KCS Curriculum Overview & Intent

Knowsley Central School Curriculum Intent  

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 At Knowsley Central School we believe that our curriculum enables our children to become as successful and independent as possible so that they are ready to learn, make progress and achieve, whatever their starting point may be.

Our curriculum reflects the needs of our children and is meaningful and relevant for all.   It is highly personalised and aims to develop pupil’s communication, OT and sensory needs, cognitive needs as well as their social development and independence, allowing them to function as independently as possible in everyday life.

We currently have 13 classes and the children are grouped based on need and ability.

We believe in creating a happy and secure environment which allows our children to explore, engage and learn safely.

Our curriculum offer has been developed to ensure that learning experiences are relevant, motivating and challenging for our children.  We have identified three over-arching pathways:

• Pre-formal
• Semi – formal
• Formal

Children are baselined on entry and placed into a pathway appropriate to their needs.  Our curriculum is flexible and children are able to move across pathways during their time at Knowsley Central dependent on their needs at any one time.

In school we have a tiered approach for children to access SALT and OT.  The majority of our children will access our universal provision, the activities which are embedded throughout the day within every class, some children will access our targeted interventions, working with adults on specific areas for development, and a few of our children will work at a specialist level, working closely with our SALT and OT.  This approach ensures that children have appropriate programmes and plans incorporated throughout the day, including bespoke sensory profiles and programmes.

At Knowsley Central School teaching and learning opportunities are not limited to ‘lesson time’.  Children have opportunities to generalise skills throughout the day, including break and snack times, personal care routines and during external visits within the community. We refer to this as our ‘Hidden Curriculum’.

Our definition of the hidden curriculum is all the other things pupils learn in school that are not explicitly taught or written down; concepts like friendship, honesty, fairness, the value of work, diversity, how pupils should interact with peers, teachers, and other adults, what ideas and behaviours are considered acceptable and unacceptable.

The hidden curriculum also contributes to our pupils’ gaining cultural capital; the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said, and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.

 The hidden curriculum is how we help pupils generalise their skills and knowledge, where staff reinforce learning that takes place in lessons and where they model the attitudes, communications, knowledge and skills we want our pupils to develop. The staff’s role in delivering the hidden curriculum is talked about and wherever feasible it is planned. It is very much a part of our whole curriculum.

It is seen in corridor encounters between staff and pupils, during pupil arrivals and departures, at breaktimes and lunchtimes, in whole school assemblies, on educational trips into the local and wider community, when we engage in community events, in transitions between activities and classrooms, when we welcome and introduce visitors in school, and through our undertakings to promote pupils’ voice.

The hidden curriculum facilitates pupils’:

• practicing and generalising their personal and social skills, attitudes and understanding such as self-discipline, good behaviour, humour, tolerance, empathy, cooperation, confidence, self-esteem, knowing right from wrong, and respect for others and their rights;
• generalising their independence skills and their functional maths and English;
• putting into practice the ability to express emotions and feelings using speech and other forms of communication (emotional literacy);
• learning how to manage difficult situations well.

Pre-formal Curriculum

Our Pre-formal curriculum is for learners who are at the very early stages of development, these children can be in Year 1 to Year 6, present with complex needs and are working within the Engagement Model.  These children follow our Foundations Learning Pathway.  The progression of skills for this pathway were formed using the Bsquared Engagement Steps for children in Year 1 and above. The children follow a thematic approach, ensuring that we recognise pupils interests and capture their imagination to engage them in their learning.

This curriculum focuses on the development of the very early stages of communication and the social, emotional and cognitive skills that are a pre-condition for learning.  It is designed to prepare the children for learning and develop their levels of engagement.  Within the pre-formal curriculum children in Years 1 – 6 follow non-subject specific learning allowing them to explore the world around them using their sensory and physical capabilities to the full.  They are encouraged to develop positive relationships with familiar adults, including how to communicate.  They access learning through a range a practical experiences including the availability of continuous provision.

The pre-formal curriculum recognises the importance of play and the need for sensory and multi-sensory approaches to learning.  The progress of our pre-formal learners is tracked using the Engagement Steps and Bsquared on a termly basis.  Evidence of their progress is recorded using Earwig under the Engagement Model tags: exploration, realisation, anticipation, persistence and initiation.

Semi – formal Curriculum

Children accessing our semi-formal curriculum follow our whole school thematic approach and receive a highly adapted National Curriculum.  Their learning objectives are based on our bespoke progression of skills, within our Tiptoes and Footsteps Learning Pathways, which are designed from a significantly modified National Curriculum and Bsquared Progression Steps.  There is a clear focus on communication and cognition.  Half termly themes are devised to introduce more subject specific learning, linking activities to engage the children and promote the generalisation of skills and concepts.

They work on a 1:1 basis or in a small group with one other pupil.  Pupils have access to continuous provision and the outside areas of the classroom. Learning activities are designed with an emphasis on repetition, over learning and the generalisation of skills.

Within the semi-formal curriculum there is a focus on emotional well-being, understanding the self, forming and sustaining relationships, beginning to understand emotions and developing a positive disposition to learning.

Teaching and learning is focussed on own experiences and is facilitated through play, themes and a range of other opportunities during functional activities.  Activities are designed to develop resilience and provide foundations for future learning using a multi-sensory approach.

Children following the semi-formal curriculum are assessed using the Bsquared Progression Steps alongside our own bespoke assessment tools such as our Functional Communication checklists, fine motor screening tools and our PSED screeners.

The Formal Curriculum

Children accessing our formal curriculum follow our Stepping Stones, Reaching High and Moving On learning pathways.  Their learning is also based on a thematic approach and is an extension of the semi-formal curriculum.  They follow more subject specific learning, for example, English, Maths, Science and the foundation subjects, ensuring that key skills from the National Curriculum are developed.

Topics for our thematic approach are planned to be practical, building on previous learning and allowing for the consolidation of skills and independence.  Life skills and independent skills continue to form a large part of this curriculum

Children following the formal curriculum are also assessed using the Bsquared Progression Steps alongside our own bespoke assessment tools such as our Functional Communication checklists, fine motor screening tools and our PSED screeners.

EYFS

Our EYFS children follow Differentiated Early Years Outcomes, (DEYO) through to our Pre-foundations learning pathway. EYFS children follow the seven areas of a differentiated EYFS framework.

They work on a 1:1 basis or in a small group with one other pupil.  DEYO is devised to align with the Birth to 5 documentations, where appropriate additional statements have been added to ensure that progress can be recognised and measured.

Pupils have access to continuous provision and the outside areas of the classroom.