We have created a bespoke curriculum at Hawes Down Primary School ARP, focusing on the development of communication skills, social interaction, independence and life skills and early literacy and numeracy skills.

Our ARP curriculum is called the Curiosity, Opportunity and Perseverance (COP):

Curiosity - Pre-Formal Curriculum

Intent- What are we trying to achieve through our curriculum?

EYFS- birth to three, 3-4 years old (development matters).

Engagement model learners, learning through the 5 areas of engagement.

Sensory based curriculum through attention autism, TAC PAC, intensive interaction, play based learning.

Early stages of communication and interaction- PECs, objects of reference, photographs.

Opportunity - Semi- Formal Curriculum

Pupils working below the national curriculum assessment standard

Pre-Key Stage standards for Math, Writing and Reading 1-2

EYFS Reception /Year 1 National curriculum for subject specific lessons

Sensory based curriculum through attention autism, TAC PAC, intensive interaction, play based learning.

Perseverance - Formal Curriculum

Pupils working at Pre key stage standards 3-5 for Maths, Writing and Reading.

Year 1, 2 and 3 National curriculum for subject specific lessons.

Zones of regulation and social skills groups.

All classes in the ARP follow a thematic approach with learning contexts, activities and resources planned to give all pupils a fun, engaging and enriching learning experience.

The aim of our curriculum offer is to ensure that each pupil can make good progress towards or achieve the objectives set out in his/her EHC plan, ensure readiness for their next phase of education and build on the independence and life skills to support their journey to adulthood. We want our pupils to be able to communicate effectively in a range of settings and be able to develop confidence and skills to enjoy social interaction.

Groupings

Pupils are currently placed in four classes with up to 10 pupils with a teacher and additional support staff as required. Classes are currently vertically grouped with 2 classes for EY& KS1 and KS2. The changing profile of need of pupils more recently admitted to the ARP may warrant further adjustments to groupings which take into account level of cognitive delay and sensory needs rather than age alone. This will enable a more bespoke curriculum offer with an appropriate ambitious level of expectations for each child.

Staff skills and knowledge

Staff teams across the ARP have a range of specialist knowledge and skills to meet the needs of children with complex learning and communication needs. They are able to use specialist resources, strategies and interventions to support access and participation of pupils in all learning activities. This includes comprehensive use of visual aids, signs and symbols to support communication. All staff are trained in using Makaton.

Examples of other specialist interventions used across the ARP include:

• Attention Autism- Different activities used to support engagement with children and spontaneous communication.
   
• Intensive Interaction- is an approach designed to help people at early levels of development, people who have severe, profound or complex learning difficulties and people who have autism. Intensive interaction works on early interaction abilities- how to enjoy being with other people- to relate, interact, know, understand and practice communication routines. It develops ‘Fundamentals of Communication’, attainments such as: use and understanding of eye contacts, facial expressions, vocalisations leading to speech, taking turns in exchanges of conversation and the structure of conversation.
   
• Tacpac- Tacpac draws together touch and music to create sensory communication. Tacpac creates sensory alignment and helps people of any age who have sensory impairment, developmental delay, complex learning difficulties, tactile defensiveness, and limited or pre-verbal levels of communication. Tacpac music is composed specifically to reflect the texture of each object so that the receiver experiences total sensory alignment. Tacpac enables progress to be measured and recorded.

• Sensory based activities- through tactile play pupils will experience different learning through sensory play. The use of sensory/messy play to draw the attention of our pupils and support learning in a much more fun and engaging approach.
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• Play based learning- it is very important to us at HDPS ARPS that the children get the opportunity to take part in play activities. These are either child led or adult led using our creative spaces both inside and outside learning environments. We have developed our own way of providing our children with free flow play opportunities using a combination of structure, routine, choice making and strategies such as TEACCH, Picture Exchange Communication (PECS), Objects of Reference, Makaton signing and symbols to enable our pupils to develop their own play skills in a secure and enabling environment.

At Hawes Down Primary school we assess our pupils using personalised mini step targets which provide a focus for support both at home and at school. These are targets working towards their individualised EHCP outcomes. We run termly reviews with parents, where we share the progress, their child has made scoring them out of 6.

Evidence for learning

We now use the assessment tool Evidence for Learning to baseline, record and track progress for all our children’s Wow moments, the progress they make towards their mini step targets and across the COP curriculum.

We love the sharing tool available on the app, where both school and parents can share the wonderful progress, their child is making through photographs and videos.

For some children, where their needs may be associated with SEMH difficulties, an additional behaviour support plan may be in place to help identify any specific triggers which may lead to increased anxiety and distress and strategies to support emotional regulation.

In compliance with statutory regulations, pupils are also assessed at the end of key phases in respect to National Curriculum expectations and using the pre-key stage standards as relevant.

For pupils who are who are working below the standard of the national curriculum assessments and not yet ready to engage in subject specific learning, pupils will be assessed using the recently introduced Engagement model. The engagement model has 5 areas of engagement; exploration, realisation, anticipation, persistence and initiation.  Each area provides a focus on how well pupils are achieving a specific outcome or individual development target as set out in their EHC plans.

Where pupils are able to access national curriculum programmes of study, progress of pupils is also informed using school wide assessment measures.

We are able to draw on a range of measures to consider the quality of provision offered at the ARP. This will inform a clear picture of our strengths and successes and identify actions to further improve our offer.

This includes both the progress and achievements for individual children as well as benchmarking standards across the whole provision.

Impact measures include:

• Analysis of progress and achievement in respect to EHC plan outcome at individual and across the ARP.
• Gathering the views of parents via an annual survey and focus groups.
• Use of pupil voice both as part of the termly and annual review process and as part of overall views of their experiences in the ARP.
• Monitoring and scrutiny of attendance and exclusion data, benchmarking standards compared to wider school data and in relation to specialist provisions nationally.

• ARP inclusion in school wide cycle of activities to monitor teaching and learning standards.