We support learners to enjoy and achieve whilst preparing for adulthood through a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum with relevant skills and knowledge for all. 

Our Curriculum

“You have a flexible and dynamic curriculum that links subjects together and gives pupils opportunities to practise key skills as well as acquire knowledge. Staff use their expertise and creativity to adapt lessons to suit the range of different ways that your pupils learn, and they make very careful observations of the progress that pupils are making "  Ofsted 2018

At Kingsley High School, we have a strong commitment to providing personalised education for each child that comes to join our community. We understand that every child is unique and has their own set of strengths, weaknesses, and learning preferences. Therefore, we believe in taking the time to plan for each child as an individual and ensuring that our teaching methods enable each pupil to achieve their full potential. We strive to create an environment where every student feels supported, challenged, and engaged in their learning. By providing tailored instruction that caters to each child's needs, we believe that we can help each student reach their full potential and succeed academically, socially, and emotionally

From the moment our pupils step into our school, we provide a wealth of learning opportunities that extend beyond the traditional classroom setting. We understand that learning can happen in various environments, and we strive to provide a wide range of experiences for our students. This includes not only structured learning during class time but also during breaks, lunchtimes, and even during personal care routines. We believe that each of these moments can be used as an opportunity to help our students grow and learn. Our students have access to a variety of learning environments both within the school and in the local community, which allows them to gain diverse experiences and perspectives. This approach helps to create an engaging and holistic education experience for our pupils.

Our curriculum is broad, balanced and appropriate to the individual needs of each pupil. The curriculum is not static; it is flexible to meet the changing population of the school. The aim of our curriculum is to offer an engaging school experience which will enable each pupil to make sound progress, taking steps towards adulthood and independence (whatever form that may take), which is based on the principles of respect, care and professional accountability.  We recognise that pupils are entitled to the full range of curriculum areas and that teachers should constantly seek to develop and employ strategies which are appropriate to individual needs. However, pupils are also members of the school and wider communities are also entitled to be prepared to access the rights and responsibilities of these communities, which reflect British Values.

Our curriculum is carefully crafted to meet the individual needs and goals of each student. We have created an overall curriculum map that identifies the core curriculum areas, with a special emphasis on promoting communication, life-skills, and independence. Additionally, our curriculum provides an entitlement to a breadth of experiences that spans across various curriculum areas. This allows our students to gain a well-rounded education and explore their interests. We believe that learning and positive experiences should be interdisciplinary in nature, and our aim is to create a rich and stimulating learning environment that enables each student to achieve maximum progress. To achieve this, we have identified key themes for each half-term that are integrated into as many lessons as possible, to provide cohesiveness and continuity in learning.

Our timetable is designed to be flexible and adaptable to the diverse learning needs of our students. We understand that every student has unique learning preferences, and our staff are committed to creating a curriculum that addresses the needs of each individual. The timetable is structured in such a way that allows our staff to tailor learning activities to suit the specific needs of each group of students. Some students may benefit from a highly structured series of short tasks, while others may require longer periods of time to complete activities and consolidate their learning. In order to ensure that our curriculum is well-organised, students are grouped according to their areas of need, acknowledging that each student is unique. Our staff regularly meets to plan and design an ideal timetable for the week, and teachers have the autonomy to organise their daily and weekly schedules to best suit the needs of their classes.

Specialists support the curriculum and learning by providing additional resources and expertise in specific areas. These may include Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapy Team, Qualified Teacher of Visual Impairment (QTVI), and behavior support specialists. These professionals work closely with teachers and staff to ensure that each student's individual needs are met and that they are able to achieve their full potential.

To further support the development of our students, the school regularly holds themed days and weeks throughout the academic year. These themes are chosen to align with the curriculum and are designed to foster creativity and encourage students to think critically and explore new ideas. These events provide students with unique learning experiences and opportunities to engage with the material in a fun and interactive way. The themes are also planned to be inclusive and to cater to all learning preferences and abilities.

Please refer to our curriculum policy below for more detail. Information regarding Post 16 Curriculum can also be found below.

If you would like to find out more about our school's curriculum, please contact John Hartley via admin@kingsley.harrow.sch.uk 

Phonics usually starts with teaching children the basic sounds of individual letters and then progresses to more complex sounds, such as blends and digraphs. Children are taught to recognise these sounds in spoken words and then match them to the corresponding letters or letter combinations when reading or writing.

Phonics instruction can take many forms, such as whole-language instruction, systematic synthetic phonics, and embedded phonics. Whole-language instruction emphasises reading real books and understanding the meaning of what is read. Systematic synthetic phonics is a more structured approach that focuses on teaching children how to blend the sounds of letters together to read words. Embedded phonics is an approach where phonics instruction is integrated into the reading of connected text.

Phonics instruction is most effective when it is explicit and systematic. This means that the sounds and letters are taught in a logical order, and children are given plenty of opportunities to practice and apply what they have learned. Additionally, phonics instruction should be supported with a balanced literacy program that includes reading, writing, and speaking and listening activities.

Understanding phonics will also help children know which letters to use when they are writing words.

Phonics involves matching the sounds of spoken English with individual letters or groups of letters. For example, the sound k can be spelled as c, k, ck or ch.

Teaching children to blend the sounds of letters together helps them decode unfamiliar or unknown words by sounding them out. For example, when a child is taught the sounds for the letters t, p, a and s, they can start to build up the words: “tap”, “taps”, “pat”, “pats” and “sat”.

What Programme Do We Use?

https://www.jollylearning.co.uk/

We embed the British Values into our PSHE curriculum, as highlighted below in the skills workbook.