Curriculum

Lady Byron’s Curriculum is engaging, exciting and relevant to the children at our school. It is driven by a desire for our children to rebuild and engage with learning, so they are well prepared for their next steps in Education and for their preparation towards adulthood.

The intention for our curriculum design is based on the understanding of the differences linked to their Autism, not only in their academic learning but also in their knowledge and understanding of how they think differently and what this means for them.

As a result, the Lady Byron School offers a more flexible Educational Provision for autistic young people who will benefit from a specialist provision that works together with local mainstream schools. The school teaches a curriculum that supports key content from the National Curriculum, with a bespoke program (LBS Curriculum) to address individual needs.

The aim of our provision is that all young people feel included and accepted in order to achieve their full potential. We want our young people to be confident, happy, self-aware and independent learners. Our curriculum has been designed specifically to support this aim.

Why do we do what we do?

We’ve ensured that our curriculum is underpinned by our ethos. We believe it is important that the curriculum both explicitly and implicitly develops our intention to rebuild and re-engage a love in learning. Our curriculum is underpinned by the interests and abilities of our children. The primary reason for doing it this way is because our pupils are complex individuals, with varying experiences of school life, we therefore strive to choose opportunities to re-inspire, re-engage and re-enthuse the children with their learning.

Alongside the core Academic Curriculum, we provide an interwoven SMSC and a Personal development Curriculum, prioritising the Pupil’s individual needs. This is a personalised response to individuals or class groups and is implemented through a choice of creative opportunities provided to express learning. This learning is celebrated through a learning journal and first-hand experiences that represents their understanding, different learning styles and most importantly, incorporates pupil voice.

Our aim is to have a Curriculum that is ambitious for our pupils, for it to be broad and balanced as well as being inclusive and appropriate for all abilities. Our curriculum continually evolves – being adapted to reach those children who can be seen as ‘hardest to reach’, having already perhaps been excluded from mainstream provision or have been unable to access a mainstream provision with specialised support in place.

During our curricular review we began by considering the curriculum we want and what we know our children need. We have placed great emphasis on diversity and celebrating difference. Planning in this way ensures all our pupils have access to a full curriculum which progresses in skills and knowledge during their time with us.

All of our pupils’ join at varying points of an Academic Year however, we can provide learning that is progressive and sequential from their individual starting points. We feel it is also so important to inspire the children with additional life experiences and opportunities. The children need to have the chance to experience new things, to try things presented to them in a different way, to develop their life skills.

At Lady Byron, we work hard to create meaningful, community links for our young people. We are proud to be part of the community of Fleckney, creating memories and encouraging further development of our Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSC)

Monitoring and Review

The Curriculum will be monitored and reviewed by the Deputy Headteacher and will report back to the Headteacher and Proprietor on a regular basis.

Features of the Key Stage 3 Curriculum (Years 7-9)

All students follow a programme of personal, social, health citizenship and enterprise education (PSHCE) that includes elements of British values, sex and relationships, drugs, political, careers and personal finance education. This is taught by the student’s tutor, with specialist inputs where appropriate.

All students follow the statutory programmes of religious and physical education.

In addition to a core of mathematics, science and English, all students follow courses within the Enriched Curriculum in art, design & technology, the performing arts, computing and humanities.

All students who need additional support in their numeracy and literacy skills to close the gap with their peers receive up to two additional periods per fortnight in additional English and/or maths in addition to their standard English and Maths Curriculum.

Features of the Key Stage 4 Curriculum (Years 10-11)

• All students follow a programme of personal, social, health citizenship and enterprise education (PSHCE) under the umbrella of ‘Life Skills’. This includes elements of British values, sex and relationships, drugs, political, religious, careers and personal finance education. This is taught by the student’s tutor, with specialist inputs where appropriate.
• In Years 10 and 11 all students follow a core curriculum for all which includes; English language, English literature, combined science, mathematics, physical education, PSHCE and religious education
• Students have the opportunity to opt for courses in art, business, computing, design & technology, humanities, media, modern languages and performing arts.

In Key Stage 4 students can opt to study science as separate disciplines.

• The taught curriculum in all years is enhanced by a full extra-curricular programme and enrichment activities
• Students who have not achieved a grade 4 or better in GCSE in English or maths are offered to continue to study these subjects (GCSE/Functional Skills)
• All students are offered a bespoke careers pathway from KS3-4