Pupil Learning Recovery Plan

Our curriculum intent is to serve our children with a passion for learning, an enjoyment for discovery and memorable life experiences within the Mission of our school. By knowing our children incredibly well, and by recognising and building on their prior learning, we provide them with first-hand experiences which in turn give them the confidence and skills to make decisions, self-evaluate, make connections and become life-long learners. We use our curriculum to: develop interpersonal skills, allow an abundance of opportunities to find out and explore, instil a willingness to have a go and to keep trying. Our curriculum allows children to be involved, concentrate, enjoy, pursue their own ideas and have a sense of achievement in what they have set out to do. 

Children leave St. Aidan’s, joyful in the light of their faith, with an invitation to care for our common home. They have a sense of belonging, a positive image of themselves and self-confidence. They grow together, celebrate who they are and appreciate the diversity of our world. 

We provide an inclusive curriculum ensuring social justice and equality of opportunity for all. There is an unwavering culture of high expectations amongst the children, staff, governors and parents. This gives our pupils a childhood that is happy, investigative and enquiry-based, providing them with a thirst for knowledge, no limits to their curiosity and endless fun! 

Our recovery intent is to maintain our curriculum intent alongside understanding that children have returned to school following a series of lockdowns which have involved loss of routine, relationships, social interaction and structure. They have lived through a collective trauma, anxiety and unknown. Nobody quite knows how adversely affected our children have been and our curriculum will evolve as we journey to recovery together.

As a Catholic school we have three core aims linked to our Mission Statement and these are encompassed in our Learning Recovery Plan. 

The government is providing schools with catch-up premium funding for the 2023/2024 academic year. We will receive £2320.00 for Covid Recovery and £748.00 from the National Tutoring Programme, to March 2024. The aim of the funding is to help pupils catch up on education they have missed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Schools should use this funding for specific activities to support their pupils to make up for lost teaching over the previous months. While funding has been allocated on a per-pupil or per-place basis, schools should use the amount available to them as a single total from which to prioritise support for pupils according to their needs. The Education Endowment Foundation’s ‘School Planning Guide 2020-21’, may help schools to develop their plans for the premium. 

Following DfE and EEF research suggestions, we have planned using a tiered approach with respect to school improvement and also with respect to planning how to support children to catch-up. 

This tiered academic approach describes 3 tiers:

Tier 1 – High quality teaching for all, effective diagnostic assessment, supporting remote learning and focussing on professional development. 

Tier 2 – Targeted academic support, including high quality one to one and small group support, effective deployment of teaching assistants, intervention programmes and targeted support and planning for pupils with SEND.

Tier 3 – Wider strategies supporting pupils social, emotional and behavioural needs, planning carefully for adopting the curriculum, supporting families with pupils of different ages and successfully implementation in challenging times, including access to technology and home learning.