Kingsmead Curriculum

Guiding Principles:

Kingsmead School offers an engaging curriculum designed to inspire and challenge our pupils to make outstanding progress in aspects of their life and learning.

Pupils will follow the National Curriculum but the approach will be enquiry and nurture based, with a strong emphasis on cross-curricular learning and development of social and emotional awareness and resilience.

Kingsmead recognises that we are preparing our pupils to live in a diverse and rapidly changing World where the skills of independence and resilience will be key to future success. Alongside our academic curriculum, we believe in ensuring our pupils have a broad range of ‘life’ skills: sex and relationships education. There is a strong emphasis on developing economic understanding and British values, as well as the identification of core competences related to the world of work.  Pupils will also be given opportunity to acquire and expand a wide range of social and emotional tools to build and shape their character.  This is achieved via a range of activities linked to developing a wider and deeper understanding of themselves and the world they live in. 

We foster a love of reading provide pupils with opportunity to develop and articulate their opinions in a forum designed to demand deeper thinking and questioning, in order to equip our pupils with the skills needed to respond positively to the demands of a dynamic and diverse society. We want our pupils to be positively challenged to think about why they are learning, as well as what they are learning.

Pupils will undertake recognised assessments and gain nationally-recognised qualifications at the end of key stages 4. Where pupils are significantly below age-related expectations, the core disciplines of English and mathematics will be prioritised in their timetable until they have “closed the gap”. The identification of pupils who will benefit from such a strategy will begin during the primary school transition programme and Kingsmead induction and will be supplemented with baseline testing once the pupil has joined the school.

The core aims:

• to provide pupils with the requisite skills, knowledge, qualifications and experience to make aspirational assessments of their post 16 options and make positive next steps post Kingsmead
• to provide a safe space for pupils to better understand themselves and develop their resilience, confidence and sense of personal responsibility
• To maximise the individual’s potential developing communication skills, sensory capabilities and personal independence
• To be characterised by breadth, balance, relevance, differentiation, progression and continuity that is suited to the needs within each school
• To reflect teaching approaches and methods which best enhance the individual pupil’s ability to learn and to be delivered at a level and rate suited to the age and learning ability of each individual pupil
• To take full account of each child’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This may require specific modifications of, or dis-applications from, various National Curriculum requirements
• To promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school, and within society
• To provide a stimulating learning environment which promotes effective learning and enables pupils to experience a sense of enjoyment and achievement throughout their school career
• To encourage pupils to recognise, record and celebrate positive achievements in all areas of personal, educational and community life
• To regularly and consistently record each child’s progress using appropriate methods of formative and summative assessment
• To ensure equality of opportunity regardless of gender, race, culture, religion, social disadvantage or disability
• To be monitored, evaluated, modified and revised as necessary, reflecting initiatives and developments identified in the School Development Plan

Special School

Pupils will work towards the National Curriculum. We have a strong focus on our nurture curriculum in which is designed to support pupils through a holistic approach in bridging previous learning gaps in a nurturing environment. Through the use of a topic based curriculum designed to engage and enthuse pupils there is a strong emphasis on knowledge acquisition, cross-curricular learning and development of social and emotional resilience and critical thinking skills. The nurture curriculum is used as a vehicle to support pupils in working towards accessing a traditional core curriculum in key stage 4 and beyond

As part of the core curriculum, pupils in key stage 4 work towards appropriate qualifications in English Language, English Literature,  Maths, Science and ICT.  Pupils are provided with opportunity to shape their learning by pursuing qualifications in our “options” subjects which include Design Technology, Sport, Food and Art.  There is also a strong focus on careers and guidance to ensure all pupils get the support they need to make the necessary steps into the next phases of their education/employment.

