Rediscovering and reconnecting are at the heart of our learning across Term 1. Our aim is to support pupils in adjusting into routines for learning and safety, with the space and time to rebuild relationships with staff and friends, alongside a recognition of the different experiences of our team over past months.
We continue to focus on the five Rs of our Rainbow Curriculum, responding to the needs of pupils in each class:
Reconnection: Feeling Safe on Team Bowsland New environments, trusted adults, bubble groups, routines and systems
Recognition: The stories of Team Bowsland Time and space to talk and to listen, to ask and to discover
Reflection: Our PART-E values, then and now What did we learn and what are the opportunities for the future
Recovery: Wellbeing Connect, Give, Take Notice, Be Active, Keep Learning
Restore: Rebuilding skills for learning and communication engaging in learning and metacognition
Our Rainbow Curriculum is not different learning, but a focus on the pedagogies that we are using and the experiences we provide to achieve these aims for our team to support us all in feeling safe at this time. Here are some of the things we are doing in school:
Time to talk – social, emotional, mental health
We have increased the number of circle time and jigsaw sessions that we have in our classes. Sometimes these sessions follow the jigsaw – our mindfulness PSHE curriculum – and sometimes they are designed to be bespoke for our classes, responding to their needs in line with our rainbow curriculum aims.
Classes will spend time understanding how are safe, respectful and ready to learn in our new routines and within our class bubbles, with sessions on themes such as:
– Feeling Safe
– Reconnecting with friends and school
– Keeping Healthy (hygiene and hand washing)
– Dealing with worries/anxiety
– Gratitude and appreciation/ Positive thinking
– Loss and bereavement
Teacher assessments of pupils’ social emotional mental health, using our bespoke Bowsland tracker, will allow us to support individual pupils through bespoke interventions such as play therapy and ELSA.
A whole school reconnection text
All our classes have started the year by looking at Oliver Jeffers’ book, ‘Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth’ as their reconnection text. Whilst some things about our planet are pretty complicated at the moment, there are some things that are simple too—you’ve just got to be kind! The text tours through Earth with beautiful illustrations, exploring what makes our planet and how we live on it.
Our display outcomes for this unit will be shared here from the end of September.
Look out for our contributions to the national #CLPEWordsForTheWorld on twitter too, from Thursday 24th September.
Creative and active pedagogies
Teachers are focusing on pedagogies that allow us to be expressive and give us space to connect. We are spending lots of time being creative, with extra lessons in artistic subjects, being outside and engaging in learning discussions with our peers. Reading is a focus for everyone and all our class texts will help us too.
This year, we are working on Oracy (Learning through talk and learning to talk), as part of our school development plan. Teachers are exploring this with 5 other schools through our collaboration, Connect4Learning, using tools from the charity Voice 21 to increase purposeful talk opportunities in our learning.
Our ART lessons are now connected to our projects, with many of our project outcomes allowing us to apply these skills. Look out for our virtual exhibitions, celebrating this work.
Celebration of belonging and identity
Now, more than ever, it is important that each member of our team feels like they belong, including the many new families that have joined us this term. The theme for this term’s learning is BELONGING and IDENTITY: learning about the place we live and our place, as individuals within it.
EYFS are exploring themselves, learning All About Me, as they join TEAM BG as our youngest learners.
KS1 are looking at Our Town, Our Road, Our Street, before exploring the How the River Severn Changes From Source to Mouth as it flows through our county.
LKS2 are investigating How Land is Used in Bradley Stoke and how they can help people feel like they belong here.
UKS2 are reflecting on their own identities and beliefs, using the UN Rights of a Child and considering Why we have Human Rights.
Our class texts, which form our basis of our writing and reading curriculums, will have the common concept of belonging.
We Are Team…
Each class has spent time developing a sense of belonging to each other and building new class identities. Everyone has made a 3D version of their class leaf; they are going to be displayed on our beautiful new trellis’ at the entrance to each Key Stage.
Can you work out which classes these leaves belong to?
Individual Learning Experiences
We recognise that, throughout lockdown, pupils had a variety of learning experiences and that each pupil will need a bespoke curriculum to match their needs. Teachers will be using their own assessments and focus on assessment for learning strategies in the classroom, to ensure that any gaps are closed and that learning is at the correct pitch for individuals.
A focus on metacognition in the classroom, through our Bowsland Charter Mark and ELLI Characters will support pupils in being part of this process and reflecting on their successes and next steps.
Children in years 3-6 are taking part in a survey to help support the recovery curriculum as all pupils return to full time education post Coronavirus. It will provide an opportunity for pupils to voice their opinions on some health and wellbeing themes. Our school will get feedback on our pupils’ survey data and this will help us to monitor the wellbeing of our pupils over time. The survey does not ask for any identifiable information such as name, date of birth or address and will run this term.