Curriculum
Pupils at George Hastwell School have a diverse range of learning difficulties and associated special educational needs. Our pupils’ individual needs will change with time, as the young person grows and learns, and our curriculum is underpinned by what that young person needs to have in place in order to be able to learn; these may be basic emotional, sensory, or physical needs but also includes the necessary communication, social and learning skills in order to access their world and learning.
We believe that our curriculum should adapt for our pupils, rather than our pupils adapt to the curriculum. Our curriculum is designed to meet the needs of all our learners, offering a broad, balanced, differentiated and relevant education which maximises the progress of all pupils.
Our curriculum is divided into three phases, which are: Early Years Foundation Stage Phase (EYFS), Main Phase and Sixth Form Phase. Within these phases are our five pathways, which are: Pre-Formal, MSI (Multi-Sensory- Impairment), Informal, Semi-Formal and Formal. Pupils are grouped by the pathway that they are able to access and then roughly by age. The curriculum in each class is differentiated to meet the needs of that group and does not assume that pupils will progress from one pathway to another. Some pupils will be following the pre or semi-formal curriculums, as they pass through the Phases from EYFS to Post 16.
Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) outcomes and therapy targets are holistically woven into a pupil’s personalised learning experience.
A two-year topic cycle ensures breadth and balance.
Aims
The aim of our pathways curriculum is:
- To enable all pupils to learn and develop appropriate skills in line with their cognitive ability.
- To be relevant, meaningful and context based.
- To be motivating and engaging.
- To be individualised to take account of pupils’ areas of strength, difficulty and learning style and outcomes.
- To enable pupils to be successful learners.
- To assist pupils in coping with their school environment and changes.
- To develop independence and life skills for the future.
- To promote a positive attitude towards learning, so that pupils enjoy coming to school, and acquire a solid basis for lifelong learning.
- To develop each pupil’s communication skills to enable effective communication with their peers and with adults.
- To develop the basic skills of literacy, numeracy and ICT in line with their developmental level.
- To enable pupils to be creative and develop their own thinking.
- To raise pupils’ aspirations for life.
- To teach pupils about the developing world, including how their environment and society have changed over time.
- To appreciate and value the contribution made by all ethnic groups in our multi-cultural society.
- To teach pupils to have an awareness of their own spiritual development, and to distinguish right from wrong.
- To develop in pupils a sense of truth and fairness.
- To develop respect self-esteem, and to live and work co-operatively with others.
- To develop emotional resilience through a range of strategies to promote calmness and readiness to learn.
- To keep pupils safe, supporting our Child Protection Policy and the Prevent agenda.
