       BELOW IS  A LINK to HIS PODCAST

 . https://www.evidenceforlearning.net/recoverycurriculum/

Implementation

There is a phased approach for our recovery curriculum during the initial stages the focus will be put on recovering children's relationships with school -  with the emphasis put on children's well being.

The second phase, will include gradual implementation of the curriculum closing the gaps in learning and consolidation followed by moving on to new learning.

Phase 1: Transition

The new academic year starts for our children in Years 1- Year 6 on the 3rd of September 2020. Reception children and nursery children will start on a phased entry from Monday the 7th of September participating in induction sessions with parents  and part time learning such that they are ready to to start full time from Monday the 21st of September.

We have also restructured our phases and classes such that for most pupils they will be taught bye their class teacher for all subjects throughout the week. This will increase opportunities and flexibility to enable teachers to focus on the specific needs of their children - with the aim of ensuring children successfully transition into their new classes and  we can share the hopes and aspirations for the year ahead.

Phase 2 Adaptations of Provision.

Core Subjects

Reading

Reading focus in the autumn term will be on key skills such as fluency, stamina and vocabulary. Apart from teaching reading during English comprehension and guided reading there will be additional opportunities for children to read during every school day. Teachers will be encouraged to choose literature that focuses on emotions and emotional language to support children's anxieties and well being at the same time. During the first few weeks of school, we will also take part in a whole school recovery project based on the book ‘Here We Are’ by Oliver Jeffers.

There will be a whole school reading age assessment using the 'Toe by Toe' programme to establish the reading ages for all children in years one to six  and to identify initial groups of children who may require additional reading intervention.

In year 2 the initial focus will be on phonics and reading comprehension skills and this will be achieved by timetabling more reading activities during the day in preparation for the phonics screening check that was delayed from the summer.

Writing

Additional SPAG sessions will be included in the school timetable to allow for revision of essential skills. There will be ample opportunities for children to practise their writing during English lessons and through cross curricular writing. Teachers and support staff will use various techniques such as ‘Slow Writing’ to help pupils improve the quality of the work produced.

Maths

The school will continue to use the White Rose Maths long term plans - which have been amended to incorporate the key objectives that were not taught because of the lockdown. The initial block units in September incorporate 'revisit and refresh' lessons which will allow children to recover their lost learning. Teachers and pupils will continue to practise the KIRFS  for the autumn term paying particular attention to the objectives for the summer term that may need to be revisited and refreshed. Additional flexibility within the school timetable will enable teachers to cater for revision of mathematical skills and fluency outside of the main Maths lesson.

Phonics

Phonics lessons will continue four days per week with children accessing sounds and reading books appropriate to their level. In addition extra phonics sessions are timetable for year one and two children.

Science

As our science curriculum forms part of our two year cycle, the long term plan for the new academic year has been updated to accommodate the units of work from the national curriculum which were not covered before the lockdown teachers will be encouraged to revisit the working scientifically targets from the previous key stage and then gradually build on that knowledge whenever possible. The knowledge content can be revisited when teaching other subjects such as comprehension or PSHE Teachers will be encouraged to use key knowledge organisers and quizzes to address gaps in the children's learning and to check their understanding

Impact

At Meadow Green we have put our children as well being at the centre of our thinking in formulating this recovery curriculum we acknowledge that the children will have had different experiences during the pandemic however the common thread running through all is the loss of routine, structure, friendship, opportunity and freedom. With this in mind we believe the most effective way to support children’s ability to learn is:

• Re-familiarise children with school routine
• engage children in the learning and provide support in rebuilding positive relationships
• Support children’s wellbeing with it being the main focus during the first phase
• Revisit and refresh prior learning and skills using quiz and shared tasks before implementing new learning
• amending timetables to enable children to accelerate their progress while receiving a broad curriculum

REMOTE LEARNING

From October 22^nd  2020 all schools have a statutory duty to have in place appropriate provision to maintain remote learning in the event of pupils being unable to attend school school so that no-one need fall behind.

PURPOSE & AIMS (INTENT)

Our remote learning offer is designed to keep children connected to school in every possible way in order to continue to learn immediately. It takes one of three forms dependent on the needs of the situation:

•  Whole school closure with remote learning for all but key workers;
• Isolated bubble closure due to self isolation requirements from Public Health;
• Individuals self isolating due to requirements from Public Health

All approaches will enable daily work to be set and shared using Google Classroom or via ClassDojo (for Early Years), following the timetable of a conventional school day and provide relevant, engaging learning opportunities. Direct teaching and contact with the teacher is maintained through video of sessions and via Google Meet. Feedback is available daily via Google Classroom or the portfolio section of ClassDojo. School’s approach is sustainable, enables families to work, learn, rest and play in a flexible way and to create a routine that suits their personal circumstances. A combination of resources provided by school and access to personalised online learning is available.

GUIDANCE  (IMPLEMENTATION)

As with a normal school day, Teachers will plan lessons that link directly to the curriculum focus for their pupils and will provide resources to support tasks for the children while at home.

The focus will be on delivering three discrete lessons a day in English, Maths and a foundation subject lesson linked to the topic. An additional independent activity linked to spelling/phonics /reading or time stables would also be expected.

Should remote learning need to be set for a class or bubble, the work for the week in English, Maths and other subjects will be posted on the class’s ‘Learning at Home’ website page, within the ‘Children’s’ section by 9.00am on a Monday morning.

In addition teachers will deliver 2 sessions a day of new instruction (new concepts). These will vary in time so families with siblings  who may be learning from home can have equal opportunity to access the  new teaching /learning. Alternatively it might be uploaded as a video to the Google Classroom.  These teacher sessions  will be accessible in a variety of formats: Google Classroom, Google Meet and pre-recorded video introductions.

IMPACT

The leadership team, including governors, will ensure that the quality of Remote Learning and Safeguarding enables the school’s vision to continue to flourish through monitoring and development of policy and practice, including online resources. Ensuring high quality provision for all children, including those with SEND, will enable the gap to close from periods of remote learning. Overall The quality of remote learning and the school’s approach to maintaining the broad curriculum and strong relationships with staff enables the children to make progress and return to school with minimal disruption, both in relation to their academic progress but also their wellbeing and their love for school and learning.

A copy of our Remote Learning Policy is available here and at the foot of the page

REOPENING OF MEADOW GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL TO ALL PUPILS

It has been so good to welcome all children back to school in September after being closed to most year groups since March  during the Covid-19 national lockdown.

In preparing to welcome all children back we have reviewed  our behaviour policy to clearly outline our expectations and the actions children , staff and adults will need to adhere to to protect us all form the risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus and a school reopening home school agreement which reflects the changes we have implemented in re-opening school for pupils, parents and staff. Please click on the link below to acknowledge receipt of this document and your agreement to adhere to the guidance and advice.

 New Reopening School Behaviour Policy

Reopening Home School Agreement

The letter is accessible via the link below

Return to School March 2021