Pathways:

PRU

Pupils who are still able to attend a mainstream school will undergo a short-term programme that focuses on  preparing an appropriate mindset to support re-integration into another mainstream school and mitigate against large gaps in learning and development. For pupils requiring longer term intervention or for those that are unable to return to mainstream the focus will be on re-engagement in education and rapidly identifying and bridging gaps in learning.  Due to the atypical admission points and often historically disrupted learning the curriculum offer is focused around preparing pupils for their next steps in education or employment. Typically a core curriculum will be followed, with accredited qualifications being attained.

Students with English as a second language will undergo a language and skills acquisition programme with TFEL trained teachers. From here, students will either enter a pathway with a more nurtured approach to learning, similar to the Special School or enter the core curriculum pathway.

Hospital Medical (Castle)

The Castle Education Centre is used for young people who are unable to attend school for medical reasons. Pupils often follow a more bespoke learning pathway that reflects and supports young people with specific medical needs.  There is a core learning offer of maths, English, Science, PHSE and ICT where pupils work towards nationally recognised qualifications in these subjects.  The school maintain strong links with the medical professionals who are supporting the young people to ensure there is an integrated approach to providing a rich and relevant learning experience that supports pupil transition back into a mainstream setting or into post 16.

Enhanced Care Programme. This programme provides support to the most hard to reach looked after children throughout Derby City.  The work is highly individualised and begins with relationship building, moving on to other activities to boost the children’s self-esteem, reduce their harmful behaviours and to help them enjoy healthy, fulfilling lives.  Bespoke, often 1:1 tuition is delivered to narrow the gap between their attainment and that of their peers in preparation for examinations and support post 16 transition.

Reading and Intervention

All members of staff understand the importance of reading, across all subjects.  The Kingsmead School is committed to improving the life chances of our students by continually developing their literacy skills. The closer we can bridge the gaps between reading ages and chronological ages – the better the outcomes for students with their time with us.  Regular reading sessions take place every week, including ‘D.E.A.R’ time, beyond English and across many different sessions, so that we can increase Kingsmead students’ will and skill to read and furthermore enhance the inclusion of all, through different reading experiences and approaches.  All pupils are encouraged to log reading on their reading logs and these logs are used to identify progress in reading where pupils will be invited to the annual reading awards to celebrate success. Annual reading assessments check the progress of all pupils.

There are different reading interventions available, dependent on need, for all pupils. Fluency, phonics, inference or recognition of HFWs (high frequency words) are all types of skills that can require intervention. Phonics is taught to those pupils for whom it is appropriate. The school has invested in the ‘Read it Write it’ programme, FLASH Academy and a new intervention for September: That Reading Thing. All staff are offered training and support materials around the teaching or support of reading, in all subjects.

Each school has a library where pupils have access to a range of excellent books to suit all abilities – we are continually improving these spaces, to make them as accessible as possible for Kingsmead pupils and where we don’t have something that a pupil may want to read, will look to invest in new material. The school’s ‘Reading Champions’ are on hand to support with all things reading.

Extra-Curricular Activities

To enhance the curriculum we provide a variety of out-of-school activities, visits, residential trips and lunch time clubs. All pupils are encouraged to attend to promote independence and the transference of skills across the curriculum, and to promote healthy lifestyles and positive mental health.

Sex & Relationships Education

This is an integral part of the curriculum based on National Curriculum Areas of Study, and it is taught with care and sensitivity at an appropriate level depending on the child’s age and learning ability.

Religious Education

All Keystage 3 pupils have weekly RE lessons as part of their “themed curriculum” (TC).  Pupils may also access RE through a thematic approach (e.g. in Nurture), incorporating the learning which is appropriate to their needs. This also includes participating in specific/themed curriculum drop down days

The curriculum for RE aims to ensure that all pupils know about and understand a range of religions and worldviews, by being able to describe different religious beliefs, investigate some religious questions and recognise different ways of life in a range of communities and cultures.

Kingsmead recognises that parent carers have the right to withdraw their child from RE lessons and/or acts of Collective Worship.

Department Curriculum Statements

Individual Department Curriculum Statements detail what is offered to pupils within each curriculum area at each key stage and also shows this is delivered.