We provide a rich and engaging curriculum which develops a love of learning in our pupils and encourages them to develop key learning skills such as attention, resilience and collaboration. We expose them to exciting and enriching learning opportunities so they can progress through EYFS and National Curriculum at their own, appropriate level and pace, we offer a broad curriculum which incorporates the teaching of life skills, emotional regulation and social interaction.

Our broad curriculum starts in our Reception classes (Tigers and Lions) with our ‘Learning to Learn’ approach which teaches early learning skills through engaging and highly structured activities. The Attention Autism model underpins this approach as we develop pupils' attention, listening, co-operation and communication skills.  Our approach to supporting learning progresses through our six classes to our Trailblazer classroom (Year 5/6) where pupils access a curriculum which mirrors the national curriculum; using texts from a range of genres and is driven by the children’s interests. Learning is often in groups and pupils are encouraged to work independently for extended periods of time.  Pupils are broadly assigned to classes by age but groupings are flexible depending on the pupils’ needs and the curriculum they are working within.

Within our base, we promote the embedded approach to therapy rather than solely withdrawing pupils for therapy sessions. This means our Speech and Language and Occupational Therapists work with us to embed approaches, resources and therapy programmes into our curriculum and learning environment so that pupils receive this input all the time from all members of the base team.  For example, this has led to the rooting of Zones of Regulation at the heart of our support for pupils in regulating their emotions.  It has also developed our classroom support of grammar and sentence structure, both orally and written, with the Colourful Semantics approach. 

Using the child’s EHCP long term targets as our ultimate goal, we set challenging, appropriate short term and yearly targets which focus on all areas of the child’s development.  We track, assess and report small steps of progress, including in areas of need common to the diagnosis of Autism.  Collectively, these elements combine to ensure we are preparing pupils for their own pathway to adulthood.