Proud to do things differently!
The Nurture Centre has a Holistic Curriculum that prioritise the hidden aspects of learning that students with Autism and SEMH difficulties don’t naturally acquire as they learn and play.
This approach compliments the Academic Curriculum but initially priorities Connect over curriculum content.
Our Big Picture
The Holistic Curriculum at the Nurture Centre has been summarised in our big picture. It sets out the centre’s Intent and outlines how we plan to Implement the curriculum to maximise the Impact for our students.
We aspire to ‘Lay the Foundations for Success’ by nurturing each students self-awareness and enthusiasm for learning, developing their abilities to self-regulate their thoughts, feelings and emotions so they can communicate effectively with the world around them and build positive relationships.
When student join the Nurture Centre they undertake a three month assessment period. During this time students follow a perosnailsed unit of work that supports the staff team to begin to understand the young persons needs. The assessment period also includes access to a comprehensive OT and SALT assessment which supports the tranisition into the full Nurture Centre Curriculum.
The focus of the Nurture Centre’s curriculum is to promote a young persons ability to learn. We aim to achieve this by supporting them to fully understand their own needs and give them the confidence to learn at their own pace and in their preferred style. The impact of the curriculum is that students at Nanpantan Hall Nurture Centre grow to be confident young people who are ready to learn and able to access the full curriculum.
Our Core Curriculum
Unlike traditional schooling the Nurture Centre’s core curriculum focuses on developing understanding in the following areas;
Self-Awareness – Understanding Self
The Self-Awareness aspect of the curriculum is the Cornerstone of The Nurture Centre work and focuses on supporting students to develop a deeper understanding of themselves. The Nurture Centre considers this area of the curriculum as its core curriculum and covers the subjects of PHSE, Wellbeing and Citizenship.
Self-Management / Physical and Artistic Expression
With Self-Awareness being the cornerstone of the Nurture Centre’s curriculum the Self-Management aspect is its Foundations. This aspect focuses on supporting students to develop strategies to promote Self-regulation and encourage Self-control. It covers the subject areas of Art and Design, Music and PE and activity seeks to promote student’s ability to physically and creatively express themselves in a positive way.
Our Curriculum Approach
Engagement Curriculum
When pupils start at the Nurture Centre they initially join an engagement curriculum. During the first 3 months learning is mainly led by a pupil’s interest and has a focus on holistic learning. Staff time is invested into build trusting relationships and gathering information about how best to support each individual moving forward.
Semi-Formal Curriculum
Pupil move onto the semi-formal curriculum once positive relationships are firmly established. The balance between Holistic and Academic learning becomes more equally balanced as pupil become more accepting of structure and routine.
Formal Curriculum
The formal curriculum aspires to be as close to a mainstream curriculum as is possible. Learning is broad and balanced with a clear focus on accelerating academic learning as each pupil’s confidence and holistic needs are being met.
Curriculum Sequencing
The curriculum at the Nurture Centre is a broad and balanced, knowledge-rich primary curriculum. It’s content is delivered through a range of subject-driven projects that are linked to the National Curriculum, and cover the full range of subject requirements. Each project is linked to a program of study and broken down into ‘chunks’ that form a progressive framework that runs from Year 1 -Year 6. The framework includes the knowledge and skills that our pupils need to know and be able to do in order to make progress through the curriculum. In addition to the Cornerstone Maestro Curriculum, the Nurture Centre also uses a number of recognised schemes of work to support teacher workload including ‘White Rose’ for Maths and ‘Jigsaw’ for PSHE/RSE.
Whole School Long Term Curriculum Plan
The curriculum is organised into cycle A & B to support and accommodate mixed age groups. The long term plan sets out the Nurture Centre’s intended coverage which is then personalised to individual needs.
Please click on the image below to view the Long Term Plan in detail.
The Teaching of Phonics
The Nurture Centre follows the ‘Twinkl Phonics’ scheme which is based on the Department for Educations ‘Letters and Sounds’.
Twinkl Phonics is a DfE validated full systematic, synthetic phonics programme that contains everything needed to deliver phonics teaching to our pupils from the very beginning of learning to read and write to full fluency. It delivers GPCs in a clear and rigorous way so that skills are built progressively over time, ensuring that children have a secure base from which to develop.
Implementation
Nationally all pupil are introduced to phonics at an early stage of schooling and usually undertake a phonics screening test at the end of their Year 1. At Nanpantan Hall Nurture Centre we recognise that the early school years for many of our pupils have been disruptive or challenging. This means that some pupils arrive at the Nurture Centre not having a fully developed understanding of phonics and in some cases have had a traumatic experience of being taught phonics.
True to our nurturing approach we aim to met pupils where they are on their journey to reading fluency. When a pupils is not emotionally ready to fully access a synthetic phonics programme we work with them to build pre-reading skills, confidence and resilience. As soon as a pupil is ready to start phonics they take a baseline assessment and start the programme from the point they are confident. Phonics sessions can happen daily either during reading sessions or English lessons.
Early Reading
At Nanpantan Hall Nurture Centre we believe that all pupils should have the opportunity to be fluent, confident readers who are able to successfully comprehend and understand a wide range of texts. We want pupils to develop a love of reading and a good knowledge of a range of authors. By the end of their time at primary school, all pupils should be able to read fluently, and with confidence in any subject. We do not put ceilings on what pupils can achieve in reading and we do not hold pre-conceptions about any pupils’ ability to make progress.
Implementation
All pupils at the Nurture Centre are encouraged to develop a love of reading as soon as they join. Adults regularly read aloud to the pupils which complements a daily reading session where all pupil are encouraged to develop their understanding of ‘phonics’ and ‘reading’ skills.
The Nurture Centre supports its early readers using the Rhino Readers scheme from Twinkle. It’s fully decodable books help bridge the reading gap and take pupils from decoding to fluency. The school uses a ‘Book Band’ approach to support its more confident readers and offers a broad range of reading material to inspire wonder and awe.
