Whole School Curriculum Intent
At Harmood School, we strive to ensure every student has the opportunity to develop their knowledge, skills and emotional well-being so that they can become successful, active, well balanced, employed members of their communities as adults.
Our curriculum is designed to meet the learning and personal development needs of our students, so they are successful in school and when they leave us to go into further education, employment or training.
The Harmood School values are at the heart of our school curriculum. We believe these values contribute to a strong learning environment that enhances achievement and develops students' social, emotional, and relationship skills. Our values are that we:
• Believe every student and adult should challenge themselves to achieve their est and fulfil their potential, even when the challenges are difficult.
• Believe that everyone in our school community is important and should be considered, supported and celebrated.
• Understand every student's starting point and plan personalised pathways that prepare them for a successful future.
• Teach our students to care for their community and make a positive contribution to the world.
We have intentionally designed our curriculum to the learning and development needs of our students.
- We have developed a curriculum to be purposely challenging so that students acquire rich knowledge and skills, enabling them to become curious about the world around them and are resilient to its demands.
- We support our student’s development needs by using nurture practices. The learning environment, routines and transitions are structured to develop secure base learning. Expectations, praise and consequences are used to develop and maintain relationships.
- We teach our students to care for their community and make a positive contribution to the world. We intend our students to learn how to become responsible and caring members within the school and Camden communities of which they are a part.
- We aim for students to learn in school but also in the community, experiencing the rich world they live in to help them build a broader cultural experience and knowledge foundation.
- We know what key learning is required for the development of student knowledge and skills, we aim to build this learning, so that there is a secure foundation for the next steps of their education, employment, or training.
- We aim to deliver high quality SEN teaching and learning to support all our students and their identified learning needs.
- We recognise that numeracy and literacy are pivotal to our student’s life chances. We want all students to be proficient in reading, writing, and speaking, as well as being numerate.
- We have developed our vocational curriculum to give a wide and rich community-based learning experience, so that they can better make informed choices in their present and future lives.
- We have designed our personal development curriculum aims to give all of the students a rich learning experience in relationships, sex, values, and community education so that they can become healthy, active, responsible citizens of their communities. We want all of our students to make informed, healthy decisions about themselves and those around them.
The focus of our curriculum aims to utilise all of these areas so that in the future our students make a positive impact on themselves, the communities that they live in, and the world as a whole.
Maths Curriculum Intent
We believe that all students should have access to a creative and ambitious mathematics curriculum, rich in skills and knowledge, which ignites curiosity and prepares them well for everyday life and future employment.
Mathematics aims for students to:
- become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics, through varied and frequent practice with increasingly complex problems over time, so that pupils develop conceptual understanding and the ability to recall and apply knowledge rapidly and accurately.
- reason mathematically by following a line of enquiry, conjecturing relationships and generalizations, and developing an argument, justification or proof using mathematical language.
- solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions.
- communicate, justify, argue and prove using mathematical vocabulary.
- develop their character, including resilience, confidence and independence, so that they contribute positively to the life of the school, their local community and the wider environment.
Accreditation – ensuring all students can demonstrate through external accreditation the knowledge, skills and understanding that they have mastered at a level appropriate to their needs and mathematical abilities to enable them to be successful in their future pathways and remain in education, employment and training
At key stage 3 we baseline all students through the induction process with the SEN Team, we then begin curriculum delivery at an appropriate level in line with core National Curriculum and Functional Skills standards to ensure students are able to accredit successfully in mathematics once in KS4. All students have the opportunity to accredit at their level during year 9 when they are ready to do so.
At key stage 4 we baseline all students on entry if they join the school in KS4, so they are able to engage with the whole class learning of the students already with us. Students accredit in their functional skills from entry 1 to level 2, when they are ready. Students accredit in GCSE mathematics at the end of Y11 if this is their accreditation pathway.
students already with us and similarly move to accrediting in the Functional Skills suite of qualifications or at GCSE
English Curriculum Intent
All our students become both competent and confident readers – able to read for information and understanding, to decode and deconstruct concepts, to develop knowledge at a deeper level, and achieve their potential.
By maximising all reading opportunities and explicit teaching of comprehension skills, writing and oracy we aim to ensure that our students are literate and employment ready. We ensure all students are immersed in a vocabulary rich environment and are provided with opportunities to develop real world oracy skills.
We want our students to become skilful masters of both spoken and the written word and passionate about the English language in all its forms.
We believe in the power and mastery of the English language. It can transform and empower the lives of all students helping them to be articulate and confident communicators, able to understand, analyse and evaluate the world around them.
We develop, broaden and consolidate the skills of reading, writing and speaking through a variety of high-quality texts. Our aim for this approach is to develop student confidence in their learning, giving them the ability to effectively express their ideas and justify their opinions.
At KS3 the English curriculum builds on skills developed through KS2 - revisiting and developing reading and writing skills to greater depth and competency.
At KS4 the English curriculum develops skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing that students will need to participate in society and employment. Students learn to express themselves creatively and imaginatively and to communicate with others confidently and effectively.
We accredit at KS3 and KS4 through Functional Skills Entry level 1 to Level 2 and GCSE by the end of year 11, if appropriate. Knowledge and skills are developed from student’s starting points in line with National Curriculum expectations.
