Overview
Nyland School is a Special School for Primary-Aged pupils with a primary need of Social, emotional and mental health difficulties. We have designed our curriculum to meet the needs of our cohort. We recognise that pupils who join Nyland School will need a curriculum that:
· Addresses their Special Educational Needs
· Identifies and reduces prior gaps in learning
· Enables pupils to overcome barriers that have previously prevented them from learning
We do this through an Emotional Quotient (EQ) based curriculum.
Intent
The Nyland School curriculum aims to:
· Prioritise the knowledge, skills and understanding we want each pupil to have thoroughly secured by the time they leave Nyland School
· Use an Emotional Quotient (EQ) curriculum to meet the pupils emotional needs to create a foundation for pupils to build their academic potential
· Identify the Key learning outcomes that we consider most relevant to our pupils, starting at EYFS and progressing to the end of year 6 National Curriculum expectations
· Build pupil progression on secure knowledge; the next step in learning will not be introduced until it is clear that knowledge and understanding has been firmly embedded
Implementation
· Our curriculum is designed to meet both the academic and emotional needs of SEMH pupils through an academic and emotional curriculum
· A core curriculum in English and Maths focusses on giving pupils access to fundamental learning
· Reading, writing and maths targets are identified for each pupil. These are assessed continually and updated in response to clear evidence that the learning has been embedded into the pupils' long-term memory
· The foundation subjects are broken into pathways. Each pathway identifies both the skills and knowledge pupils will learn and how these build upon prior knowledge and progress to ensure sequential learning
· Our EQ curriculum builds upon an ethos of emotional awareness and understanding. Staff build and model secure, healthy relationships that pupils can learn from and recreate in their lives beyond school. On this foundation, pupils can build their learning
Impact
The implementation of this curriculum ensures pupils leave Nyland School:
· Secure in the basic skills of reading, writing and maths
· Confident problem solvers
· Tolerant and respectful of others
· Prepared for the next stage of their lives
The Nyland Curriculum - In Practice
The Nyland curriculum is based on the key skills and knowledge that we believe our pupils need to have secured by the end of their time at our school and which prepare them for the next stages of their lives.
Our Curriculum is based on the most relevant key learning outcomes for our pupils from the National Curriculum but is also linked to our EQ curriculum.
Maths, Reading and Writing are organised into bands and each band represents a year group. Pupil progress is assessed and monitored continually. Reading, writing and maths targets are reviewed and updated termly in response to clear evidence that the learning has been embedded into the pupils' long-term memory.
The foundation curriculum is organised into 3 pathways which link together to create a clear sequence of learning. The curriculum starts from the pupils own immediate experiences and then radiates and expands to a knowledge and understanding beyond their own experience.
Through various methods a baseline for learning is identified for pupils. The curriculum then enables them to build their learning through small, carefully modelled small steps. Pupil progress is built on secure knowledge. Pupils do not progress until it is clear that knowledge and understanding has been firmly embedded.
Nyland School Curriculum and Tracking
Our curriculum uses the original WHF curriculum banding system form which we have created a bespoke curriculum, appropriate to our SEMH cohort and need. We use it to track pupils in small steps through the descriptors.
The curriculum is arranged in bands and each band correlates to a year:
Band 1 is the expected standard of a Y1 pupil, all the way through to band 6 where we would expect to find a Y6, if they started in the corresponding year for their age.
The sub sections are arranged as follows:
· Emerging (E)
· Emerging+ (E+)
· Developing (D)
· Developing+ (D+)
· Secure (S)
· Secure+ (S+)
We use these descriptor for each sub section of all areas of learning on order to ensure consistency of language.
The descriptors have been reduced and some have been split or altered, so that pupils can cover core learning they may have missed, more quickly. When they reach an age appropriate standard they can go on to those things that have been taken out and put into the extension curriculum. The curriculum is designed to meet pupil need at the stage they are at.
Pupils are tracked termly by marking off descriptors they have achieved and they must cover the majority of a band sub section in order to move to the next section. We track pupils to measure the movement from starting points and to ensure pupils make the expected progress, in line with their predicted targets.
We also acknowledge that there may be some descriptors within bands that some pupils may not ever achieve due to specific SEND need and this will not prevent children from moving on to future areas of learning.
Homework
Homework is produced termly and is linked to your child’s topic. Four tasks are set, one of which is linked to the EQ focus for the term. The tasks can be completed in any order and returned to the class where the child’s work can be shared and celebrated. The homework is sent home at the start of the term and is available under Class Updates.
Phonics & Reading Scheme
At Nyland Campus the Phonics systems we use to support the teaching of Phonics is Read Write Inc (RWI).
We also use Rapid Reading, including Bug Club and Rapid Phonics.