Curriculum

Context 

As a hospital school we are exempt from teaching the National Curriculum. Instead, our statutory guidance comes from two sources: 

• DfE (2013) Alternative Provision, Statutory guidance  

• Department for Education (2013) Ensuring a good education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs 

Aims:  

1. The curriculum builds hope in individual pupils and in the school community as a whole.  

2. The curriculum allows pupils to make good progress in a broad range of academic subjects. 

3. The curriculum allows pupil’s personal development to increase hope. This is given substantial importance.  

4. The curriculum helps pupils to make a successful transition to their next phase of learning either a return back to mainstream school or a post-16 destination.  

A Hopeful Curriculum  

The curriculum builds the positive psychological concept of hope. This concept is drawn upon from the theories of Rick Snyder, Shane Lopez and Dante Dixson. Hope is a specific mode of thinking that has 4 component parts: 

• Goal Setting – in a space between certainty and impossibility; 

• Pathways thinking - the journey to complete goals but specifically the ability to navigate obstacles by taking a different direction; 

• Summoning the mental energy necessary to reach those goals;  

• Surrounding yourself with cheerleaders who can spur you on.  

Academic Curriculum

Pupils at KS3 will have the opportunity to study academic disciplines of Mathematics, English, Science, PSHE, IT, Humanities (History, Geography, RE), Technology, Healthy Lifestyles, Music, Art and a Modern Foreign Language.  

At KS4 all pupils will study English, Mathematics, Science and PSHE at a level of attainment that is suitable for them and as much of that content as their health will allow. Pupils will then be able to choose from a range of options including areas of aesthetics and arts, IT and computing, vocationally related qualifications, humanities and social sciences, physical education, technology and a Modern Foreign Language.  

The qualification of choice at KS4 is GCSE, however, pupils are also given the opportunity to study qualifications at a lesser level if their health needs demand it. 

Personal Development Curriculum  

• Pupils will be taught the psychology of hope, mental health and well-being via the WOW (Well – being on Wednesday) Course;  

• Pupils will be taught social, moral, spiritual and cultural education in a variety of ways including morning tutorials and afternoon personal refection;  

• Pupils will be taught fundamental British Values;  

• Pupils will be taught citizenship.  

• Pupils will have the opportunity to broaden their world through a series of planned trips and visits.  

A well planned, cumulative, sequential curriculum 

Each curriculum area is planned in the following way. A line of sight document is produced. This provides a long term map for the curriculum in that subject area. It identifies the sequence of knowledge to be learnt; the big concepts and skills in that subjects; the vocabulary to be learnt and the curriculum end points. Consideration will be given to assessment as well. The line of sight documents and information about each subject area will be found on the pages listed to the right over the coming months.