Orry's Room Curriculum

Our Curriculum

Intent

Within Orry’s Room, our curriculum is carefully crafted to place the child at the heart of the learning process. Rooted in principles of active learning, play-based approaches, and highly engaging activities, our curriculum is designed to facilitate holistic development and meaningful progress for each individual pupil. We begin by considering the context of each child’s journey, building upon their prior knowledge and experiences in a sequential manner. By starting with the child at the centre, we ensure that learning is meaningful and engaging. Our curriculum extends beyond the classroom, incorporating opportunities for pupils to explore new experiences within the wider community, therefore fostering an understanding of the world around them.

We follow the Equals Curriculum https://equals.co.uk. A person-centred and holistic approach.

“Let’s focus on the things that matter.”

The philosophy of the Early Years is embedded within our setting and we endeavour to ensure our pupils learn through play, discovery and have high levels of engagement. We carefully plan daily opportunities for pupils to develop their independence and life skills to prepare them for life.

Our curriculum is split into four pathways and pupils follow the pathway which best supports their needs. Through getting to know our pupils, communicating with parents/carers and other agencies and professionals, we are able to assess our pupils and plan for their holistic development within a suitable curriculum pathway/class.

Implementation

Pathway 1 - Pre-formal Curriculum

The Pre-formal Curriculum emphasises the development of pre-formal skills, which are fundamental abilities that precede formal academic learning. These skills encompass areas such as sensory exploration, communication, physical development, social interaction, and emotional well-being.

• Multi-sensory Activities: We engage learners through multiple senses simultaneously, enhancing learning by providing diverse sensory experiences. These activities include visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), tactile (touching), kinesthetic (movement), and sometimes olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste) elements. Multi-sensory activities accommodate diverse learning styles, deepen understanding, and increase engagement.
• Individualised Learning: Our pupils follow individualised timetables, have Individual Education Plans and they have a key worker who supports with this. Transitions are kept to a minimum and teaching approaches are tailored to suit individual needs.
• Real-world Connections: By having opportunities to engage with the world around them, pupils can deepen their understanding of concepts and develop a sense of curiosity and wonder. Activities are designed to promote independence, self-help skills, and participation in everyday activities, fostering greater autonomy and inclusion.

The Pre-formal curriculum supports and guides learning through seven core strands:

1. Communication: emphasises the development of communication skills, including non-verbal communication, use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems, understanding of symbols and signs, and interaction with others.
2. Cognition and Challenge: focuses on promoting cognitive development and learning skills, such as attention, memory, problem-solving, cause-and-effect understanding, and concept development.
3. Physical: focuses on physical development and well-being, including gross and fine motor skills, mobility, sensory processing, self-care skills (e.g., feeding, dressing, toileting), and promoting physical health and fitness.
4. Sensory: The sensory strand addresses sensory processing difficulties and sensory impairments. It focuses on sensory exploration, stimulation, regulation, and providing environments that support sensory needs.
5. Social, Emotional, and Mental Health: emphasises the social, emotional, and mental health aspects of development. It includes promoting social interaction, emotional regulation, self-awareness, self-esteem, coping strategies, and supporting mental well-being.
6. Independence: focuses on promoting independence and autonomy in daily living skills and decision-making. It includes activities related to self-help skills, community participation, making choices, and developing self-advocacy skills.
7. Creative and Expressive: focuses on facilitating creative expression and communication through arts, music, drama, and sensory experiences. It provides opportunities for individuals to express themselves, explore their interests, and engage in meaningful activities.

Pathway 2 – Informal Curriculum

The EQUALS Informal Curriculum emphasises practical life skills, functional literacy, numeracy, and personal development including communication skills, social interaction, self-awareness, and emotional regulation. It aims to empower learners to navigate social situations and build positive relationships.

The informal curriculum focuses on real-life situations and aims to enhance independence and inclusion for learners with diverse needs. It provides a structured yet flexible approach to teaching, with a focus on personalised learning pathways and meaningful activities.

