Building our curriculum together … weaving strands to make a rope

 

We believe and celebrate the uniqueness of every pupil in our schools and placements. We want all pupils to be resilient, curious, happy and successful through a challenging curriculum. At TFT, we are building a curriculum together to help our pupils overcome their hurdles and to achieve, in every sense: personally, socially, emotionally and academically. We work hard to individualise each child’s curricula and experiences: steeped in practical learning and building on the essential knowledge they need to learn. 

The TFT curriculum is currently being reviewed so that we can continue to get the very best and meet our aspirations for pupils. We work with pupils who have various needs and/or diagnoses, mostly SEMH and ASC, but some with other profound multiple learning needs. As a result, we have a dedicated focus on pupils’ well-being with a strong recovery curriculum. This provides fundamental personal, social and emotional support at a personal level, implemented through research-based, trauma-informed practice. We focus on academic success by integrating pupils’ individual plans and EHC plans with a core curriculum, based on our Three Strands. For example, we teach systematic, synthetic phonics (Read Write Inc) in our schools to help pupils at the early stages of reading.

Whilst each school designs and implements their own high-quality curriculum, as they know their pupils best, we are creating a central ‘Rope’ (frame) to help provide a universal approach with consistent expectations to get the very best for all pupils, at each stage of their education. This comprises of three strands which bind together to form the core curriculum intent and provide a pathway for our pupils.

The three strands focus on:

Learning and Development – getting the best academic and vocational outcomes for our pupils with a strong core subject offer

Specialism – reflecting pupil’s individualised, personal and therapeutic needs, often through an EHC plan with core strengths in SEMH and co-morbid teaching and learning 

Preparation for Adulthood – designed to help pupils recover personally, socially and emotionally, including for those with limited previous education or schooling, or at risk of exclusion and enabling them to succeed through a trauma-informed approach.

 

The Trust’s curriculum is currently being developed, drawing on leaders’ expertise and staff’s specialist knowledge, to continually improve the offer and quality of education and care that we provide. We are proud of the recovery that our pupils make and the pathways (or destinations) they are on when they leave us. Our curriculum thinking is at the heart of our pupils’ success and the impact is in truly transforming futures.