Oldbury Primary School Logo
Oldbury on Severn
Church of England VC
Primary School
‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12)
Oldbury Primary School Logo
Oldbury on Severn
C of E VC Primary School
‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12)
Oldbury Primary School Logo
Oldbury on Severn
C of E VC Primary School
‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12)

Our Curriculum

Pupils immerse themselves in all that the school has to offer. They take on extra responsibilities with pride - OFSTED 

Recovery Curriculum

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As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic we are very keen that we fully support our children as they settle into school successfully at the start of the academic year. We have planned a Recovery Curriculum based on the work of Barry Carpenter which aims to assist children as they readjust to returning to school in these unusual times. We will focus on rebuilding relationships; re-establishing a sense of community and place; rebuilding children’s learning skills to ensure that children feel confident about their learning.

To achieve these aims we aim to focus on re-establishing daily and weekly routines to ensure children feel secure being back at school. We also aim to support them as they re-familiarise themselves with the structure of the school day and the school week. We aim to help them to re-establish friendships and relationships and so re-establish a sense of community. We are also aware that our children will need to learn new routines of how to act and behave in the school environment under new COVID-19 guidelines to ensure their safety, whilst re-establishing new opportunities and freedoms.

The focus of our Recovery Curriculum of outlined for each class below. We also recognise the importance of identifying the gaps in children’s learning and knowledge which might have occurred throughout the pandemic and the importance of addressing these gaps through careful planning whilst supporting children’s well-being.

Class 1:

English: Children’s learning will be focused around the book ‘The Knight and The Dragon’. There will be an emphasis on ‘book talk’ and enjoyment of reading and stories. Children will relearn how to use their phonic knowledge in their writing and younger children will concentrate on producing labels, phrases and sentences, whilst older children will revisit their learning on punctuation.

Phonics: There are daily phonics sessions for children in Class 1. Children are assessed on their phonic knowledge of the phonics phases expected at their age. Planning will address any gaps in their knowledge. Year 2 children will sit the phonics screening test in Term 2 and the results will be sent to the DFE. If any children do not pass the phonics screening test in Term 2, they will have the opportunity to sit the test again in the summer term.

Maths: The Maths units we teach at the start of term will focus on revisiting the basics of number and place value. We will follow South Gloucestershire planning which focuses on teaching prerequisite skills to ensure that children are up-to-date with their learning before they progress on to the next skill (based on the ‘Ready to Progress’ document). We will assess the children through a blend of teacher observations and formal testing so that we can identify the gaps in children’s learning and address these gaps in our planning of Maths lessons. There will also be an emphasis on the daily practice of counting, number and shape recognition and supporting children’s learning with resources and equipment.

PSHE and Well-Being: To re-establish children’s sense of well-being and coming together as a class, we will focus on circle times and story times. We will also focus on their health and well-being by teaching about the importance of handwashing, keeping social distance and general COVID safety as they move around the school site. We will also emphasise the importance of re-establishing friendships and recognising feelings – children will complete self-portraits and try to identify their friends and recognise emotions.

Topic: The topic for Class 1 for Term 1 is ‘Castles, Dragons and Knights’. The learning in English lessons on the book, ‘The Knight and the Dragon’ will support this topic work. Children will start by completing creative activities based around this topic, such as designing shields and making crowns. They will also learn about engaging stories such as the stories of St. George and King Arthur.

RE: Although we sadly will not be able to visit St Arilda’s Church to celebrate our Harvest Service with the community as we usually would do, the children will still be learning about Harvest (the meaning of Harvest celebrations and Harvest stories) in class.

Class 2:

English: Children will be reading the book ‘Tell me a Dragon’ by Jackie Morris and taking part in lots of creative activities based around this text, such as painting watercolour dragons, making dragon eggs and writing their own creative poetry based on what they are reading.

Reading: We will be focusing on developing a love of reading and how to choose the right book! We are also introducing a new home reading scheme in Term 1. We will be assessing children’s phonic knowledge and reading abilities as well as their comprehension of texts. Once children are assessed, our planning will address the gaps in their knowledge and skills. For some children we will make a list of ‘sight’ words for them to read and practice at home with their parents, these will be written in the back of their reading records.

Maths: The Maths units we teach at the start of term will focus on revisiting the basics of number and place value. We will follow South Gloucestershire planning which focuses on teaching prerequisite skills to ensure that children are up-to-date with their learning before they progress on to the next skill (based on the ‘Ready to Progress’ document). We will assess the children through a blend of teacher observations and formal testing so that we can identify the gaps in children’s learning and address these gaps in our planning of Maths lessons. There will also be an emphasis on the daily practice of number facts and times tables.

PSHE and Well-Being: To re-establish children’s sense of well-being and coming together as a class, we will focus on creative activities and link these to children’s learning in other curriculum areas where possible. . We will also focus on their health and well-being by teaching about the importance of handwashing, keeping social distance and general COVID safety as they move around the school site, along with new class routines. We will also emphasise the importance of re-establishing friendships and recognising feelings. Children will learn about ‘growth mindsets’ and ‘positive mindsets’, as well as focusing on goal – setting, looking forward with a sense of optimism and defining their hopes and dreams for the year ahead. Children will also be making a ‘Shield of Strength’ which will help them to identify where they can go for help and support if things get tough.

Topic and Design Technology: We will start by focusing on creative activities, such as creating dragon eggs to complement the learning in Literacy. Children will also become ‘classical architects’ and recreate the famous buildings of Ancient Greece by building their own models of these structures (to complement their learning in History for Term 1, ‘What was life like in Ancient Greece?’).

RE: Although we sadly will not be able to visit St Arilda’s Church to celebrate our Harvest Service with the community as we usually would do, the children will still be learning about Harvest in class. Children will also be learning stories from the Hindu faith as part of their RE topic on Hinduism.