Curriculum

Our curriculum is designed to be broad, relevant and engaging and built as a cohesive approach with an individual’s EHCP at the core; therefore, facilitating greater involvement of families, the pupil and other professionals in their learning and development. The overarching curriculum vision is one that supports the idea of provision and curriculum linking together but is child-centred in its approach. Pupils will either follow a formal or a semi-formal curriculum based on their ability to access the formal programme.

Semi-Formal Curriculum

Subjects covered in the semi-formal curriculum depending on the age, ability, transition into school and specific pupil need.

Phonics, Literacy and English
Maths
PSHE
Arts and crafts and bespoke projects to that child
For KS3/4 – Keysteps or ASDAN
Outdoor learning e.g. Forest School

Formal Curriculum

Some children are able to access a more formal approach to their learning. At Educate U we believe a formal curriculum should be a broad, balanced and full of enrichment opportunities to meets the needs of our pupils. The curriculum, alongside specialist quality-first teaching approaches, provides consistency throughout the school, whilst recognising developmental and age-related aspects to learning.

Subjects covered in the formal curriculum depending on the age of a pupil are:

Phonics and Literacy
English, Functional Skills English, GCSE English language
Maths, Functional Skills Maths, GCSE Maths
PSHE - PSHE Association SEND framework.
Art
STEM
Geography
History
RE
PE
For KS3/4 - Keysteps or ASDAN
Outdoor learning e.g. Forest School

Additional pathways (GCSES or vocational qualifications to be chosen by the child in Year 9 at Futures evening.

Our subjects have been designed by staff to be fun, engaging and sequential to ensure no missed or repeated learning. Whilst it is not an expectation for an independent school to follow the national curriculum, we have aimed to ensure coverage of a range of skills and knowledge content.

If a child or young person joins us and wishes to pursue GCSEs or Functional skills that we do not offer as standard, we will endeavour to work with the family and child or young person to look at what can be offered in more bespoke package.

Curriculum Intent

The intent of our curriculum is to present an ambitious, broad and balanced curriculum in a way that makes learning accessible for our children and young people with SEND. Our curriculum intends to place the child at the centre of their learning and:

To provide an outstanding education, which is personalised to the need of each pupil.
To provide a calm, learning focused environment, which is safe, caring and nurturing.
To provide a holistic education, which incorporates guidance and strategies from support agency partnerships e.g. speech and language therapists, touchbase and kinship support services.
To increase resilience and develop pupils’ ability to self-regulate.
To ensure Educate U’s values are at the heart of learning, these include:
- Safety
- Trust
- Choice
- Collaboration
- Empowerment
To develop pupils’ essential life skills, developing their knowledge and the ‘cultural capital’ they need to succeed in life (personal development), this will include, but is not exclusive to:
- personal & social well-being (safety/self-image/self-esteem);
- communication skills (speaking/listening/reading/writing/body language/Preferred ways of communicating and completing work)
- social skills (behaviour/interaction);
- physical & health skills (hygiene/healthy eating/exercise/team skills);
- ICT skills (using computers to share and seek information); and
- independence and study skills (thinking skills/self-organisation/concentration) etc.
To promote physical and emotional well-being.
To prepare pupils for the next stage of their education.
To ensure all pupils leave Educate U with outcomes that reflect the best of their ability.
To ensure that all pupils receive an education that is in line with the statutory guidance outlined in the SEND Code of Practice 0-25.

Curriculum Implement

Class teachers are responsible for delivering the curriculum for their class. They make decisions about what resources and materials they use, and how they use adaptive teaching and planning based on the individual needs for the children/young people in their class. They do this using their professional knowledge and expertise, sharing best practice and providing support for each other, focussed on outcomes for individual pupils.

Subject leaders are responsible for designing the progression in core knowledge, skills and concepts into yearly plans. They ensure that all teachers are familiar with curriculum expectations through training, monitoring and coaching, with a focus on ensuring that outcomes can be achieved by all pupils.

Class teachers ensure successful delivery of learning by ensuring:

1. Inclusivity:

Ensuring that all students, regardless of their special needs or disabilities, have equal access to quality education. This will include adaptation of teaching methods, materials, and activities to the needs of the pupils. This may involve providing alternative or modified resources, adaptive teaching, multi-sensory approaches, and specialised interventions.

2. Personalisation:

Adapting and annotating curriculum plans to cater to the unique needs and abilities of each student, with individual education plans (IEPs) based on a child’s/young person’s EHCP’s targets, playing a crucial role.

3. Holistic Development:

Promoting not only academic growth but also social, emotional, and physical development to help students thrive in all aspects of life encompassing not only academic learning but also social, emotional, and life skills. The curriculum intends to incorporate activities and experiences that promote communication, social interaction, independence, and self-advocacy. This might be achieved though the personal development offer, or more formally through the ASDAN curriculum.

4. Specialised Support:

Offering specialised services such as art psychotherapy, play therapy, body therapies, swimming, trampolining, scuba diving, sensory circuits, or reflexology to address the specific challenges that students may face.

