Cheadle Catholic Junior School

Reconnection Plan

The Coronavirus pandemic has caused disruption to all aspects of life – including to our school life. Although learning has continued remotely, we recognise that this is a completely different (and potentially more challenging) learning experience. When children return to the classroom, we will assess their knowledge, understanding and emotional needs. We will then provide the support that is needed to enable children to fulfil their potential.

When thinking about the year ahead, we have created this ‘reconnection’ plan to ensure that children can achieve well across the whole school curriculum. It aims to support children in reconnecting with all areas of school life. We want our children to be engaged, confident and skilled learners. We recognise that emotional well-being plays a vital role and we work hard to ensure that our children feel emotionally supported in school.

Physical health and well-being

At Cheadle Catholic Junior School we uphold very high standards of pastoral care, and recognise its added importance in the current climate.  There will be a significant focus on children’s wellbeing and mental health; we have made changes to our weekly timetables to create more time and opportunities across the week for children to share their experiences and feelings.

We will support children to engage with physical health and well-being routines, as well as to adhere to new routines that keep them safe and enable infection control. In addition to morning and lunchtime playtimes (and the two PE lessons all children receive each week) we are building in daily fitness session for all children with a range of smile-for-a-mile, beep test endurance training, circuits and cardio activities.

Pupils will spend a lot of time outdoors and we will encourage them to recognise and understand the importance of keeping physically well.

Positive relationships

We will support pupils in strengthening their relationships with staff and peers alike. We will provide opportunities for sharing, turn taking, greeting and interacting with others positively by allowing them to play alongside and with peers; to respond to familiar and new adults and to seek adults to help, support and comfort when they need it.

Positive relationships are the bedrock of life at our school and we will guide the children towards creating and maintaining their relationships in school.

Enjoying and achieving

The children’s learning is of paramount importance to us and we will ensure that they are engaged and challenged in the classroom. All children will have enjoy their learning and will achieve their potential.

The methods that we use in the classroom will reflect current pedagogical thinking surrounding cognitive load theory and metacognition. Teachers will provide clear explanations of key concepts and provide appropriate scaffolds where necessary. There will be regular recall activities based on prior learning to ensure that knowledge is stored in the long term memory. The variety of activities in the classroom will lead to an enjoyable experience for our children. There will be regular opportunities for worship in school, which will enable the children to practice their faith and grow spiritually.

The delivery of the curriculum will be familiar to the children. There will be a variety of sessions (including: Clear explanations/modelling, Maths, Guided Reading, Writing tasks, Independent learning tasks, ICT, outdoor play, class stories etc.) that will build on prior learning and allow children to achieve well. Our curriculum drivers (Faith, Respect, Challenge, Engagement and Growth) will guide us in our learning.

Managing feelings and behaviour

We will support pupils to understand their emotions and feelings, helping them to engage with self-regulation strategies and tools which help them to feel safe and calm. There will be clear routines in place, which will provide children with a consistent structure. This will help children to be comfortable in school. There will be regular opportunities for the children to express their emotions during circle time. Staff will support pupils to explore their feelings as well as empathising with their other people in school, in our community and across the world.

Expectations will be made very clear to the children and clear boundaries will be put in place. We will continue to adopt a restorative approach to supporting behaviour, giving children the responsibility to reflect on their actions and how we positive solutions can be reached. Children will have many opportunities to communicate and share their feelings with each other during circle time and worship.