Our Curriculum Aims
To increase students’ sense of self worth, self esteem and feeling of belonging.
To ensure young people acquire and develop a range of key skills and knowledge in order to achieve their personal potential.
Abbot’s Way School's forward-thinking, bespoke curriculum has been carefully designed based on expert research and experience.
'Learn to Thrive' equips our students with the subject knowledge and skill sets crucially required in order to realise their personal ‘all round’ potential. Our blended approach to learning, together with an underpinning promotion of the acquisition of essential skills ensures that students learn and consequently thrive, both pastorally and academically.
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Our key knowledge areas are delivered through an 'All Embedded' provision, with engaging learning sessions across the week, and our exciting Venture programme woven through the term:
Core
English and Literacy
Maths and Numeracy
Sciences: including Biology, Chemistry, Physics
The Arts
Creative Arts: including Art, Design / Technology, Photography, Textiles, Food Tech
Expressive Arts: including Music, Drama, Dance, Film Studies
Sport: including PE, Games, Fitness & Wellbeing
Humanities
Geography
History
Beliefs & Values
Personal Skills Development
Learning for Life
Life Skills
Highly Specialised Therapy
Speech & Language Therapy
Occupational therapy
Social Skills
For students to attain curriculum knowledge is vital. For students to acquire and hone the skills necessary to be able to utilise and apply their knowledge in a range of ways is critical for success in exam situations and beyond.
At Abbot's Way, we ensure that our students develop an understanding of:
HOW they learn
WHAT they are learning
WHY they are learning it
HOW to use what they are learning
It is critical for young people to be able to process and manipulate the knowledge which they acquire, and understand the rationale behind what they are learning. Furthermore, it is essential that students can recognise skills and their effective application in order to enhance their potential and ability to succeed.
"executive function"
noun
the higher-level cognitive skills you use to control and coordinate your other cognitive abilities and behaviours
Controlled by the frontal lobe of the brain, executive function is divided into two parts:
- Organising: Using information received by the brain, manipulating it for evaluation
- Regulating: Evaluating your position and responding to it
“critical thinking”
Noun
the objective analysis and evaluation of information in order to form a judgement
An independent and reflective process, which involves the manipulation of knowledge in order to form opinion and outcome in a variety of ways, using a variety of skills.
Abbot's Way's Core, Spin Off and Thinking Skill sets support critical thinking and executive function, both of which can be compromised in students with specific learning differences who find challenge with:
- self-awareness and self-evaluation / reflection
- planning, sequencing and management of time
- concentration and focus
- working memory and application
Our key skills sets are woven through learning and pastoral sessions and Venture days:
Core: problem solving, independence, communication, teamwork
An absolute focus - 4 key areas intrinsic to our Skills 'jigsaw', which often present a challenge for our students. These form the grounding for developing self-esteem, self-belief and recognition of individual strengths.
Spin off: innovation, resilience, collaboration, leadership
Aspirational areas of competence which tap into and support our students’ strengths, or ‘brilliance’. These skills very often build on our Core set, however can come early on in a student's development ahead of more 'basic' core competencies due to the neurodiversity of our students.
Thinking: evaluate, remember, understand, analyse, apply, create
This set of skills is essential for successful application of knowledge, in formal assessment situations and in life beyond formal education. Where learning differences are involved, these skills will not conform to any traditional hierarchy in terms of ease of which or order acquired.
Our students can often display what are classically promoted as ‘higher order’ skills, such as ‘create’ and ‘apply’, and find the reverse such as ‘remember’ more challenging.
