Curriculum

The ambitious curriculum at The Beacon is designed to ensure that every pupil receives an appropriate mix of academic and personal development. We understand that in order for children to be successful learners they need to be emotionally secure. Recognising feeling safe and secure as a prerequisite for learning, we devote time to developing trusting relationships with our children and stabilising behaviour. The balanced approach to our curriculum is not at the expense of high expectations in core and foundation subjects. Having high expectations, enabling children to fill the gaps so they can reach national expectations and above, is vitally important to us.

The Beacon follows the National Curriculum, whilst ensuring the unique and personal needs of all individual pupils are being met.

The school curriculum comprises all learning and other experiences that each school plans for its pupils. The national curriculum forms one part of the school curriculum …All schools should make provision for personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), drawing on good practice. Schools are also free to include other subjects or topics of their choice in planning and designing their own programme of education...The national curriculum is just one element in the education of every child. There is time and space in the school day and in each week, term and year to range beyond the national curriculum specifications. The national curriculum provides an outline of core knowledge around which teachers can develop exciting and stimulating lessons to promote the development of pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills as part of the wider school curriculum. National Curriculum

Curriculum Intent

Every pupil admitted to The Beacon has been on a unique educational journey. We are committed to being a positive and stabilising setting that bridges to continued education, whether that be another mainstream school or a specialist setting. Pupils are with us for varying amounts of time: some individuals will have a very short time with us (18 days) while others can remain in excess of 1 year dependent on the availability of provision. Our curriculum therefore needs to be flexible, personalised and designed to enable pupils to progress to the next stage on their educational journey. Our aim is to provide a curriculum that enables each child to shine: to nurture their individual talents and raise aspirations.

Our curriculum is designed to:

• Re -engage all pupils as learners
• Enhance the self – perception of pupils as learners
• Inspire and motivate pupils, fostering a curiosity to learn
• Enable all pupils to make progress from their individual starting points and to have success in learning underpinned by a focus on developing pupils’ social development, emotional wellbeing and mental health
• Focus on developing pupil’s social, emotional and mental health
• Have a strong curriculum focus on the facilitating subjects of English and Mathematics
• Allow pupils to explore subjects beyond the core curriculum in a thematic approach
• Support all pupils to lead healthy and safe lifestyles
• Support all pupils to develop the skills, behaviours and attitudes that will enable them to reintegrate to and be successful in the next phase of their education

In- depth understanding of attachment theory, child development and neuroscience underpins and informs all aspects of The Beacon. Using this evidenced based research and theory ensures the greatest outcomes for our learners (for both academic and personal development).

The principles that underpin our pedagogy and all curriculum learning are:

• The relationships are key
• Children’s learning is understood developmentally
• The Unit provides a symbolic secure base creating the sense of safety to enable pupils to explore and learn
• The importance of containment through attunement and validation for the development of well being
• All behaviour is communication
• The importance of transition in children’s lives

Our Mental Health curriculum and embedded PSHE will ensure that The Beacon fulfils all our statutory obligations under equality legislation.

Implementation

In any one classroom at The Beacon we will have pupils from state-maintained schools and academies, who have experienced very different curriculums before joining us, and who may return or move on to another setting with a different curriculum. We have mixed age classes of children, many of whom are not working at age related expectations. It is therefore crucially important that our curriculum is flexible enough to enable us to meet a wide range of needs.

A robust induction process ensures prior information is shared involving previous school and parents/carers. Each pupil who enters The Beacon will be assessed on entry. Pupils complete baseline assessments in Maths and English, allowing staff to develop a personalised curriculum that fills any gaps they have in prior learning, and allows them to move at their own pace, whatever their starting point.

Using the National Curriculum as a starting point we operate a two-year rolling programme of themes indicating which topic is to be taught each term. Foundation subjects and, where appropriate, core subjects are taught under these themes with a focus on children being able to know more and remember more.

The Beacon Core Curriculum Entitlement

• English, access to high quality, vocabulary-rich texts, modelled examples and includes a phonics programme using Read, Write Inc.
• Mathematics linking to the White Rose Scheme as well as Active Maths sessions and using a Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract base for developing knowledge and understanding.
• Science with a focus on developing investigative skills and enquiry-based learning.
• PE including weekly swimming sessions.
• Mental Health curriculum which encompasses PSHE and RE.

A key purpose of our Unit is to support pupils in minimising their barriers to learning so that they can feel safe and settled enough to learn.  All our pupils have significant barriers to learning within the Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) area of need that makes our learners particularly vulnerable. To address these barriers to learning we allocate a significant proportion of our teaching and learning time to explicitly address these difficulties that underlie the behaviours that put our pupils at risk of exclusion. Our mental health curriculum underpins our whole ethos and the entire curriculum at the Beacon.

Impact

The primary measure of the impact of our curriculum will be student achievement and attainment. Our assessment policy contains the detail of how we assess pupils. We will further evaluate the impact of our curriculum in the following ways:

Subject Intent

We teach the National Curriculum, building on pupils’ prior knowledge and addressing gaps in learning. Our aim is to develop a love of learning, reengage pupils in school life and meet their individual needs.

Implementation

Impact