Opportunity, Encourage, Achieve
Curriculum Context:
LWS is a specialist school for boys (aged 11-16) whose primary special education need is Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH). At LWS we support students’ SEMH needs as well as any other identified special educational and or disabilities they may have. Due to the complex nature of the students that attend LWS, it is our responsibility to provide them with the most appropriate curriculum, a tailored approach, to both academic learning and their personal development.
Curriculum design:
The LWS curriculum has been designed as a multi stranded approach in order to provide our students with the most appropriate approach and content. During the autumn term ( or a student’s mid-year admission) students take CAT4 and Renaissance Reading assessments. We use this data to group students based on their stage within their learning. Currently we have seven teaching groups within our school. In order to provide students at LWS with experiences that are relevant, interesting and challenging, and to identify opportunities for progression, we have adopted a curriculum structure which encompasses 3 broad levels: Keystone, Archway and Upper school.
Our groupings are formulated to prioritise literacy. At LWS, we recognise the importance of every child becoming a fluent and skillful reader. Reading equips children with the skills they need to understand and absorb knowledge from across the curriculum, enrichment and to be able to fully participate in the world we live in. We have created our dedicated reading strategy, and place a great emphasis on embedding it within our curriculum. As a result, groups that have been identified as having a literacy needed have an additional reading session embedded within their timetable.
A vital part of our programme is to have an accurate gauge on a student’s current reading ability. As such, each student is assessed twice a year with our reading diagnostic tool, to ascertain their reading age and standardised score, celebrating their progress and providing us with a detailed report on a student’s current reading ability, their strengths and areas for development. This report identifies the specific part of reading a student finds difficult, and allows us to provide targeted instruction.
This begins with quality first teaching on the area of reading need, and if this is not comprehensive enough, we then embed high quality structured interventions to provide additional support including; 1-1 targeted reading intervention, small group reading interventions, and reading to dogs to build fluency and confidence within reading.
The Thrive Approach is a whole school initiative that has become embedded across the school. All students have a dedicated Thrive session included in their timetable. These sessions are used to support the social and emotional development of the learners. The sessions are tailored to the students needs, as each student will have a Thrive Assessment completed by their tutor. This then creates an Action Plan which includes targets and activities to support the emotional well being of that young person. Thrive sessions are designed to be hands-on and engaging for learners. A number of the activities have a focus on social engagement and interaction as well as emotional understanding.
Keystone:
Keystone is the provision we provide for students within Year 7 and 8. We named this keystone as we feel this name encapsulates all we aspire for the provision to be. The keystone is the most important stone in an arch bridge, without this stone the bridge would collapse. The keystone is an integral part that holds the bridge together. Our provision is organised in order to give the greatest support to students to make successful transitions, whether to or from mainstream school, or within the year groups in our school. Keystone prioritises students building relationships with their key members of staff with 4 sessions delivered by their tutor and attached support staff, ensuring that they; feel a sense of belonging, have a base with their own personalised resources and have relationships to support their learning and self-regulation. The curriculum within keystone is balanced to support student needs, with lessons including; literacy and numeracy, Thrive sessions, PHSRE, Speech and language session run by speech and language therapist. Additionally to support transition from keystone to the upper school, students experience the wider school community through their science, food technology, PE and Art lessons.
Archway:
Archway is named after the main section of a bridge. This is where stress is distributed equally along an arc, instead of concentrating at any one point. Our archway provision has been developed with this thought in mind, and is specially created for our year 9/10 students who need enhanced pastoral and literacy support to ensure they can access the wider school and curriculum. They have specialist sessions with our SENCo for Science and English every day in addition to a weekly literacy and reading session, as well as 1 weekly session of social communication coordinated and delivered by an external speech and language therapist.
Upper school:
Upper school is organised for years 9-11 and is organised through students’ intended assessment route. There are two main assessment routes in the upper school, entry level or GCSE (although these pathways can provide a blended approach). Students follow the provision that is best suited for their ability to achieve their best outcomes.
LWS has established links with a variety of colleges and alternative providers across the region. This allows us to create personalised pathways for those students in both lower and upper school should it be required based on addressing identified learning needs, supporting mental health and wellbeing or contributing towards post 16 destinations. The following alternative providers currently feature on students personalised timetables: HSDC, Southdowns Equine Therapy, Military Mentors and Oarsome Chance, Academy 21 and NXT. All alternative provision is rigorously checked from a safeguarding perspective and regularly checked for suitability to with our SENCO. Students in Year 10 and 11 have the opportunity to attend a work experience placement. Students can either find their own placement which is then checked or students can be supported to find a suitable placement.
How our day is structured:
During the academy day students will move around the site to access specialist teaching spaces for all subjects. Each year group has their own timetable and have access to pictorial timetables. Key Stage 4 students access their own personal ‘Pathway’ including College, Work Experience and Alternative Provision
Our school day has been designed to optimise learning time as well as providing ample opportunity for staff to work with students on their Social Emotional and Mental Health needs.
School day – Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday/ Thursday:
09:00 – 09:10 Arrival + before school clubs
09:10 – 09:30 Morning registration including Personal development tasks such as handwriting or spellings.
09:30 – 10:10 Lesson 1
10:10 – 10:50 Lesson 2
10:50 – 11:05 Morning break + Activities
11:05 – 11:45 Lesson 3
11:45 – 12:25 Lesson 4
12:25 – 12:50 Lunch + Activities
12:50 – 13:30 Lesson 5
13:30 – 14:10 Lesson 6
14:10– 14:20 Afternoon registration
14:20 – 14:45 Enrichment + Catch Up
Friday:
09:00 – 09:10 Arrival + before school clubs
09:10 – 09:30 Morning registration including Personal development tasks such as handwriting or spellings.
09:30 – 10:10 Lesson 1
10:10 – 10:50 Lesson 2
10:50 – 11:05 Morning break + Activities
11:05 – 11:45 Lesson 3
11:45 – 12:25 Lesson 4 – whole school reading and assembly
12:25 – 12:12.50 Lunch + Activities
12.25 – 13.25 – Whole school reading
13.25 – 13.45 – Whole school Assembly
