The Brook Primary Special School Curriculum
Our bespoke curriculum is underpinned by the National Curriculum and has been created to meet the needs of, and provide stretch and challenge for, all of our learners. Our children need different approaches and pace of delivery to make their learning purposeful and we therefore have categorised our learners into four areas: ‘Engagement; Sensory; Emerging and Functional’.
Intent
At The Brook Special Primary School we provide a rich, relevant and creative curriculum for our pupils. Our bespoke spiral curriculum allows pupils to revisit a topic, theme or subject several times throughout their school career- this reinforces and solidifies the knowledge gained within the subject matter.
The complexity of the topic or theme increases with each re-visit and knowledge is built on allowing for a logical progression from simplistic ideas to more complicated ideas. The curriculum provides appropriate stretch and challenge to the more able pupils across the school, with opportunities for pupils to take part in intervention groups within the SEND setting as well as with our mainstream partner, The Willow Primary School.
Implementation
Through The Brook Special School spiral curriculum we are able to embrace the fact that our pupils do not learn in a linear way. Teachers plan lessons that allow our unique pupils to be taught through a variety of approaches throughout the day. We recognise that some of our pupils will need a great deal of on-going structured support and sensory input, whereas others will become increasingly more independent.
Our long term curriculum mapping is based on a 3 yearly cycle, this is continually monitored and adjusted dependent on the evaluated success of a topic/programme of study (evaluated by staff and pupils).
As well as planning around individual pupil’s interests, we also have a termly whole school topic which were decided on by staff and pupils and based around national curriculum programmes of study. The whole school topic enables joint working between classes and a similar theme for pupils to follow.
Impact
Our spiral curriculum allows our pupils to develop knowledge that then become embedded skills which can be effectively transferred to all other aspects of their lives. Sometimes our pupils are directly taught skills and this becomes knowledge. We positively and honestly address all our pupils’ individual learning needs and challenge them to make expected or better than expected progress year on year.