Renaissance Learning

March 20th 2020 is a date that will remain with most of us for a very long time - this was the point when school's closed their doors to the majority of pupils in order to support the country and minimise the Covid infection.

Our school moved to remote learning -  thanks largely to Google Classroom -  and we learned what it was like to live together in a world of masks and social distancing.  Thanks to the efforts of the NHS we are now at the point where we are purposefully planning to exit from the current pandemic.  However, over the year between March 20th 2020 and March 13th 2021, 119 face-to-face school sessions were lost for the vast majority of learners.  

So where are we? Firstly, it is important to disprove a myth about lost learning. Learning changed but our assessments have shown that children have not 'lost' as much learning as some media outlets might suggest.  Indeed, for many families it was a unique opportunity to spend time together and to grow closer.  Some key aspects will require re-teaching though these are typically maths focused and our maths curriculum has been adjusted to take this into account. 

 In the summer of 2020 we took the bold decision to completely review our curriculum.  This was for two reasons:

• A curriculum was required that would meet the needs of pupils in a post-pandemic world
• The curriculum required a deep review to better reflect the demography of the school

The curriculum can be found on our curriculum page on the website.  This new curriculum will help teachers shape learning to best meet the needs of our pupils as well as support subject leaders to be the champions for subjects across the it.

Now is a good time to address to start a-fresh. Equally, it is a time to embrace what  the challenge that as a school we set in our vision of an excellent curriculum that is joyful and creative.  Finally, we are a school built on the shoulder of a champion for equality and we cannot ignore the events that shook the world last year following Floyd George's death. William Wilberforce passionately reached out and sought to understand others and their challenges - we maintain that challenge today as a school that we believe in the midst of a renaisance.

Covid Catch-up Grant

In the summer of 2020, the Government announced a catch up grant to support the impact on learning during the summer term.  The total is split over two financial years (2019-2020 & 2020-2021) and equates to £80 per pupil.  At St Paul's this has equated £16,400.

The school will use this for the following:

• To support well-being of pupils through the use of a school counsellor
• To support 1-2-1 catch up in maths 
• To enhance sports and return to being a 'sporty' school