Curriculum

Our Aim

To provide bespoke educational packages that maximise achievement and prepare children and young people for adult life.

Our Teaching and Learning Intentions

The ‘intent’ of our curriculum design is positivity, opportunity, and trust to support our learners to be confident, developing, and self-motivated members of society. We want to ‘impact’ our students to develop attitudes to learning and fulfil aspirational academic, vocational, personal development, well-being, and independence outcomes. At Wolfdale School we ‘implement’ a broad and balanced curriculum that is rich, varied, relevant and personalised for each learner and considers:

their starting points
those who are most disadvantaged
those with Special Education Needs (SEN) and Disabilities (SEND)
those with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs (SEMH)
the development of the cultural capital they need to succeed in life
the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) needs
the National Curriclum based on need not age

Each Young Persons ‘goal’ will be different. We recognise the following goals for our young people:

Academic qualifications
Work ready
Independent living skills
Feeling safe and secure with who they are

Curriculum Implementation

Our intention is to enable young people with autism and other difficulties to reach their full potential by building resilience and removing social and emotional barriers to educational achievement. We aim to do this by:

Creating a safe and nurturing environment
Building rapport and trusting relationships with individuals and families
Having high expectation of everyone in the Wolfdale Community
Supporting our students to work in groups
Supporting our young people to access a range of experiences and opportunities at school and in the community
Promoting self reflection on experiences and learning
Developing aspiration and creating goals and plans for the future
Following the journey to the end

Personalised Learning Paths

Individualised learning pathways are identified with our young person and their family and at Wolfdale School we offer the following qualifications and accreditations:

Functional Skills - Entry Level
Functional Skills - Level 1 and 2
GCSE
The Arts Award
BTEC Vocational Programmes
AQA Unit Award Scheme

Qualifications Results

In 2023/24 83% of Wolfdale students left with a qualification.

In 2023/24 67% of Wolfdale students left with at least one GCSE.

Subjects

Wellbeing

Wellbeing at Wolfdale drives and informs our personalised learning pathways to support our students to increase tolerance and build resilience through greater self-awareness, self- esteem and self-confidence. A range of alternative and therapeutic activities will be explored and made available throughout the curriculum such as yoga, aromatherapy, reflexology, sensory circuits, Lego therapy, Intensive Interaction and sensory diets.

PSHE

PSHE aims to equip students with the skills, knowledge and understanding needed for individuals to lead confident, healthy and independent lives and therefore, PSHE is at the heart of the curriculum at Wolfdale school. In order to ensure students, learn and achieve to their full potential they must respect themselves and each other as well as being tolerant and resilient.

Life Skills

Life skills is a term used to describe a set of skills that enable us to effectively handle issues and challenges commonly encountered in daily life. Life Skills will be taught and embedded across the curriculum in subjects such as cooking, pride and sports. Students will participate in sessions which embrace community life, health and wellbeing as well as access to recreational activities and PSHE.

Vocational Learning

Our Vocational Learning Program uses activity-based learning to develop personal skills and wellbeing, and practical skills for life and work. We provide a range of experiences and opportunities to open up new interests, support vocational and academic development, and inform future decision making for further education and career choices.

English

All Young People access English and work on reading, writing, speaking and listening to develop expression and comprehension. Opportunities are taken to apply this outside of the classroom in the community, and through experiences such as forest school, cookery, sport, swimming and equine studies.

Maths

All of our students will study mathematics through practical and classroom-based activities to develop skills to calculate, reason, analyse, problem solve, inquire and think critically. The functional use of maths is embedded and applied to other areas of the curriculum and most life skills and social activities in preparation for life and work..