Our school curriculum has been designed with our learner’s individual needs at heart, with the guidance of the Curriculum for Wales framework. As per this guidance our curriculum development will be an ongoing process of planning, development and refinement to ensure we continue to meet the needs of each of our learners.
Curriculum vision:
We aim to meet the needs of our learners where they are now and recognise and celebrate the progress and achievement at any stage of learning. For those learners who are able to access the Areas of Learning Experiences there will be a key focus on the progression of knowledge and skills through learning experiences that engage the learner in a holistic manner whilst also allowing the disciplinary awareness and increasing awareness of the learner to develop at an appropriate pace. For our learners who are working towards the skills of the progression steps, we aim to meet their needs with a combination of the Developmental Pathways and a sensory input where appropriate. Our older learners will focus on living and independent skills and will work towards externally accredited qualifications that demonstrate and celebrate individual achievements. Our focus throughout all phases of our learner’s journey with us will be on rich, meaningful and authentic learning experiences that will allow our learners to grow and blossom into the best that they can be.
The Four Purposes:
Working within the framework guidance, our curriculum is driven by purpose and not by content or skills. We aim for all our learners to work towards becoming:
- Ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives.
- Enterprising, creative contributors ready to play a full part in work and life.
- Ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world.
- Healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.
For our learners who are working towards the Developmental Pathways, this framework supports the development towards the Four Purposes when the learner is able to access them. We believe that this allows us to keep developing our learners and ready them for lifelong learning.
The Statements of What Matters:
The Curriculum for Wales framework is made of 27 Statements of What Matters across the six Areas of Learning Experiences.
- Expressive Arts
- Health and Wellbeing
- Humanities
- Language, Literacy and Communication
- Maths and Numeracy
- Science and Technology
Our school curriculum is focused on rich, meaningful and authentic learning experiences designed to develop the concepts embedded within these statements in a way that we believe our learners will engage with. Our planning is inclusive and allows our practitioners to deliver these learning experiences in a holistic and learner centred way, allowing for learner interaction where appropriate. We have planned these learning experiences with the Principles of Progression at their heart. Learners working within the Developmental Pathways will develop the learning skills they require to be able to access the learning in these statements.
Learning Progression and assessment:
Effective assessing of learner’s progress is an integral part of learning and teaching at Ysgol Cedewain. We intend to assess a learner within their first six weeks of joining us, to allow us to meet their needs effectively during their time with us. We intend to support their ongoing day to day learning with meaningful assessment during the learning experience, which will shape their curriculum experience and identify their next steps to progress. We will assess the progress made by groups at the end of learning experiences to allow us to effectively plan the next stage of our curriculum. We also intend to carry out meaningful diagnostic assessment to provide rigour and ensure our expectations are high enough and our curriculum is planning sufficient challenge. Wherever possible we intend to involve our learners and parents and carers in this assessing of learning to increase learner effectiveness.
English and Welsh:
As an English medium school all learning experiences will take place in English, but we intend to support our learners in the Welsh language through incidental Welsh language and tailored language lessons at a developmental stage appropriate for the learners.
Cross- curricular Skills:
Throughout our curriculum we intend to develop the cross curricular skills of literacy, numeracy and digital competency at a level that is appropriate for the individual needs of the learners. We will plan for progression in these skills, and they will be developed in all Areas of Learning Experiences as stated in the framework guidance. This includes:
- Developing the learner’s listening, reading, speaking and writing skills where appropriate.
- Be able to use numbers and solve problems in real-life situations.
- Be confident users of a range of technologies to help them function and communicate effectively and make sense of the world.
Careers and work related experiences:
Our school believes in encouraging aspirations for our learners, and so we have developed a curriculum that will help them learn about careers and work related issues in the classroom, at both an informal and formal level. We also have a dedicated work experience coordinator, and we intend for our learners to attend a work experience in the community where appropriate for them and their individual needs. We are committed to expanding this provision in the coming years.
Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE):
Our school curriculum embraces the mandatory RSE Code within the framework guidance. We have developed an RSE curriculum which is embedded within our Health and Wellbeing area. We have planned for a whole school approach which is appropriate for the correct developmental level and is focused on supporting our learners to form and maintain a range of relationships, all based on mutual trust and respect. These relationships are critical to the development of emotional well-bring, resilience and empathy.
Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE):
Our school recognises that RVE is a mandatory element of the curriculum and we intend to meet this requirement through our Humanities area of learning. We intend for this to be embedded as part of our rich, meaningful and authentic learning experiences in a way that the learners will find engaging. There is no parental right to withdraw from RVE teaching.
UNCRC/UNCRPD:
At our school we intend to promote knowledge and understanding of the UNCRC and UNCRPD to all learners through appropriate learning and teaching at the correct developmental level.
Review and refinement:
Our school curriculum will be kept under review in order to respond to effective self-evaluation, the changing needs of our learners and the findings of our professional inquiry. We intend to carry out a review process annually to ensure our curriculum continues to meet the needs of our learners. The reviews will consider the views of stakeholders and will be signed off by the Governing Body. We will publish a summary of our curriculum and revise if changes to the curriculum are made during the review process.