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Haskel – Helping And Supporting Kids to Excel in Life

A cutting-edge curriculum

Pathways to success

Haskel’s bespoke curriculum is based on four pathways which pupils can move between based on age, need and ability.

Pathway 1

Curriculum focusing on sensory and communication skills

This curriculum supports pupils to:

  • Develop positive relationships within a safe environment
  • Explore the world around them through sensory exploration whilst developing physical skills
  • Establish behaviours so that they can communicate with others
  • Be part of the school and wider community
Pathway 2

A play based and experiential curriculum based on the EYFS

This includes pupils within Year 1.

This curriculum supports pupils to:

  • Recognise and communicate their thoughts and feelings
  • Develop social skills and form positive relationships with peers and staff
  • Begin to show an awareness of their environment and the wider world
  • Develop an awareness of basic Literacy and Maths skills
Pathway 3

An academic curriculum

This curriculum supports pupils to:

  • Develop self-awareness, a respect for others and the community they live within
  • Develop an awareness of how to keep physically and mentally healthy
  • Develop personal independence and self-care skills in preparation for adulthood
  • Acquire a functional level of Literacy so that they are able to communicate in formal and informal settings, read for information and pleasure and use writing as a means to communicate
  • Acquire a functional level of Maths so that they are able to use basic numeracy skills
  • Study a range of subjects whilst developing an understanding of the importance and the value of new skills and the positive impact this will have on their future
  • Begin to develop skills which will help them to prepare for independent living (such as travel, shopping, cooking) and employment (such as time keeping, organisational skills)
Pathway 4

Preparation for Working Life and Independent Living Skills

This curriculum supports pupils to:

  • Develop appropriate communication skills so that they can interact with other people appropriately and have the skills to understand what is expected of them
  • Further develop key skills in English and Maths and other subject areas of interest
  • Be able to form positive relationships with peers
  • Acquire skills needed for independent living
  • Take responsibility for their own self-care
  • Learn about the world of work and recognise how they need to develop these skills

ASDAN Opportunities

In order to further provide our pupils with additional opportunities to help prepare them for adulthood and working life, we are able to offer our pupils more practical courses through ASDAN. These programmes help to develop skills linked to areas of personal interest alongside the development of English and Maths.

ASDAN courses are available for students Year 7 and beyond including: Towards Independence, Short Courses, Transition Challenge, Life Skills and Preparing for Adulthood.

Autism Provision

A number of our pupils have a diagnosis of ASD or display some traits for Autism. Each pupil is able to access support within lessons should they require it.

Where possible, we keep our classroom environments calm and organised which helps pupils to maintain regulation as they move around school.

Many strategies are in place to support our students, for example daily visuals, social stories etc.

Preparation for Adulthood

A key element of our provision is to prepare our pupils for adulthood – both independent living and employment. Haskel work closely with parents in order to develop those early skills. These help to form part of the EHCP and Annual Review process.

AQA Unit Awards

In order to vary the curriculum offer we are able to provide our students, as well as increased opportunity for our pupils to achieve a sense of success, we are now able to offer AQA unit awards. This is something that can be offered to all students, regardless of ability. It will mean that all students in school are able to gain a certificate for their contribution into a different topic / subject area.

College Links

We are proud to offer our students access to Gateshead College for additional courses and programmes. This again depends on the needs and interests of the pupils. Access to this kind of programme helps a young person feel part of the community and similar to their peers within the mainstream college setting. Courses accessed up to this point are: Photography, IT, Sugarcraft, Hairdressing and Beauty and Interior Design.

Work Experience / Careers

Many of our students are offered work experience placements where appropriate. This is often within local settings and businesses within the community. Our students benefit greatly in having access to a work place setting and learning about what life could be like in the future.

Staff closely monitor these placements and regular communications take place.

Our pupils in Year 11 and Year 13 are entitled to a careers based interview with an external provider from Gateshead LA. These meetings usually take place in the Autumn term and feed into Autumn transition reviews.

Assessment

Assessment within Haskel takes on many forms. It may be through observations of social behaviours which contribute to termly meetings or Annual Reviews, to more formal assessments which take place throughout the year.

Our assessments are mostly completed termly and are once again appropriate to the individual pupils and are broadly outlined below. These are the assessments used to meet the needs of our current cohort.

Pathway 1

Pupils within this pathway are assessed using the P Scales. Pupils from Autumn 2021 will also be assessed using the Engagement Model.

Pathway 2

Pupils within this pathway are assessed using the EYFS Development Matters curriculum.

Pathways 3 & 4

Pupils within these pathways are assessed using a more formal assessment programme. Our current cohort of pupils are either assessed against: P Scales, Entry Level Curriculum, or progression towards a GCSE.

Reading Age

SWRT – Annually

Spelling Age

SWRT – Annually

Reading Comprehension Age

YARC – Annually

Phonics

Started September 2021

The phonics assessment is used to identify a pupil’s phonic knowledge and their ability to use sounds to read and spell words.

EHCP and Annual Review Process

All of the pupils we have on roll have EHCPs. Long term outcomes are set at the end of a Key Stage to be worked towards during the next Key Stage.

At each annual review, annual targets are set which feed into these longer term targets.

Pupils are also given termly targets which are shared with them and displayed in their books. These are reviewed, with new targets being set. This information is shared with parents.

Boxall Profile

This assessment is used to support the development of our pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs. This assessment is completed twice per year and the findings feed into EHCP information and termly outcomes.

SCERTS

SCERTS is used within school to measure progress of Social Communication and Emotional Regulation. This is completed by relevant staff members with support from Jigsaw Therapist.

Vineland

Vineland is used to measure independence and self help skills. This is usually completed by the therapists alongside parents. Staff are also able to contribute relevant information.