ST NICHOLASSCHOOL
PLANNING, ASSESSMENT, RECORDING, REPORTING AND CELEBRATION
(PARRC) POLICY
Rationale
St Nicholas School’s Curriculum is an inclusive (includes all pupils) curriculum that has the scope to answer the needs of all children within the school, and celebrate all achievement.
It is a flexible curriculum that can be responsive to individual need.
It is an holistic curriculum (embraces all areas of pupil learning), that supports all areas of learning and development in a child’s life.
It is a collaborative curriculum where the views and ideas of people with different perspectives and expertise are sought, including the child and their parents.
It promotes the idea that both disabled children, and the wider community they live in, should be encouraged and supported in understanding and appreciating each other.
Aims
To:
Meet the individual needs of the whole child, through specific and appropriate goals and strategies, as well as through the positive ethos, reflected in our vision statement, that values and celebrates every child’s efforts and achievements.
Provide richness, breadth and balance in knowledge, understanding, skills and direct experiences, in an age appropriate way that is relevant to each individual and their own lives.
Extend and challenge each child, encouraging them to be active participants, and enabling them to make progress in as many different ways as possible.
Promote inclusion through equipping children and young adults with the skills, knowledge and experience that they need – now and in the future – to live happy and fulfilling lives where they can access their community fully and make a positive contribution to it.
St Nicholas Curriculum
The National Curriculum offers children broad opportunities for learning relevant to their age. It ensures that all pupils have a breadth and progression of experiences as they move through the Key Stages. In classroom organisation, pupil age and level of need are considered when grouping pupils.
Foundation: Under 5
Key Stage One: Yrs 1-2
Key Stage Two: Yrs 3-6
Key Stage Three: Yrs 7-9
Key Stage Four: Yrs 10-11
Key Stage Five: Yrs 12-14
Having considered the National Strategies for the Foundation (under 5s) Curriculum, the Primary Curriculum, and the Secondary Curriculum for Key Stage Three, the St Nicholas Curriculum for pupils aged from 3 – 14 is arranged in the following seven areas of learning which incorporate both schemes of work based on National Curriculum Key Stages and Cross Curricular Skills.
-Communication, Language and Literacy, including Technology
-Mathematical Development
-PSHE and Citizenship
-Physical Development
-Knowledge and Understanding of the World
-Creative Development
-Key Skills
Each of these areas includes a number of strands as shown overleaf:
Fig 1: Foundation, KS1, KS2, KS3 Curriculum
ST NICHOLAS CURRICULUM AREA / CONTENTEarly Years Curriculum / National Curriculum / Cross Curricular Skills / Other Links
Communication, language and Literacy, including Technology / Communication, Language and Literacy / English
ICT / Communication
Information Technology / Speech and Language Therapy
Music Therapy
Mathematical Development / Mathematical Development / Mathematics / Using and Applying Number
PSHE and Citizenship / Personal Social and Emotional Development / PSHE, SEAL
Relationship and Sex Ed, Healthy Lifestyles,Careers
Citizenship / Personal and Social / External providers
Physical Development / Physical Development / Physical Education
Outdoor Adventurous / Orientation and Mobility
MOVE / Physiotherapy
Occupational Therapy
Therapies, incl. yoga, massage
Knowledge and Understanding of the World / Knowledge and understanding of the world / Science
Design Technology
History,
Geography,
Religious Education
Modern Foreign Languages / Topic work / External providers
Creative Development / Creative development / Art
Music
Dance
Drama / Topic work / Music Therapy
External providers
Unique Key Skills / Study and Work
Play and Leisure
Daily Living
Sensory / Person Centred Planning
Sensory Integration Therapy
Occupational Therapy
Key Stages Four and Five Programmes of Study are being developed to reflect the new Yr 10 + Foundation Curriculum. These Key Stages include accredited schemes, ASDAN, and vocational learning courses.
