The Curriculum

‘the totality of all that is planned for children throughout their education’

• We provide learning opportunities for developing the 4 capacities (successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors) that are well planned and recorded.
• The school has an inclusive ethos that provides a curriculum which is differentiated to meet individual children’s needs and offers a high level of repetition in learning to ensure that children become successful learners.
• Literacy, Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing (HWB) are placed at the heart of the curriculum and are taught across the curriculum to ensure generalisation of skills.
• Individual Education Programmes (IEPs) and Coordinated Support Plans (CSPs) are used to ensure children’s learning is linked to needs and allow for progression, and learning outcomes within these are set in conjunction with children, parents and multi-agency staff.
• Interdisciplinary projects are established and show progression and challenge, and are continuously evaluated to ensure projects are real and relevant for children.
• Skills for Learning, Life and Work are embedded in the daily curriculum and Individual Education Programmes.
• Creative and enterprising approaches provide engaging and relevant learning opportunities for children.
• The use of the outdoor and wider community provide rich and relevant learning environments which promotes the development of health and wellbeing, keeping safe and awareness of the environment.
• Timetables reflect a broad, coherent and relevant education for childrenGlobal development, rights respecting schools, sustainability and citizenship feature both within interdisciplinary themes and across the curriculum in order to promote community involvement.
• Children are encouraged and given opportunities to give their views on the opportunities they are provided throughout the curriculum.
• Activities are provided that ensure children develop pupil voice and their own interests.
• Children are developing confidence and self-esteem through participating in whole school activities.
• Children celebrate their success and achievements both within their individual class and at whole school assemblies.

Experiences and Outcomes

Experiences and Outcomes – ‘set out the expectations for leaning and development in Expressive Arts, Language and literacy, Health and Wellbeing, Mathematics and numeracy, Religious and moral education, Sciences, Social studies, and Technologies’

 

• The school has developed programmes of study with significant aspects of learning identified and unpacked ‘I can’ statements that ensure all relevant experiences and outcomes are covered throughout a child’s primary school years.
• Literacy, Numeracy and HWB Experiences and Outcomes are unpacked in order to allow for small step progression in IEPs and across learning within Forward Plans.
• Cross cutting themes such as outdoor learning, enterprise, ICT, citizenship, sustainable development, international education and creativity are embedded across the 4 contexts of learning (opportunities for personal achievement, life and ethos of the school, interdisciplinary learning and curriculum areas and subjects).
• All school policies reflect Curriculum for Excellence and are revised on a regular basis.

Learning and Teaching

• We provide active, engaging and creative approaches to learning and teaching throughout the school.
• We utilize flexible approaches to learning and teaching in order to ensure individual children’s needs are catered for.
• Pupil’s IEPs inform planning for learning and teaching.
• Throughout the school, total communication approaches are used to support children.
• Technology is used to actively support and engage children in their learning.
• Collaborative working occurs throughout the school and with partner agencies to ensure shared expectations and standards.
• Children are actively encouraged to reflect on their engagement with and success in their learning.
• All children are given opportunities to explore their ideas, their relationships and learn through play.
• Continuous reflection by staff on learning and teaching methods is utilised to ensure children’s progress.

Entitlements

The children in Redhall are provided with a broad and general education that provides learning opportunities to develop skills for learning, life and work and develop their 4 capacities (successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors, and responsible citizens)

• The school provides a motivating, stimulating, nurturing, safe and happy environment for children to be able to learn effectively and encourage independence.
• There is a coherent curriculum that meets the specific needs of the children that includes well planned and unpacked experiences and outcomes across all curricular areas.
• Independence is promoted through skills for learning, life and work activities throughout the school day.
• Well organised shared placements with primary schools are available in order to provide children with challenge and social inclusion opportunities.
• Opportunities are tailored to meet the social, emotional and physical well-being needs of the children.
• All children have opportunities to be involved in whole school cultural and enterprising activities/events.

Personal Support

• We recognise and respect Children’s rights.  This ensures that children’s ability to access learning is supported in a positive and consistent way.

• Children are provided with individualised support so that they can access learning activities successfully.
• The school has an environment where children are supported in being able to share their ideas and opinions and make choices in their learning.

• Children are actively encouraged to share their achievements.
• Children are given opportunities to review their learning.
• There is collaboration between school, parents and relevant multi-agency staff in planning for each child when required.

• There is are flexible transition programmes – nursery/primary to Redhall, Redhall to secondary schools and class to class- and all children are well supported in transitions.

