Curriculum in Treetops

Treetops Curriculum Overviews for the whole year:

Intent

To provide a caring, inclusive and holistic learning environment that sits at the heart of its community and provides a high level of challenge, stimulation and support. We are committed to enabling each child to maximise her/his potential for both academic and personal successes – which we characterise in our motto: Aiming High.

Aiming High

A holistic approach to teaching and learning is a fundamental principle within Treetops. We aim to address the emotional, social, and academic needs of pupils in an integrated learning format. Emphasis is placed on positive school environments and providing whole-child supports (academic and non-academic) to enable children to thrive. Children’s attainment and progress outcomes are guided by pupils’ individual needs. Alongside high expectations we consider children’s personal, social and sensory profiles, in order to recognise the achievements of each child. Children’s social and emotional development and opportunities for independence are carefully planned for, based on their individual strengths and needs. The curriculum in Treetops is designed with the needs of our pupils at its heart. It is underpinned by the teaching of functional skills and key knowledge based on the primary national curriculum, with a focus on communication, social and emotional learning. Children’s learning is based upon their developmental level to ensure progression is attainable and meaningful.

Implementation

Language and communication underpin the curriculum in Treetops. We are committed to provide learning opportunities and an environment that promotes and develops children’s language and communication skills, therefore the majority of our lessons are delivered through the Attention Autism programme by Gina Davies. This ensures learning is engaging and motivating, as well as accessible and targeted. We work collaboratively to provide a curriculum whereby the academic demands are supported by Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy.

Maths: Our Maths curriculum is based on the Maths mastery ‘White Rose Scheme’. We use the Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract (CPA) approach that develops a deeper understanding of maths in pupils.

Writing: Our English curriculum is based on the ‘Talk for Writing’ framework. The process begins with imitation moving on to innovation and finally independent application. The modelling within the approach enables children to progress and succeed in writing which is often a challenging subject for our learners.

Reading: We use the ‘Read, Write, Inc’ Programme in the teaching of phonics to support the development of reading and spelling skills. Some pupils also follow the Literacy and Language programme to support the development of reading comprehension; spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Handwriting: In the first instance we follow the handwriting programme by ‘Read, Write, Inc’. We also use a range of handwriting programmes based on pupils' individual needs and occupational therapy recommendations such as ‘Handwriting without Tears’, ‘Write from the Start’ and ‘Speed it up!’.

Geography and History: As we follow a topic-based curriculum, the focus of the Geography and History units are reflected across the curriculum. The units focus on key concepts and skills to develop children’s understanding of place, civilization, similarity and difference, diversity, using sources of information and evidence.

Social and Emotional Learning: Our curriculum has a strong focus on social and emotional learning. We use a range of programmes to support the teaching of these areas including the ‘Social Thinking Programme’ (We Thinkers, Social Detectives, Superflex), ‘PECS So Safe’ and the ‘Zones of Regulation’.

PE: The PE curriculum includes weekly sessions focused on basic movement skills, participation in team games and performances. Children also attend swimming and horse riding lessons for half the school year, both supporting the development of life skills and core stability and strength, key occupational therapy needs for many pupils.

Art, Drama and DT: Our Creative Art teacher, delivers weekly sessions during which they are able to explore and learn different forms of expression including drama and dance.

Computing - Our curriculum develops children’s understanding of how to keep themselves safe online, to become IT literate, computational thinking and make links to everyday life.

Impact

As a result of our teaching and curriculum in Treetops you will see children who are:

engaged and motivated in their learning
making progress that reflects their individual needs, and is viewed in the context of their personal, social and sensory profiles.
achieving positive academic and non-academic outcomes that are important for success in school and in life.
building competence in social communication, emotional regulation, relationship skills and independence.