Covid-19 Recovery Curriculum
On 20th March 2020, schools closed to all children except those of key workers and vulnerable children. Only eligible children attended Sutton VA Lower School (at Edward Peake Middle School) until the 1st June when the school opened for priority groups and we were able to welcome Year One back into the building.
Whilst all children during this period had access to purpose-made home learning, which continued until the end of the summer term, concern about gaps in learning and the need to 'catch up – recovery curriculum' have formed a priority of school plans for the 2020-21 academic year.
Much of these plans, including for curriculum adaptations are based on DfE guidance found here.
There are two broad aims for 'Catch Up – Recovery Curriculum' at Sutton VA Lower School:
- Attainment outcomes at end of 2020-21 for all groups remain above the national average.
- The mental health needs of pupils are met and supported by the school.
Catch up is:
- Working through well sequenced, purposeful learning schemes.For example, our English and Maths schemes have been adapted to focus on missed objectives and consolidate the basics.
- Focus on consolidation of basic skills.The core skills which enable successful learning will require increased curriculum time across all year groups. These include: handwriting, spelling of high frequency words, basic sentence punctuation, times tables recall, basic addition & subtraction fact recall and reading skills relevant to age.
- Additional lesson time on core teaching.Reading, writing and maths teaching will require increased teaching time in order to cover missed learning. In order to keep a broad and balanced curriculum, teachers may apply a greater focus on core learning objectives across other subject areas.
- Particular focus on early reading and phonics.This is always a focus in the school and will continue to be so in order to develop children's reading ability and vocabulary.
- Assessment of learning and of basic skills to identify major gaps.Teachers will work to identify gaps in learning and adapt teaching accordingly. Teachers will use the results to focus on key children who need a targeted intervention delivered by class teachers or teaching assistants.
- Time spent on mental health, wellbeing and social skills development.This will be at the core of all catch up work as many children will have not been in formal school setting for a number of months.
Some children may also access:
- Additional support and focus on basic core skills.Supported by additional staffing utilising catch up premium - dependent on need as identified through ongoing assessment.
- Additional time to practice basic skills.This again will be dependent on need of children in order to re-establish good progress in the essentials (phonics and reading, increasing vocabulary, writing and mathematics) and there will be flexibility on timetables to allow this.
Covid-19 Catch up Premium & national tutoring programme
In June, a £1 billion fund for education was announced by the government. Further guidance has now been released here showing that the money is split between a catch-up premium and a national tutoring scheme.
The catch-up premium is funded on a per pupil basis at £80 per pupil. This will be based on the previous year's census and will not include new children, meaning we are predicting to be in receipt of £5,840 (73 x £80).
The spending of this money will be down to schools to allocate as they see best. At Sutton VA Lower School, this money will be used to provide:
- Curriculum resources and materials that support 'catch up' and mental health of pupils.
- Additional teacher Mrs Price, for two afternoons per week to enable teachers to be released from class to develop the outcomes of children who have been identified as needing 'catch up' in their learning.