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Recovery curriculum – How will secondary schools actually be supporting students this summer?

As the government suggests using longer days and summer provision to get students back on track after an unsettled year, what will schools actually be doing over the break to provide students with the support they need?

Teach Secondary
by Teach Secondary
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‘We had an amazing virtual online offer during lockdown, but there’s still no substitute for students working with their teachers face to face.”

So says Damian Lee, executive headteacher at New Rickstones Academy, which is once again planning to hold its traditional transition summer school for children joining next year’s Y7 – albeit with a slightly tweaked agenda focusing on academic improvement, social and personal development and wellbeing.

Following the pandemic and its accompanying lengthy partial school closures, this year will mark the first time that the school’s current Y7 and Y10 cohorts will be welcomed on-site during the summer for additional sessions.

The academy has been a Google School for over five years, and was therefore able to switch almost instantly to a full timetable of online learning when the pandemic first struck in March last year, enabling students to continue with their full quota of studies from that point on.

The summer sessions are intended to give the current Y7s some extra time to settle in to a school they’ve spent little physical time in over the course of their first year.

The Y10s will meanwhile focus on English and maths catch-up learning, so that they can hit the ground running upon starting their final year of school and aim for the highest grades possible.

“We have offered our summer school to vulnerable students going into Y8 in the past, if they have needed that consistency through the break,” says Lee.

“However, this year, we felt the current Y7 had missed a large chunk of their transition period into secondary school. Joining the summer school will allow them extra time to get themselves more acclimatised, like previous Y7 students would have been.

“We felt that Y8 and Y9 were already completely settled in at our school, and so didn’t need the same additional time over summer.”

Enrichment activities

Similarly, schools within The Sigma Trust will be holding their traditional summer schools this year, with an extra focus on the mental health and wellbeing of a cohort who have had to face much recent upheaval in the course of their education.

Scott Holder, director of education at The Sigma Trust, told us, “Secondary schools within the Trust will all be holding summer schools for students in Y6, who will be joining their new school in September.

All schools will have a balanced programme of academic catch-up, alongside enrichment activities.

“The summer schools will provide our young people with opportunities to make up for some of their missed education. They will also help to support pupil mental health and wellbeing, and improve their transitions to a new school.

‘Uptake has been strong, which demonstrates a willingness on the part of our young people to take advantage of the opportunities provided by our engaging summer school programmes.”

At The Stanway School, part of The Sigma Trust, a summer school will be held for those transitioning into Y7, with more than 80% of the cohort set to join in.

It’s the first time in some years that a summer school will have been held there. The schedule for the week includes English, maths, science, history, geography, citizenship, PE, food technology and design technology sessions, as well as literacy baseline tests.

“We have decided to utilise the government’s request for summer provision to support our incoming Y7s in acclimatising to the secondary school environment,” says Charlotte Beck Hansen-Spurr, acting senior progress leader.

“This cohort in particular, like many across the country, have experienced much disruption to their education, so we have chosen to accommodate both academic and social elements into our summer school. More than ever, we hope to create a real sense of what it means to be part of The Stanway School community.

“While this year has been tough on all school staff, we are really fortunate that so many of our staff see the value in supporting the project.

‘We hope that having a broader insight into how we do things here will promote confidence, and allow the Y7s to join us in September with a sense of pride in our standards – and maybe give them a few friendly faces to spot in the corridors, too.”

The Stanway School’s summer school provision will include activities based on a ‘survival’ theme, aimed at encouraging the children to collaborate, and familiarise themselves with the site and its facilities.

The first day will see students form a coalition in response to a mock crisis scenario – that of being stranded at school. Each day, activities will incorporate numeracy and literacy, humanities, arts and sport.

The head of Y7 and a broad range of teaching staff will be on hand during the week to get to know their students and help them to settle in.

Building up confidence Forest Hall School, part of BMAT Education, has traditionally run a summer school each year to support the Y6 to Y7 transition, and plans to dedicate two weeks of this year’s summer break to welcoming its new Y7, with some tweaks to reflect the impact of the pandemic.

According to Sarah Power, Forest Hall School’s enrichment lead, “They have had a challenging Y6, so we want to build up their confidence by inviting them into school.

Power goes on to note that “We planned for our summer term to incorporate interventions for our key groups, and to ensure that exceptional learning is taking place in the classroom, as well as in intervention time.”

To that end, the school has also been holding catch-up sessions in numeracy and literacy over the past year for its current Y7 and Y8 students.

“Summer school is an excellent opportunity for our new students to get a feel for the school,” says Power.

“There will be a catch-up element to this year, but in a fun, interactive way. Students will do some real-life maths, as well as some literacy. Interventions will take place during school time, after school and during weekends and holidays at Forest Hall, so we are always able to support students whenever they need it.”


The play’s the thing

It’s not just schools doing their bit to help support young people this summer. The National Theatre is running two programmes for young people throughout July and August, focusing on theatre making and the climate crisis.

Both programmes are aimed at creating spaces for young people to be creative, connect together and learn new skills.

According to Hannah Cox, young people’s programme manager at the National Theatre, “After the disruption caused by the pandemic, we are committed to supporting young people with the opportunities and skills they want and need right now, rather than suggesting the need to ‘catch-up’.

“We have launched two free online summer projects, ‘Shaping the Future: Theatre Making and Climate’ and ‘The School of Hope with The Paper Birds’, both of which will allow students to explore contemporary issues through theatre-making, connecting them with like-minded theatre makers from across the UK.

Although relevant to the national curriculum, both courses provide space to be creative, learn new skills and empower young people to be the leaders of tomorrow.”

For more details, visit nationaltheatre.org.uk/young-people.

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