curriculum

Our curriculum at Childs Hill and Claremont Primary Schools is as easy as...ABC!

We believe all children have a bright future ahead of them and we know that it is our job to help them get there. By making sure they know their ABC, we offer every single child a bright future.

A is for ACADEMIC ME - The National Curriculum (NC) in Pathways is adapted to suit the broad range of our children’s developmental stages, abilities and strengths. This includes adaptations of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum for children of Reception age. The adaptations might include: working at a different level of the NC than the pupil's chronological age; breaking the units of work down into smaller steps; giving children an opportunity to spend more time on achieving the NC learning objectives, selecting topics that are linked to the mainstream curriculum whilst providing opportunities to develop our pupil’s special skills and interests. The focus of the planning and teaching of academic skills in Pathways is on forward progress, rather than a completion of year expectations. A great emphasis is given to development of executive functioning skills, independence in learning and understanding of social norms and transferring these skills into functional context, taking into consideration each child’s aptitudes and learning styles.

Maths and English subjects are delivered as discreet lessons and the work is differentiated to meet the needs of the individual child with clear expected outcomes. These outcomes are steps in achieving the long term outcomes of children's Cognition and Learning section in their EHCPs, identified as pupil's short term targets. Children are taught academic skills at the workstations where they are working independently, or in a small group, supported by their class teacher or a teaching assistant. We use precision teaching, visual and physical resources, multimedia teaching tools as well as modelling and visual steps to support our pupil’s learning.

B is for BEING ME - In addition to the academic curriculum, children in Pathways are offered a child focused curriculum called ‘Fit for Life’ which addresses social communication and emotional regulation needs and differences. The children have been instrumental in the designing of our afternoon programme, which promotes learning through personal interests and development of skills for life through Health, Social, Physical, Creative and Community topics. The SCERTS assessment which is specifically designed to track individual progress in the areas of social communication and emotional regulation forms the basis of teaching and learning in the afternoons. In addition, the whole school 'Wellbeing Wednesdays' initiative offers children in Pathways to join in activities in mainstream school, with a focus on supporting wellbeing, relationships and the health of all of our children and staff. These sessions may be related to subjects, such as Art, PE and DT.

C is for CREATIVE ME - Creativity is nurtured and developed through 'Supergroups' based on Gina Davis' Attention Autism programme and Pathways Assemblies. These group lessons promote our children's curiosity about the world around them and address objectives set by the National Curriculum in Science, Geography, History and RE. Our community outings and day trips are a great opportunity for our children to learn outside the classroom environment and to develop relationships and bond through mutual interests and shared memories and experiences. These experiences equip our children with new skills for collaborative work, group discussions and group tasks, enhancing their performance and achievement in these activities. The additional stimulation experienced on school trips and educational visits is priceless for children in Pathways. The visual and sensory experiences and cues deepen our children's understanding of various topics as well as promote positive engagement with people, places, activities and new environments.

The curriculum information is shared with parents at the beginning of each half term via the Tapestry platform.