COVID-19 Recovery Curriculum
September 2020

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

The intention of the Recovery Curriculum is to provide opportunities to rebuild relationships and a sense of community, space to re-establish a sense of self and to relearn behaviour for learning skills.

The focus will be gently returning to some semblance of routine whilst enabling play, outdoor exploration and physical development. The planned activities for recovery can be extended or reduced to suit the needs of the group at the time. A strong focus on positive behaviour management, praise and reward should run along-side this.

This Recovery Curriculum is based on the 5 Levers:

Relationships - build up/upon these to cushion the discomfort of returning.

Community - listen to what has happened, engage in transition of learning back into the school community

Transparent Curriculum - be explicit about addressing the gaps so they feel secure that something is being done about the lost time in learning.

Metacognition - supporting children to relearn, think, learning how to learn and build a sense of awareness

Space - provide opportunity to rediscover self, cultivate awareness/mindfulness, and find their voice in learning & exploration.

In between and in addition to these sessions, there will be timetabled sessions at forest school, on the playground and the field.

In order to achieve a successful recovery curriculum, afternoon sessions across the school are going to focus and explore trauma informed practice to heal as a community. A high focus will be given to PSHE, Art, Music and projects linked to exploring our feelings and emotions.

The literacy focus for the whole school will be linked to the book by Oliver Jeffers 'Here we are' to encourage a sense of community across the entire school, to reflect on the last few months, and also help to look forward to the future in a positive way.