People with autism thrive when their day is clearly structured, and when the curriculum builds on their skills and talents as well as addressing the challenges they face.
Our mornings are similar to a primary school model, with students learning together in tutor groups. In the afternoons, students break into different groups to follow their choice of options.
Our students have complex needs, so each has an individual timetable. This enables them to withdraw from some classes in order to attend therapy sessions such as speech and language or music therapy. In addition we adapt the length of a session to reflect the needs of individual students, based on how long they are able to remain focused for.
There have recently been wide-ranging changes to the curriculum for all 14 to 19 year-olds, and we have adapted our own curriculum accordingly. It is based on the Foundation Learning Tier, and so provides a complete and flexible curriculum for all our students which prepares them for adult life.
All young people are encouraged to develop their potential both educationally and socially, and their achievements are celebrated. As a result they develop greater self-esteem and confidence as they improve their personal independence and social skills.
Ofsted, 2011
Our curriculum consists of five components:
1 Functional skills of English, Maths and ICT are taught in the student’s own tutor group. We teach these functional skills in the mornings, when students are best able to engage in classroom-based activities.
We encourage students to gain qualifications in each of these subjects where possible, under the Qualifications and Credit Framework.
Our focus is above all on enabling students to acquire the skills they need in these subjects in order to tackle the problems of adult work and daily life.
2 We give significant emphasis to personal and social development (PSD), and all students take PSD for two afternoons a week in their tutor groups. Our PSD curriculum is based on the ASDAN programmes and accreditation.
3 Vocational skills are a key component of our curriculum. Our post-16 students take two sessions a week, and our Key Stage 3 and 4 students take one session a week. They can choose from a range of options, including food preparation, horticulture, maintenance and decorating, and car-valeting.
4 All students also learn subject knowledge. At Key Stages 3 & 4, students take two sessions a week: one creative and one understanding the world. Our post-16 students select from a range of subject options.
5 The fifth element of our curriculum focuses on areas that frequently cause difficulties for learners with autism. This includes exercise (facilitated by our occupational therapist), social communication sessions (facilitated by our speech and language therapist), and sessions on our TEACCH-style individual workstations.
In addition to daily exercise sessions all students take one PE session a week. Each term focuses on a different aspect of PE such as swimming, rebound therapy (trampoline), Wii Fit and athletics. In addition students take part in enrichment activities such as the Ten Tors weekend hike on Dartmoor and Duke of Edinburgh Awards.