Fig 2: KS4, KS5 Curriculum
ST NICHOLAS CURRICULUM AREA / CONTENT14 + Foundation Learning / Cross Curricular Skills / Accredited Schemes / Other Links
Communication, Language and Literacy, including Technology / Functional Skills / Communication
Information Technology / (KS5: Accredited Courses sourced for individuals)
ASDAN
Personal Progress / Speech and Language Therapy
Music Therapy
Mathematical Development / Using and Applying Number
PSHE and Citizenship / Personal and Social Education (including sex and relationships,healthy lifestyles, careers) / Personal and Social / External providers
Physical Development / Vocational Learning
(KS4: Lackham Link Course, Mini Enterprise,)
(KS5: College Links, Enterprise) / Orientation and Mobility / Physiotherapy
Occupational Therapy
MOVE
Therapies, incl, yoga, massage
Knowledge and Understanding of the World / External providers
Creative Development / Music Therapy
External providers
Unique Key Skills / Study and Work
Play and Leisure
Daily Living
Sensory / Person Centred Planning,Sensory IntegrationTherapy
Occupational Therapy
Within the Programmes of Study for each Key Stage, every pupil will have their own learning goals, related to teacher assessment. This ensures that there is a very high level of individualisation within the curriculum.
The following areas are considered to be St Nicholas’s Core Curriculum:
-Communication, Language and Literacy
-Mathematical Development
-PSHE and Citizenship
-Physical Development
-Technology
-Key Skills
Teacher Assessment of pupils in these areas uses P level and National Curriculum Level descriptors as a robust guide to pupil progress.
For most pupils, P level descriptors are used as a more general guide to progress in the following areas of learning. However an able, gifted and talented pupil (AGT) may be assessed more formally in some of these areas if this is felt to be appropriate for their own curriculum needs:
-Knowledge and Understanding of the World
-Physical Development
-Creative Development
Apart from providing stimulating and enriching experiences, these areas are seen as important learning contexts for the cross curricular areas of learning. It is these cross curricular skills that ensure that the curriculum is differentiated for the needs of every single pupil at St Nicholas. The learning goals that support the acquisition of cross curricular skills appear on individual pupils Individual Education Plans (called Annual and Termly Learning Goals).
The following St Nicholas Key Skills are taught across the curriculum:
-Communication
-Application of number
-Personal & Social (personal care, managing own behaviours and emotions)
-Physical orientation and mobility
-Information Technology
-Study and Work (Improving own learning and performance, Working with others, Organisation and study skills, Problem Solving)
-Play and Leisure (Early Thinking Skills, Leisure and Recreation)
-Sensory (Sensory Awareness and Perception)
-Daily Living Skills (Domestic Skills, Community Skills)
-Planning and Preparing for the Future (Person Centred Planning PCP)
Access
Access to the curriculum should be achieved through:
-ensuring that pupils are as well, comfortable and able to be receptive as possible
-considered teaching styles that provide clarity, structure, support - while also being stimulating, exciting and challenging.
-attention to individual learning styles and individual learning priorities
-a person centred approach that involves pupils in decisions about their learning at all levels
-high and low tech equipment
-furniture and position
-environmental considerations
-collaborative, interdisciplinary working (inc parents)
-drawing upon specialist approaches and therapies
-effective monitoring and assessment
-“broad and balanced” long term plans
Progression
Can be in terms of measurable skills, and knowledge and understanding.
Can be age related in terms of:
-encouraging children to mature through changing resources, language etc
-a broadening out of experiences
-following age related programmes of study
-seeking opportunities for learning alongside mainstream peers.
Can be emotional and spiritual – a “blossoming” of a person - which is difficult to measure, but can be noted in indicators such as a growing in confidence, assertiveness, increased social engagement, motivation, happiness, being relaxed etc
Planning
Long Term Planning
Primary (Foundation under fives, Key Stages One and Two) and Key Stage Three each have a three year rolling programme of themes. These themes can involve all seven major areas of the St Nicholas Curriculum. Sometimes, a supplementary theme may be identified to work alongside the main theme, if there is a specific strand of more subject based work that has been identified. Separate blocked units of subject based work increase in KS3, for example in English, maths and PE.
