Curriculum Design
Formal Pathway: Students undertake the core subjects of English, Maths, Science, ICT, PSD, Home Cooking/Hospitality and PE, with the flexibility of selecting their preferred foundation subjects including History, Art, French, Drama, Music Production, Band Practice and Work Skills.
Independence: Students undertake the core subjects of English, Maths, ICT and PE combined with Drama as social communication and performance in parallel to, and combined with a practical and immersive Independence curriculum focusing on all aspects of daily life as preparation for the adult world. Within the Independence pathway, there are further opportunities for bespoke work experience and literacy and numeracy interventions.
Sports and PSD: Students undertake the core subjects of English, Maths and ICT alongside a Sports curriculum focusing on skills in teamwork, fitness and leadership. Throughout the year, students will undertake a diverse range of sports from the familiarity of football to the new experience of golf. In addition, students will spend one afternoon per week taking part in highly personalised PSD workshops tailored to address the needs, interests and challenges of this cohort.
Nurture: For some of our students, attending formal lessons presents an insurmountable challenge. Our pastoral team works extremely closely with these students to unpin the meaning behind these challenges to gently stagger entry into classes, taking a trauma informed approach. In this time, our team is able to ascertain the talents and interests of our students to create learning materials that are tailored to their interests, acting as a bridge to formal learning.
SUBJECT AREAS
Subject Content and Skills
Our intention at the Courtyard is to support the development of the whole child combining academic progress equally and holistically with emotional wellbeing. We provide a curriculum where subject areas connect and communicate with each other through their skillsbase, rather than operating as disparate entities. We aim to foster curiosity in our world through a curriculum which is knowledge rich and reflects the lived experience of our students. By providing a skills based curriculum, students are able to access subject content and knowledge meaningfully.
Students undertake a broad range of subjects within:
STEAM (Science, ICT, Maths, Art and PE),
LCC (Language Culture and Communication) presented through English language and literature, Humanities and Performing Arts)
PD (Personal Development) presented through Home Cooking/Hospitality, French, Personal and Social Development and Relationships and Sex Education.
The skills defined within each subject area are linked to subject qualifications from Entry Level 2 through to BTEC and GCSE without being prescriptive to them, allowing for the flexibility to personalise learning through the connections students make between the similar skills which are presented in each subject. All our subjects are underpinned by explicit teaching of social communication, emotional regulation and independence.
Stage Not Age
We believe that students should have the time to learn rather than the pressure to learn. Our Stage Not Age framework is fundamental to this. Classes are taught in vertical year groups rather than by age. Not only does this foster an authentic school community where students are not divided by key stage, but also allows us to respond to students’ varying levels of attainment individually.
