Education - Curriculum Vision

To create a therapeutic, trauma-informed curriculum that balances the need for students to achieve academically and improve their social, emotional and mental health. We strive to ensure all staff have high expectations and that students receive a vast range of pathway options that capture their interest and empower them to thrive in life beyond the school. The values of the 4Rs are woven into the fabric of our unique Personal Development curriculum, which includes PSCHE, Self-Science, Social Skills, Oracy and Preparation for Adulthood lessons, all of which help to support West Heath’s mission statement to ‘Rebuild Lives through Education’.

Working with some of society’s most vulnerable children, West Heath School’s curriculum is designed to re-engage students into learning, inspire their creativity, and broaden their opportunities.  Students enter the school at all ages and from various, at times challenging and disadvantaged, starting points, having often missed consecutive years of school. Students need to experience success and to settle back into a learning environment. 

"...very proud of our broad educational offer"

West Heath School prides itself on having an exceptionally broad and diverse curriculum, offering a wide range of subjects, coupled with high-quality facilities and adaptable teaching styles. Students have access to an AstroTurf pitch, student gym, swimming pool and a full-sized basketball court; a professional-standard teaching kitchen; specially designed Textiles and Art classrooms and a fully equipped Drama and Dance studio. As well as access to an extensive wider curriculum including, Performing Arts; IT; Music; Food Technology; Art & Design; Hair and Beauty; Woodland and Conservation, all of which can all be studied into Key Stage 4 to gain a qualification.

The curriculum celebrates different themes each half term, which are repeated each academic year, to create a spiral structure where learning is repeated and refreshed in new contexts and thematic links make learning accessible and enriching.  Staff work together to create a local curriculum, which adapts to the needs of each student cohort, and attempts to bridge the gaps in their social and emotional learning.

All students access the curriculum within small class sizes to ensure a high staff-student ratio so adult support is available at all times. The class sizes are no more than six in KS2 and KS3 and no more than eight in KS4. All students have a tutor to ensure their pastoral needs are met and there are additional specialist LSAs spread out across the curriculum. West Heath School has a strong pastoral support system; all students have check-ins with a familiar adult three times a day via tutor sessions to listen and address concerns as they arise. All staff have access to student profiles which details needs and identified strategies to support them.

"personal development is at the heart of the curriculum and woven into every subject taught across the school"

Developing the ‘whole’ child at West Heath is at the centre of what we try to do. Much of this happens through the relationships build with staff and the numerous opportunities that are part and parcel of life at West Heath school from a varied curriculum to day trips, residential stays and a multitude of off-site provision via out Education Off Site provision. However, our personal development suite of timetabled subjects, also ensures that we are supporting all students to thrive and be ready for their next steps towards adulthood and independence, within their timetabled lessons. The aim of our Personal Development curriculum is that all students are HEADS:

Healthy

Engaged

Aspirational

Diplomatic

Safe 

This framework is part of how work is assessed in each subject and formulates part of the intent of all learning across the School. The below bespoke Personal Development lessons make up five timetabled slots across every week and are therefore seen in line with the importance we place on core academic studies.

 PSCHE – Our statutory component where students study a spiral curriculum under the topics

· Being me in my world

· Celebrating Difference

· Dreams and Goals

· Healthy Me

· Relationships

· Changing me

Learners look in an age relevant way at topics from managing transitions, drugs education, sex and relationship education amongst many others and signposting for where to seek help. In addition to the weekly lessons, each term there is a whole school activity day built around the theme and all staff, no matter what lesson they teach will be attempting to link thematically at times to the overarching theme.

Social Skills - A programme of study written and evaluated by our own Speech and language therapists, where students learn about the art of communication through structured peer interactions, discussion and modelling. Social Skills lessons are an opportunity for students to practice and apply skills that will help them to form positive relationships and an understanding of how to interact and cope with different social situations. This session is run by tutors and therefore further helps build the relationships between students and key members of staff.

Preparation For Adulthood- West Heath has the facility of a fully equipped Preparation for Adulthood house for students to practise life skills that they will need to live independently. Each week students from Year 7-11 are taught highly practical and often game-based lessons, to track all their skills from tying a shoelace, understanding road signs, operating white goods. Students will also learn how to fill in an application forms, practice interview skills, meet with a career advisor and think about budgets and bank accounts. This is a unique provision and one that the School is very proud to offer to our students.

Self-Science – This bespoke subject is written by professionals within West Heath school and adapts to the needs of the cohort being taught. Self-Science attempts to talk explicitly about the human brain, emotions, communication, neurodiversity, sleep and nutrition and child development. It is highly relevant to our students as it seeks to help them explain and understand feelings of anxiety and panic, improve their own understanding of the neurodiversity that impact our community. At the heart of Self-Science is the insight and hope that a brain is not ‘fixed’ in one state unable to change, but that we can all grow in a way that helps us achieve our goals. This encourages students to foster a culture of understanding and empathy across the school.

Votes For Schools – Votes for Schools is a national initiative that West Heath participate in. Each week, students discuss relevant news stories that are crafted into PowerPoint-based lessons asking searching, open questions. Both sides of the debate are presented, and students are then invited to vote based on their opinion. This introduces them beautifully to the British value of democracy and helps students develop their oracy skills. Students see that their vote has meaning as the following week a soundbite of video clip is shared from a relevant person e.g. a Politician or charity worker etc. responding to how the nation of students voted.There is also the opportunity to undertake work experience in Key Stage 4 and students in Year 9 and Year 11 are scheduled an appointment with an independent careers advisor to offer bespoke advice on future options. Students in Year 11 are supported to visit and apply to both independent and West Heath partner colleges and Sixth Form students are supported to develop independent travel training skills. 

"we attempt to ensure all learners, at every key stage and academic ability, are catered for"

West Heath now offers a bespoke West Heath Laser curriculum for KS5 students who may not be ready academically or confident enough to go onto external college provision. This curriculum is modular-based and enables students to personalise their learning and focus on subjects which interest them. For example, there are a variety of different units based on a range of subjects such as Forestry, Hair and Beauty and / or Personal Development topics such as building confidence and/ or resilience. This curriculum offers students the opportunity to complete written coursework and/ or practical assessments and meets a variety of different learning styles, adapting to the individual strengths of the students.

"The West Heath lesson format weaves together therapy, education and safeguarding to create a beautiful synergy of therapeutic learning that meets the needs of our students"

ll teachers are encouraged to embed therapeutic practice into every lesson. For example, all lessons follow the West Heath lesson format, beginning each lesson with a Connect task so students are given the opportunity to have fun, engage and build relationships, whilst developing their emotional literacy. This format is designed to ensure students are not in flight or fight mode and have a ready to learn mindset that can access the content of the lessons. All staff at West Heath School have accessed trauma-informed training and the lesson format has been devised to support students who have been impacted by trauma and therefore may have conditions which impact their ability to learn such as memory and processing issues. For example, dual coding, repetition of key points and key vocabulary, and the need to adapt lessons to target areas for development are strategies embedded in all lesson planning.  

There are also designated spaces within all KS2, KS3 and KS4 buildings for students who require access to a calm room/break out space and OT approved fiddle-toys, wobble chairs, weighted blankets available to support students in lessons. West Heath staff strive to do everything in their power to help student access and enjoy their learning.

There are also extensive offsite learning opportunities in our Educated Offsite Provision (EOS) such as: animal care, horse riding and equine therapy, skills for employment and home tutoring, and 1:1 lessons available across the curriculum to develop areas of interests or strengths and re-engage students in education.

"Our curriculum is a framework to support personal, social and academic development.  Children can flourish, learning to succeed and thrive"