Subjects may be taught weekly, or they may be taught in focussed blocks within the term. Sometimes, a theme may be taught across one or two whole days. Key Stage teaching teams are free to decide which approaches will be most effective in matching the learning opportunities with their current cohort of pupils. Key Stage teams will monitor the curriculum breadth and balance and pupil progress across their key stage in the areas of Knowledge and Understanding of the World and Creative Development. They will collaborate with PARRC – in monitoring, evaluating and developing the curriculum to best promote pupil progress.
In KS4, specific subject areas are taught in separate modules of work, and linked to work on ASDAN Personal Progress. KS5 uses ASDAN Personal Progress as the basis of its three year programme for the delivery of a Post 16 curriculum. There is an increasing emphasis on independence skills and on work related learning through these Key Stages, and the curriculum links closely with the national guidance on Foundation Learning. Key Stage Four and Five teams will monitor their curriculum and pupil progress together across their key stages, in collaboration with PARRC and subject leaders.
Personal, Social and Emotional Understanding will often be taught in a cross curricular way, through the themes where relevant, and through blocked units of work, although Sex and Relationships Education and Careers is delivered through a modular programme across the key stages.
Understanding English, Communication and Technology, Mathematical Understanding, Personal and Social and Emotional Understanding and Physical Understanding are led and monitored throughout the school by Subject Leaders who link into the PARRC Leadership group and the Key Stage teams.
In addition, a four year curriculum focus rolling plan (steered by PARRC and using termly staff meetings) audits each curriculum area and identifies actions for development.
The school is developing a Person Centred approach to planning where an holistic view is taken in relation to answering a person’s needs and pupils are encouraged to be involved in decisions about their learning at all levels. As pupils approach Key Stage Four, they begin to be encouraged to understand the choices that will be open to them as adults when they leave school, and express their views about those choices.
Long Term IEP goals (known as Annual Learning Goals or ALGs) are written with a child’s Annual Review Report. ALGs will form the basis for Medium Term (three times a year) Termly Learning Goals (TLGs), which are more detailed. Pupil progress against the TLGs and ALGs are monitored through the year by the PARRC team.
At the beginning of each year, a one page Pupil Passport is updated for each pupil in the school. This gives important information about that person to all those who are working with them.
Medium and Short Term Planning:
Teachers will plan for their class each term on planning sheets, using the theme cycles, long term subject plans, and pupil’s TLGs.
Each class will have a Planning File in the classroom which can be used for reference by other staff. Teachers use short term plans as they find appropriate. Timetables and termly content overviews are monitored by PARRC and through the collaborative working in Key Stage teams and as part of the classroom observation cycle.
Assessment, Recording, Reporting
Teachers record pupils’ achievements on termly summary sheets for each of the six areas of learning. These are then put onto annual learning summary sheets – which inform the pupil’s End of Year Report. Daily or weekly record sheets are used to record pupil progress in Communication, Language and Literacy, and Mathematical Development. Teachers may choose to use these sheets for additional subject areas where this is helpful.
Moderation Meetings, spread over the year, support teachers in maintaining consistent practice in levelling across the school. In addition, teachers collect 2 pieces of evidence for each pupil, each term, resulting in the whole St Nicholas Core Curriculum being covered in the year.
National Curriculum and P Level data is collected for each pupil by PARRC at the end of each academic year. They use the National Progression Guidance and CASPA to support an analysis of this data to ensure that all pupils are making progress.
The PARRC team support teachers annually in setting and monitoring pupil attainment targets in term 2 each year.
Celebration
Celebrating pupil achievement occurs informally (within classes), on a weekly basis (Good Work Assembly) and annual prize giving assembly (for outstanding achievements in academic subjects and therapies).
Child Protection
St Nicholas strives to support best practice in health and safety, child protection, confidentiality, community cohesion and equality of opportunity in all it does relating to the planning, delivery and assessment of the curriculum to its pupils.
Signed
Designation
Date
Next Review Date October 2012
St Nicholas School PARRC policy Updated October 2010
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