Science Curriculum Intent
We aim to equip our students with a knowledge foundation in Biology, Chemistry and Physics and the skills needed to build upon this as they navigate modern life. Students are encouraged to be curious, bold, open-minded, rational, detail-orientated and reflective thinkers.
Our Key Stage 3 curriculum is spread over three years to enable study of Biology, Chemistry and Physics topics in line with the National Curriculum. A different topic is studied each half term and there is also opportunity for extended project work and educational visits, in order to stretch learning and inspire. By dedicating time to these fundamentals, we hope to minimise disadvantage for students transferring settings or reintegrating back into mainstream schooling.
At Key Stage 4 we undertake the BTEC Level 1 Introductory Award in Applied Science. This modular course emphasises the practical application of skills and knowledge rather than recall through high stakes written examinations. We expect all students to achieve the Award with a Pass, Merit or Distinction grade and encourage our most successful students to complete the larger Certificate qualification too.
Science seeks to understand and improve upon the worlds within and around us. This is achieved by: asking the right questions; trialling new ideas and updating existing theories. Information has never been more accessible, but unfortunately this applies to misinformation and untruths too.
Art & Design Curriculum Intent
Art is an integral part of the CCfL curriculum. we know that art and design offers all students an important opportunity to express themselves creatively. Through Art we want to encourage our young people to study and observe the world around them more closely, developing both their self-reflection skills and their awareness of wider global concerns.
Our intent is to support our young people to explore as many practical and creative-thinking skills through art as possible, as they are valuable and transferable skills for later in life. In art ability to make mistakes and learn from them is an essential part of the creative process, our students are encouraged to take creative risks by making lots of mistakes and not having to be perfect. We want our students to experience the enjoyment and the satisfaction in the process of producing art. By practising positive creative risk-taking and learning to make mistakes and recover from them calmly, our students will start to develop the confidence and resilience to cope with challenges in other parts of their lives.
Our student study key aspects of the national curriculum to support their progress at KS3, as well as accreditation in Art + Design in BTEC L1 in year 10 and 11, or GCSE Art if appropriate.
PSHE, RSHE and Citizenship
We believe that PSHE is pivotal for developmental and emotional needs of our students who have range of SEMH and SEN needs.
PSHE is crucial to a high expectation of how to form good relationships; manage their own well-being and make positive contributions to the wider community they live in. The nature of our students emotional and social background demands that we are rigorous in planning a curriculum that meets their needs and is constantly adaptable to any changes that happen in their communities. It is our intention to deliver an accessible curriculum around relationships, sex and health education, self-regulation, ethics, citizenship and diversity education.
We deliver a curriculum based on the needs of our students, so it is important for us to ask them and their parents what they want to be taught. We do this by reviewing the topics on our curriculum map on an annual basis. Any changes are added to the curriculum, and we regularly seek to ensure that new topics are planned with the best possible resources to provide a rich learning experience in the classroom.
We plan and deliver the PSHE programme incorporating all statutory guidance in the government, Keeping Children Safe in Education which in turn outlined in our safeguarding policy. To this end our curriculum plan provides opportunities for our students to learn how to protect themselves from maltreatment; maintain good health and development; are growing up being well looked after by the adults around them and have optimum life chances so that they can enter adulthood successfully.
Vocational
Our students excel when they demonstrate their skills and knowledge in vocational learning. Our real-life work-related community learning, enables students to express their abilities practically in different subjects of vocational learning. We intend that these learning experiences will develop their personal, social and independence skills focussing on;
Problem Solving
Communication
Team Work
Managing Emotions
Independent learning
Healthy and independent living
Numeracy and literacy
Our students are very likely to develop their future careers in the vocational sector. Our curriculum develops the knowledge and skills in industry related sectors that will give our students a holistic learning experience for employment, education and training in their future lives. Our vocational programme runs from year 7 to 11 with students achieving final accreditation at KS4 in BTEC L1 P, M & D. At the end of year 11 students accredit in a range of vocational learning.
Art & Design
Business
Construction
Child Care
Engineering
Health & Social care
Development Intent
The Personal Development curriculum enables students to access the wider curriculum and prepares them to be good citizens now and in their future roles within the community. It fosters students’ metacognitive and self-regulatory skills, builds resilience and nurtures aspirations.
The curriculum encompasses personal development lessons, the PSHRE curriculum and Citizenship, delivered through assemblies and tutor times, and sits alongside our Careers curriculum.
Students have a personal development journey map directly linked to their post 16 options. It is a curriculum for all with a number of practical elements attached to it and is accessible to all students.
The programme of study includes three core themes:
- Health and Wellbeing
- Relationships
- Living in the Wider World
We also provide a variety of enrichment opportunities to enhance learning and understanding including:
- External agencies who deliver specialist topics
- Offsite visits
- Community Action Projects
- Drama presentations
- Guest speakers
- Special drop-down days
- A vocational cycle which provides students with real-life opportunities to showcase their skills
The curriculum also develops key concepts, skills and attributes and helps to support students’ spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development as well as preparing them for life opportunities, responsibilities and experiences.