• Partnership between Redhall and primary schools enable children on shared placements to be supported effectively.

Principles of Curriculum Design

The 7 principles: challenge and enjoyment, breadth, progression, depth, personalisation and choice, coherence, and relevance

• The 7 principles underpin and guide teachers in all planning.
• The children are provided with a differentiated curriculum and is highly individualised to meet their needs.
• The 4 contexts of learning (opportunities for personal achievement, life and ethos of the school, interdisciplinary learning and curriculum areas and subjects) are embedded within the curriculum to provide progression and relevance for the children.
• All children will experience challenging opportunities within a supportive environment, which will lead towards recognition of personal and wider achievement.
• Learning activities are presented in an active way to ensure children enjoy what they are learning.
• The children are provided with a personalised curriculum through their IEPs
• The children are given choices of activities within curriculum areas that will encourage motivation to participate
• Significant aspects of learning and unpacked ‘I can’ statements have been developed within each curriculum area to ensure that the children are provided with a curriculum that has coherence, breadth, and depth; and are taught through a blend of discrete teaching of subject areas and interdisciplinary learning.

 

Additional Support for Learning

In line with the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, Redhall School adheres to The City of Edinburgh Council’s ‘In On the Act’ guidelines in order to identify and support children and provide a framework for provision for children with additional support needs. Redhall School considers each child as an individual and provides the required support as needed. All school and external multi-agency staff are committed to multi-agency working and consider themselves to be part of the school’s Additional Support for Learning team. Class teachers have overall responsibililty for ensuring that learning outcomes are relevant and appropriate. For some children, where the support from multi-agency staff is significant, a co-ordinated support plan (CSP) will be opened in order to ensure that individual needs are met.

Individual Education Programme

All children at Redhall School have Individual Education Programmes (IEPs) with individualised learning outcomes in Literacy, Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing. These outcomes permeate all other areas of the curriculum and are based on the learning outcomes and experiences from Curriculum for Excellence.

Opportunities for Personal Achievement

Redhall School offers children opportunities for achievements both in the classroom and beyond, in order to give children a sense of satisfaction and supports the building of motivation, resilience and confidence and increased self-esteem. Activities such as visits to the Yard, Outdoor Education, Horse Riding and Swimming develop specific social skills, play skills and gross/fine motor skills.
Curriculum for Excellence will support all children in developing skills which they will use throughout their life and in their work.

Health and Well Being

Redhall School provides children with Health and wellbeing experiences and outcomes in order to develop skills for life and skills for work. These experiences and outcomes include opportunities to develop a range of skills and attributes that will enable children and young people to pursue a healthy and active lifestyle. Redhall is committed to providing at least two hours of taught physical activity per week.

Personalisation and choice

Redhall School’s curriculum responds to individual needs and support particular aptitudes and talents. It gives each child an increasing opportunities for exercising responsible personal choice as they move through the school.
Children are encouraged to understand the purposes of their learning activities and see the value of what they are learning and its relevance to their lives, present and future.
Redhall teachers’ depth of knowledge of the children’s prior learning and interests helps them to take account of personalisation and choice during teaching and to provide ‘customised’ support and feedback. Opportunities for choice in Redhall are provided through being given choices such as lunchtime club, classroom activities and activity mornings.

Total Communication Approach

Redhall School strongly believes that children have the right to communicate their needs and opinions using any means of communication available to them. The school has adopted a Total Communication Approach that enables all children to access inter-personal relationships, activities for daily living and academic learning. All staff value these tools and endeavor to create an environment in which communicative intent in encouraged and reinforced in many different ways throughout the school day and beyond. All staff create optimal communication conditions for children by making the tools of Total Communication available at all times – this therefore creates an environment that supports and promotes all children’s understanding of and access to the curriculum.

Staff encourage children to use whatever communication system is most effective for them in any given situation. Assessment for Total Communication is jointly completed by the child’s class team and Speech and Language Therapy team. This is also completed in partnership with parents/carers and any other agencies such as Keycomm or VTSS. Systems for Total Communication are evaluated and updated on an ongoing basis. Training is also provided where necessary.
Total Communication encompasses all of the following tools of communication:
• gesture and facial expression and body language
• vocalisation and verbal language/speech – intonation and volume of voice
• objects of reference/signifiers
• photographs
• drawings
• signing (Signalong in Lothian)
• symbols (often Mayer-Johnson ‘Boardmaker’
• picture exchange – i.e. PECS
• topic boards
• written words
• passports
• technology and alternative/augmentative (voice output) communication devices.