Catch up - After lockdown

Preparing to return to your school buildings? Ready to address and solve Post pandemic problems? This document is designed to help senior leaders devise strategies for helping students catch up and consolidate their learning. There are three strategies listed:

1. Independent Research Projects

2. Cross curricular projects

3. Collaborative learning projects

4. By setting simple research project teachers can help students to learn a lot about a subject very rapidly. Independent research opportunities are one of the best chances students can be given to deepen and widen their knowledge. Students who have been given opportunities to study topics of particular interest to them have on occasions gone on to do a doctorate in those areas!

5. Knowledge does not exist in little compartments and nor does learning. Cross curricular learning is important for students enabling them construct their understanding of the world. As we seek ways to help students catch up, CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES HELP TIME CONSTRAINTS – MORE CONTENT CAN BE COVERED.

6. Collaborative learning is a much under-used technique in schools. . By talking and writing at the same time students can cross-fertilise ideas and produce much better material than any single student could do. When consolidating learning these experiences will provide opportunities to fill the gap in learning. If students are asked to produce a paragraph on a particular topic, then each student may have accessed different information during their home studies. By putting together three different collections of information, the students are able to share knowledge.

• Why not use the checklist to see which strategies your school is using to help students catch up and consolidate their learning?

• Ask different stake-holders to complete the document and compare their scores.

• Complete the audit when school re-opens, then at the beginning of the next two terms. What does the result tell you?