5. Parental Involvement:

Encouraging active participation from parents and carers in their child's education and progress. Educate U prioritises collaboration and communication with parents, carers, and external professionals, including regular IEP meetings and progress calls and reports are conducted to ensure transparency, gather feedback, and align support strategies across home and school environments.

6. Life Skills:

Preparing students for independence and life beyond school by teaching practical life skills that are essential for their future. This is completed through the ASDAN and PSHE curriculums. The intent of the curriculum is to develop functional skills that are essential for everyday life. This includes activities focused on self-care, vocational skills, money management, travel training and independent living.

7. Adaptive Curriculum:

Being flexible and adaptable to accommodate changes in a student's needs and abilities over time. This will be shown on annotated curriculum plans.

8. Incorporating Technology:

Integrating assistive technologies and adaptive tools to enhance the learning experience for students with disabilities such as voice to text software to produce written accounts.

9. Assessment and Progress Monitoring:

The curriculum incorporates ongoing assessment and progress monitoring mechanisms to track individual student achievements. These assessments may encompass both formal and informal methods, including observations, portfolios, evidence for learning (EfL) and adaptive assessments, focusing on students' strengths, progress, and areas for further development.

10. Sensitivity and Inclusivity Training:

Providing staff with training on how to support students with SEND in a trauma informed way, fostering an inclusive and empathetic school culture.

11. Futures:

The curriculum prepares students for transition beyond their school years with us at Educate U. This includes vocational training, work experience opportunities, guest speakers and career guidance to equip students with practical skills and support their post-school aspirations.

Trauma Informed Approach

Our trauma-informed setting is centred around creating a safe and supportive learning environment for students who have experienced trauma. This approach recognises that many of our have a history of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) or traumatic events, which can significantly impact their learning and well-being and their ability to access learning. Within our curriculum intent we aim to promote:

Safety and Trust: The primary focus is on creating a physically and emotionally safe school environment where our pupils feel secure and can build trust with teachers and peers.
Understanding Trauma: Teachers are trained to recognise signs of trauma and understand its effects on students' behaviour, cognition, and emotional well-being.
Emotional Regulation: Teaching pupils strategies for self-regulation and emotional coping to help them manage the effects of trauma. This is primarily done in all classrooms through the use of the PACE language framework and way of being.
Connection: Prioritising positive relationships between students and teachers, emphasising playfulness, empathy, active listening, curiosity, acceptance and support.
Flexibility and Choice: Allowing students some control over their learning process and offering choices within the curriculum to empower them.
Holistic Wellbeing: Addressing not only academic needs but also the social and emotional well-being of students, including mental health support and therapeutic intervention from the team at Therapy House.
Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies: Implementing teaching strategies that consider trauma's impact, such as mindfulness exercises, calming techniques, and trauma-sensitive classroom management e.g. Connection before correction, Zones of regulation.
Resilience Building: Encouraging the development of resilience skills to help students cope with challenges and adversity. “We can do difficult things”.
Family Involvement: Engaging families in the educational process, as they play a vital role in supporting students who have experienced trauma.
Collaboration with Mental Health Professionals internally and externally: Partnering with mental health professionals to provide specialised support for pupils with trauma histories.
Regular Assessment: Continuously monitoring pupils' progress and well-being, adjusting interventions and support as needed. This is using the Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle model.

Curriculum Impact

Our children and young people make progress: Our pupils know more, remember more and can do more. Our internal data is consistently improving. We meet pupils at the point they are at; we assess where they are, plan for their provision, teach and build on prior skills and knowledge, or gap fill their learning from periods out of education, and then we review the impact this has had and the journey the child has come on. Through differentiated and adaptive curriculums and attuned teaching with an emotional available adult for co-regulation, our children make good or outstanding progress.

Class teachers routinely evaluate the progress of pupils within and across lessons using the curriculum frameworks to make judgements. They use this information to analyse how effectively pupils are achieving or exceeding or not achieving expectations and to adapt their planning accordingly. Teachers provide Subject Leaders with timely summative information about the outcomes of pupils in their class which subject leaders can analyse using BROMCOM, our Management Information System to intervene with staff or children to support teaching and learning. Subject Leaders and routinely evaluate the summative outcomes for their area of responsibility. They use this analysis to identify any necessary actions that develop the quality of provision in their subject.

Our children and young people will have a confident set of skills, knowledge, norms and values which are used to get ahead in education and life more generally. In short they will learn more, remember more, enjoy more and develop more spiritually, socially and emotionally. Thus enabling them to be ready for their next stage in their education or training.

The boy we really believed would feel lost everywhere he went, is now looking forward to his future and no longer doubts himself that hard work can and will get him where he wants to be.  THANK YOU

Parent/Carer email July 2023

So he’s finally off! I just want to say again THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts.. [STUDENT] crawled into Educate U and strutted out!! That’s all down to YOU with your amazingly patient, nurturing big hearts You should be proud of what you do, I just wish every kid could get this bespoke education. Maybe one day it will become mainstream. We can live in hope.

Parent/Carer email 2022-23 Cohort