Back to School: Recovery Learning

Many children have not had a good time through Lockdown. Quite apart from any difficulties in accessing school work, finding appropriate technology and having a supportive available adult, children will almost certainly have experienced loneliness, frustration, fear, anxiety and anger. They will not be in a space, academically or emotionally, to simply pick up where they left off. So, what do we do to help children to heal, to re-enter a comfortable learning zone and to find the confidence to persevere and start progressing again? Hamilton's new wellbeing blocks are designed for just this.

Wellbeing blocks for English
Two weeks' work (which could be extended) designed to allow children to express themselves in a safe way using many different aspects of the expressive arts – role play, painting, modelling, composition, movement, music and drama. These English blocks use poems and stories to stimulate work specifically planned to enhance children’s wellbeing and to extend their mental space for learning. Download these free plans now.

Spring: Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6

Wellbeing blocks for Maths
A unit of five activities, focussed on basic and key skills, which draw on expressive arts to enhance children’s wellbeing. Children reconnect with each other and the classroom through painting, modelling, drawing, movement and music. They practise number facts and reinforce understanding of place value in an unthreatening context, giving the opportunity to express their feelings in a safe space - a stepping stone from which they can move on gradually to resume the usual curriculum. Download these free plans now.

Spring: Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6

Why are we doing this?

But at my back I always hear
Time’s winged chariot hurrying near…

Although teachers always feel time-pressure to move along, if ever there was an occasion when all our instincts should be saying ‘slow down’, this is it! Children need and deserve some time to get used to being back, to process what they have been through and to consolidate their learning. The brightest child in the country, as well as the most average, will benefit from a chance to express themselves through art, movement, drama and music. The fact that they are also getting back in the zone of their English and Maths learning is a welcome plus factor. But the main aim is and should be their recovery towards stronger mental health and readiness to learn.