Curriculum Intent

Curriculum Rationale 2024-25

 

Intent

 

We uphold the ideal of inclusion in its broadest sense and seek to involve all stakeholders in

achieving this. As a team we aim to stimulate re-engagement, participation, interest, enjoyment and

achievement by providing bespoke educational intervention programmes, pupil centred planning

and solution focused support – ultimately leading to successful educational reintegration. We

endeavour to provide a safe, nurturing environment which facilitates a personalised holistic

approach to learning enabling pupils to reach their potential. We promote the basic British values of

democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different

faiths and beliefs to enable pupils to become well rounded members of society who can make a

positive contribution to their communities.

 

 

Our intent is to address the challenges that pupils are facing with their education by breaking down

their barriers to learning and supporting all pupils to enable them to positively re-engage with

learning and promote personal development. The curriculum ethos is to prepare pupils

appropriately for their specific exit pathway, providing them with the requisite skills and knowledge

to successfully reintegrate into a mainstream setting or specialist provision and motivate them to be

independent and successful learners.

 

When designing the curriculum we needed to take into account a number of factors. Our pupils have

complex and disparate needs, often having undiagnosed SEN or challenging behaviours. Mainstream

settings have not met the needs of our pupils and therefore a curriculum needs to reflect this,

however many of our pupils return to these setting so it is imperative that we provide a curriculum

that does not result in them falling behind their peers academically.

 

Our curriculum continues to ensure that our children's learning is both meaningful, and benefits

from a specific focus on the core requirements of the English/literacy and mathematics curriculums.

In September 2024 we will be implementing 4 different curriculum pathways in order to best suit the differing of needs of our pupils:

 

-          Nurture pathway

(Pupils arrive disengaged, often with low self-esteem and confidence. We aim to nurture these pupils to enable them to reach their full potential by having a small group that fosters positive relationships and has a focus on emotional wellbeing.

-          Main / Vocational pathway (SEMH)

-          Key Stage 4 groups (Year 10)

-          Key Stage 4 group (Year 11)

 

After an initial settling in period (where pupils are accurately base lined), pupils are then placed in groups according to their needs not ages. Exit pathways are determined early into the placement to enable pupils to be placed in the appropriate curriculum group.

 

Our pupils are provisionally entered for 20 week placements (but can come for shorter targeted

interventions) and therefore the curriculum offer needs to concentrate on plugging gaps in

knowledge and understanding. We ensure that areas of maths and English are re-visited throughout

the school year to promote recall of knowledge and understanding and ensure that all pupils have

covered basic skills.

 

Many pupils are kinesthetic and visual learners, working significantly below age related expectations. We therefore tailor our curriculum offer to meet the needs of these pupils by providing bespoke lessons that target gaps in knowledge and are engaging and stimulating for the learners.

 

Sequences of lessons work on building up pupil’s knowledge and understanding of an area/ topic.

Staff introduce a new concept then continue to build on this through a range of activities with the

focus on independence and real life application at the end of a unit.