Our curriculum underpins our ethos and aims to ensure that pupils are given the opportunity to achieve high standards within a supportive community.
We work closely with our clinical team, parents and carers, staff to ensure we help pupils develop social understanding, improve their wellbeing and become as independent as possible.
We aim to deliver a curriculum which is meaningful and fun with academic pathways to enable our pupils to become:
- Successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve
- Confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives
- Responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society
The Learning environment
Our strong emphasis on visual support and displays creates a purposeful learning environment. Every class has a visual timetable and the interactive learning board outlines the structure of each lesson, the key language and the behaviour that is expected.
Pupils will have access to technology to support learning. Structured approaches are also used which will include: Picture Exchange Communication System, Proloquo2go and Makaton.
The Early Years Foundation Stage
There are seven areas of learning and development that shape the EYFS programme. All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected.
Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive. These three areas are communication and language, physical development, personal, social and emotional development.
Children are also supported in four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied. The specific areas are literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and expressive arts and design.
The Semi Formal Curriculum at Key Stage 1 & 2
The semi-formal curriculum recognises that many of our children have a range of complex learning difficulties, and is designed to meet learning needs by a personalised learning approach based on:
- becoming literate communicators
- becoming mathematical thinkers
- the acquisition of early learning skills which encompasses
- the development of thinking skills
- play (emotional, cognition and social dimensions)
- creative learning
- movement
Our Semi-Formal curriculum has its own curriculum areas, which are different to, but encompass the subjects on the UK National Curriculum:
My Communication, My Thinking, Myself and My Body, The World About Me, Me and My Community, My Creativity, My Play & Leisure Skills, My Personal Development, My Forest Schools and My ICT.
There are overlaps between our semi-formal curriculum areas and subjects on the UK National Curriculum. However, our semi-formal curriculum areas are designed to offer something totally distinct, to directly address SLD learning need, rather than an adaptation of the national curriculum in any form.