Specialist Curriculum

All pupils have individual outcomes written into their EHCPs under 5 areas of need:

• Cognition and Learning

• Communication and Interaction

• Social, Emotional and Well-Being

• Sensory and Physical

• Independence, Self-Help and Personal Safety

All pupils are supported to make progress towards their individual outcomes within the day-to-day curriculum. Provision to facilitate this is discussed and adjusted weekly across the staff team.

Progress towards these outcomes is tracked using ShowProgress and evaluated termly and at Annual Review.

Some pupils have Care Plans set by Speech or Occupational Therapists. Care Plans may be delivered as intervention on a 1:1 or small group basis or delivered holistically through the curriculum depending on the content.

Self-regulation, in all its forms, is seen as the ultimate goal at The Oaklands Centre. Adults support pupils to become independent in their thinking, learning, social interaction and emotional regulation. Support is seen only as the pathway to future independence and is faded as soon as a pupil no longer needs it. Pupils are given opportunities to practise their self-regulation skills in a rich variety of contexts.

Discrete Teaching

Key tools are used to help the development of self-regulation including:

• Zones of Regulation https://zonesofregulation.com/

• Starving the Anxiety Gremlin by Kate Collins-Donnelly

Pupils are coached to use personal self-regulation strategies on a 1:1 basis as necessary.

Unstructured Play

A key tool to allow pupils to rehearse self-regulation is the OPAL Play approach to outdoor activity. All pupils have at least 1 hour per day access to unstructured, active and creative play using big equipment including: adventure play climbing frames, crates, tires, planks, wheeled equipment, logs, and ropes.

https://outdoorplayandlearning.org.uk/

'Down Time'

To support self-regulation, periods of time are built into the curriculum where pupils are not subject to adult demands and can pursue their own agenda and interests. These periods are interleaved between adult-led 'lessons' to enable pupils to reduce their own stress levels during the course of the day. On an individual basis, pupils may have more down time planned during periods when their personal stress levels are high. Pupils are taught to identify and choose activities that help them manage their stress levels with the aim of becoming independent in this.

Where necessary, pupils have Individual Behaviour Plans to support the reduction of unhelpful coping strategies.

Progress towards improved self-regulation is monitored and reviewed using a rigorous in-house response tracking system.

Communication

We support pupils’ verbal and non-verbal communication, both by developing their bank of skills and by adapting the methods of communication used in their environment. We work from the early beginnings of vocabulary and meaning building through to the development of sophisticated self-advocacy skills, depending on each pupil’s stage of development. For some pupils, Speech Therapists provide care plans and targets and these may be implemented as an individual intervention or as part of group work.

Social Understanding

Social understanding, such as being able to reason about another person's emotions, intentions and meaning, is taught discretely during the daily specialist curriculum lessons.

Pupils are given high levels of mediation and social feedback so that they can apply their understanding and rehearse appropriate responses in a dynamic environment.

Classroom Communication Skills

All pupils work in small class groups for the vast majority of the time. They are taught positive classroom learning skills such as: how to know when they should not talk, how and when to ask for help, how to make contributions to discussions, how to tolerate learning subject material that is not a particular interest, how to tolerate ideas that are different to their own and how to accept feedback from a teacher. These skills support pupils to be successful learning in a group and, when well rehearsed, enable many to return to learning in their mainstream class.

We work hard to promote a strong sense of well-being in all of our pupils. We use Martin Seligman’s PERMAH model to provide a framework for this. We teach pupils about the importance of each strand and design opportunities for them to grow and develop within each area. We try to equip them with the self-determination skills to secure good levels of well-being for themselves, both now and in their future.

https://positivepsychology.com/perma-model/

Pupils are given the opportunity to try a range of activities, such as yoga, meditation and mindfulness, to help them work out what they find calming and positive.

Pupils are encouraged to keep a 'PERMAH Journal' to raise their own awareness of their well-being.

Pupils are surveyed on their well-being each term using a questionnaire which provides a rating for each area of PERMAH. If pupils rate poorly in particular areas staff design support for them.

Pupils are taught about what it means to be autistic and other forms of neurodiversity. They are given time and space to consider what that means for them. The positive aspects of autism and autistic role models are discussed and celebrated.

Pupils are introduced to potential strategies that they can use to manage any aspects of autism that cause them difficulty. They are also taught to advocate for themselves- how to explain their autism to others and how to identify and ask for the adjustments they need.

A formal 'Preparation for Adulthood' curriculum is taught using certified ASDAN courses.

Path A- ASDAN New Horizons https://www.asdan.org.uk/new-horizons/

Path B- ASDAN Key Steps https://www.asdan.org.uk/key-steps/

The 'Preparation for Adulthood Framework' is also considered when planning life skills activities: https://www.preparingforadulthood.org.uk/

Careful consideration is given to the next phase of education for each pupil. On an individual basis, plans are made to ensure gaps in their skills are filled to enable them to be successful in the next stage. Support may range from: intensive 1:1 reading tuition to ensure they can read fluently enough to access the KS3 curriculum, learning to cope with a busy corridor and moving independently around site, learning strategies to speak to unfamiliar adults or learning to tolerate homework.

Support for transitions is built into the curriculum.

Key Transitions

All pupils have a Centre entry plan which is co-created with their family and previous setting to ensure a positive transition into the Oaklands Centre.

All pupils have a phase transition plan which is co-created with their family and receiving setting to ensure a positive transition up to the next stage.

Pupils are supported to transition between Centre classes and between mainstream classes with individual plans.

Daily Transitions

Transitions within the school day are carefully supported. The day begins with 'soft start' to ensure pupils have the opportunity to settle in school before engaging in adult-led activities. The Oaklands Centre day finishes 15 minutes before the mainstream day to ensure pupils can leave at a quiet, calm time before the school site is busy.

Routines and consistent cues are in place for all transitions throughout the day, however minor. Pupils are prepared carefully for any foreseen changes to these. Pupils are also taught coping strategies for unexpected changes in routine.

Learning about British Values is interwoven into the Specialist Curriculum. Both ASDAN courses undertaken have key modules about Citizenship. Pupils are taught about: democracy; the rule of law; individual liberty; mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs.

At a level they can understand, pupils are:

• Encouraged to have respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.

• Enabled to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England

• Enabled to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem, and self-confidence

• Encouraged to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely

• Enabled to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England

• Further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation for and respect for their own and other cultures

• Encouraged to show respect for other people

Pupils are taught to consider and respect these values at a class and school level before scaling their understanding up to the concept of a national identity.