The pandemic which began in 2020 taught us many lessons, in particular the importance of helping our children adjust to life in the classroom and back to more formal learning. It brought to the forefront the need for clear structures and routines and the need for consistency primarily to keep our children and staff safe from illness. However, this focus also highlighted the impact of being at home for long periods of time on pupils’ physical and mental well-being. We should now recognise that ‘holidays’, in particular the Summer holidays, actually reflect the conditions of Lockdown for many of our families. Therefore a ‘recovery curriculum’ is needed each time the pupils are away from the routines of school for any long period of time but the focus is not ‘recovery’ but rather creating the best conditions for learning for all. This will take the form of a transition period in the Autumn term. We anticipate that movement through the phases will, in many ways be rapid because of the gains made in the previous academic year but may be slow in some areas as remote learning and daily check-ins have not featured during the Summer holidays. The transition period also takes into consideration the latest DFE guidance and the importance of cognitive load theory and best use of retrieval practise.
Our Return to Learning curriculum is organised into four phases and uses the imagery of growth and nutritious soils –from various parables including the Parable of the Sower, which is found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. It is sometimes called the Parable of the Soils as it emphasises the importance of good soil to sustain growth. But, more importantly, underpinning this all is our school mission, vision and values.
