Curriculum
Abbey Court Foundation Special School is maintained by Medway Local Authority for pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD) or Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD) as their main presenting need. Additional educational needs may include visual/hearing impairment, sensory impairment, autism and or physical disability. As a result, all pupils at Abbey Court are working below the standards of National Curriculum assessments and significantly below the level of their age-related peers. At Abbey Court, we believe that all learners should access a full and varied curriculum that is personalised and relevant to their specific learning needs. To achieve this, teaching and learning at Abbey Court is delivered through a curriculum that aims to be exciting, motivating, broad, relevant and personalised to each individual pupil. It is intended to present the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills needed to enable independence and the ability to communicate their wants and needs in their adult life. We aim to promote lifelong learning by supporting pupils to learn to engage with the world and the people around them.
To achieve this, we teach all National Curriculum subjects as a vehicle for exploring new ideas, developing knowledge and skills and as a way of learning to use and apply these in new contexts.
Curriculum development is an ongoing process at Abbey Court School, and we endeavour to continually refine and modify the curriculum to ensure that it effectively meets the needs of the pupils. In addition, there is substantial review and development on a regular basis, which is outlined in the school’s monitoring and PARR policies. The opportunity available within the National Curriculum to design and deliver a whole curriculum is welcomed at Abbey Court as it enables us to offer our pupils and students learning opportunities to realise their potential to become successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens.
Curriculum design and delivery in a school for pupils with severe and profound needs must be flexible, appropriately differentiated and personalised to meet the wide range of learning difficulties and individual needs. Therefore, Abbey Court provides a challenging curriculum, ensuring that all pupils maximise their progress and personal achievement in relation to their abilities. There is an emphasis on developing the whole person, through a multi-agency approach, working in partnership with parents and carers and other stakeholders.
Curriculum Overview
Assessment
At Abbey Court School the starting point for effective teaching is assessment, identifying each pupil's strengths and weaknesses. What is important here is not the named disability that the pupil has, but how the individual functions on a daily basis. For example, by what means can they communicate?
The focus needs to encompass physical, emotional, social and intellectual development and will emphasise "can" rather than "can't". This can then provide a basis for what and how the pupil can learn.
The Assessment process begins before the pupil starts at school with a home visit by the Class Teacher. Then a formal entry profile is compiled following the detailed procedures set out in the PARR policy and with specific reference to the child’s EHCP. This baseline assessment is then used to formulate the first Individual Education Plan.
It is our policy to use a range of formative and summative assessment