Curriculum

Curriculum Vision 

Our vision is that our students will feel supported in developing the knowledge and skills to prepare them for adult life. 

Our curriculum is designed to meet the individual needs of every student in relation to personal, social, emotional, academic and vocational development. 

Creative community-based enterprise projects provide our students with valuable experiences to develop skills to support them in their journeys into adult life, the world of work and becoming a well-rounded citizen within the community. 

Curriculum Aims

Our curriculum is individually tailored to ensure that every student receives a personalised learning experience that meets their individual needs and ensures suitable progression is made relevant to their individual academic capability. 

The main aims of our curriculum: 

• Students will feel confident and supported to access an education which is suitably developed to meet their needs and personal ability, providing suitable challenge to ensure growth and development. 
• For students to access a programme of learning that supports them in developing knowledge and understanding of key skills to support them in leading successful adult lives.
• To provide students with the opportunity to develop their literacy, maths and ICT skills at an appropriate level for them through individual programmes that are developed using intelligent diagnostic assessments to ensure students receive the most effective support.
• To provide students with exciting enterprise projects where they can gain real life experiences whilst developing key skills to support them in adult life as well as developing skills in different vocational areas.
• To provide a range of opportunities for students to develop their self-confidence and a positive sense of themselves.

Our curriculum embodies key areas that we feel are most important in supporting our students to develop the essential skills to lead healthy and fulfilled lives. 

The curriculum has been designed in line with the Department for Education’s 16-19 guidance and provides an individually tailored programme based around individual students’ prior attainment and career goals. It provides students with key work-related learning experiences as well as activities that compliment skills-based elements of the curriculum which support students in progressing on to higher education or employment. The curriculum has been designed to offer flexibility for individuals to effectively meet their needs whilst ensuring breadth and depth so as not to limit individual future opportunities. 

The curriculum supports real life experiential learning opportunities for students to develop their employability skills through a structured and challenging learning programme. 

Although the curriculum is designed to offer flexibility it aims to incorporate the following elements: 

• Equip students with qualifications that match their potential and prepare them for higher education or employment. 
• Provide students with the opportunity to study English and Maths where they have not previously achieved GCSEs at a grade 4 or above. 
• Provide students with work related experience to develop key employability skills and apply them to real life situations. 
• Activities to support individual growth, supporting students in developing greater self-confidence as well as supporting their personal and social development.  

The curriculum aligns to the SEND code of practice and is developed to ensure that learning programmes are carefully adapted to ensure that learning intentions correlate with student EHCP outcomes. It aims to provide suitable opportunities for students to develop skills to enable them to reach their full personal and academic potential whilst preparing them for adult life.  

Frequent observations are used to determine individual engagement and inform future practice to ensure that each student is actively engaging in a programme of learning that is effective and supportive of progression.  

Students SEMH is supported throughout the curriculum and there is a strong emphasis on establishing and maintaining positive relationships across the provision between staff and students.  

The curriculum aligns with the PSHE Associations KS5 framework and provides opportunities for students to apply and further build upon skills and strategies they have developed throughout previous key stages. 

Opportunities for developing focussed skills are embedded throughout the curriculum and focus on the development of the 8 essential skills outlined by Skills Builder Universal Framework which provides inclusive learning support strategies for skills development for students of all abilities. Skills development is broken down into manageable steps for students of different abilities and knowledge and understanding of the skills is developed through real life experiences. 

Individual skills development is tracked and monitored for each of the 8 skills and is measured in 15 clear steps to determine individual progress and inform teaching. 

Assessment takes on different forms throughout the setting and course of the curriculum accessed by individual students. Observational notes and teacher statements are used to assess individual participation and progression in projects and completion of set ASDAN Lifeskills challenges are evidenced using statements, written evidence and photographs prior to moderation for official certification.  

Initial and diagnostic assessments are used to determine appropriate support for students studying maths and English and on-going end of unit assessments support in adapting teaching and learning resources to support individual progression.  

Teaching staff use the Assess, Plan, Do, Review model to ensure that individual students are making progressive appropriate to their capability and ensure that learning pathways align to individual targets set out in students EHCP’s. 

Our Curriculum offers the following elements: 

Curriculum Delivery

Students will work towards achieving a range of awards and qualifications relevant to their own learning that focus on developing independence, skills for life and employment. 

Students will have the opportunity to work towards gaining Functional Skills or GCSEs in Maths and English depending on their individual working levels which will be established upon placement.  

Numeracy skills will be enhanced through practical activities such as cooking, shopping and money handling as part of Lifeskills challenges completed. 

ASDAN Lifeskills enables students to access practical based challenges to develop their essential skills which are mapped to the four preparing for adulthood pathways: community inclusion, employability, good health and independent living as well as covering subject areas such as English, maths and PSHE.  

Challenges range in levels and are available from pre-entry to level 3 enabling students to access challenges appropriate to their individual ability as well as progress throughout their journey at Futures. 

Our post 16 curriculum is informed by government policies and will be guided by and updated as necessary.  

Students will increase the amount of time spent engaging in community-based enterprise projects where they will have the opportunity to develop their essential skills for adult life and employment through real life experiences. 

Students will be provided with opportunities to develop new skills and learn within the local community as well as increase their self-confidence.  

Long Term Plans

 Our long-term vision at Futures is that our curriculum enables our post 16 students to leave equipped with an extensive portfolio that highlights their individual success and the skills to succeed in adult life. Over the course of two years students will have the opportunity to build on and develop their skills through revisiting of key areas whilst being provided with opportunities to experience a range of vocational activities to support and develop their future aspirations. Students will leave with the confidence to lead fulfilled adult lives as well-rounded citizens within the local community. 

Medium Term Plans

Teachers and tutors work to ensure that the long-term visions are built into the curriculum in half termly medium-term plans that embody the outcomes of accredited courses specific to individual students learning pathways in line with their EHCP’s.  Medium term plans detail the content of lessons and demonstrate effective sequential learning. Medium term plans relate to the individual outcomes for students with suitable adaptations being outlined to ensure that students can access the same subjects whilst providing achievable outcomes with appropriate challenge.  

Short Term Plans

Teachers will use the medium-term plans to identify and inform specific lesson objectives to develop objectives that are effectively tailored to meet individual needs and are measurable against individual capabilities. Short term lesson plans ensure inclusive learning as they will be carefully differentiated to enable students to develop key skills appropriate to their ability whilst ensuring students are able to access the same programme of learning.  

Workshop