The Equals Informal Curriculum offers six schemes of work (SoW):

1. My Communication:

• Develop basic communication skills using non-verbal cues, gestures, and simple verbal expressions.
• Understand and respond to familiar words, signs, and symbols.
• Practice turn-taking and social interaction during communication exchanges.

We use visual supports such as picture cards and communication boards to facilitate communication. Pupils engage in structured activities like circle time or group discussions to encourage participation. We provide a variety of opportunities for communication through role-play, storytelling, and social games.

2. My Sensory Play:

• Explore and engage with sensory materials to stimulate the senses.
• Develop sensory processing skills and awareness of sensory preferences.
• Practice sensory regulation and relaxation techniques.

We have sensory stations with materials such as water, sand, playdough, textured fabrics, and scented items. We encourage free exploration and experimentation with sensory materials. We facilitate sensory-based games and activities that involve different sensory experiences.

3. My Physical Wellbeing:

• Develop gross and fine motor skills through movement and physical activities.
• Practice basic self-care skills related to hygiene, dressing, and eating.
• Promote physical fitness and overall well-being through exercise and healthy habits.
• We ensure that we incorporate daily movement breaks and structured physical activities into our routine. We provide opportunities for practice with self-care tasks such as brushing teeth, washing hands, and dressing independently.
• We engage in specialist activities such as MSR, horse riding, weekly swimming or Hydrotherapy sessions and Bike4Life.

4. My Independence:

• Develop skills for daily living and functional independence.
• Practice decision-making, problem-solving, and self-advocacy skills.
• Foster autonomy and confidence in making choices and taking responsibility.

5. My Creativity:

• Explore and express creativity through various art forms and sensory experiences.
• Develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination through artistic activities.
• Foster self-expression, imagination, and emotional expression through creative outlets.

6. My Outdoor Learning:

• Explore and engage with the natural environment through outdoor experiences.
• Develop sensory awareness and appreciation for nature.
• Practice physical activity and gross motor skills in outdoor settings.

Pathway 3 - Semi-formal Curriculum

The Semi-Formal Curriculum is designed for pupils who benefit from a more structured and systematic approach to learning. It bridges the gap between formal academic education and the highly individualised needs of learners with significant learning challenges. Many of our pupils following this pathway have bespoke timetables which incorporate sessions in Orry’s Room and lessons in mainstream supported by a key worker from the Orry’s Room team.

Core Curriculum Areas:

1. My Communication: focuses on developing communication skills, including verbal and non-verbal communication, social interaction, and expressive language. It aims to facilitate effective communication and meaningful interaction with others.
2. My Independence: emphasises the development of skills for independence in daily living tasks, self-care, decision-making, and problem-solving. It aims to foster autonomy and self-reliance in learners, enabling them to participate more fully in their communities and daily activities.
3. My Thinking and Problem Solving: addresses cognitive development, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. It aims to enhance learners' ability to process information, make decisions, and solve problems effectively in various contexts.
4. My Physical Wellbeing: focuses on promoting physical health, fitness, and well-being. It includes activities and strategies to support gross and fine motor skills development, physical activity, and healthy lifestyle habits.
5. My Citizenship: addresses social and emotional development, relationships, and understanding of personal boundaries. It aims to promote positive relationships and social skills.
6. My Outdoor School: encourages learning experiences and exploration of the natural environment. It involves outdoor activities, nature exploration, and environmental education to promote sensory engagement, physical activity, and appreciation for nature.
7. My Art/Dance/Drama/Music: encompasses creative expression through various art forms, including visual arts, dance, drama, and music. It provides opportunities for self-expression, creativity, and sensory experiences, fostering artistic development and emotional expression.
8. The World About Me: involves learning about the world around oneself, including topics such as community awareness, cultural diversity, and environmental sustainability. It aims to broaden learners' understanding of their surroundings and their place within the broader community and world.

Pathway 4 - Formal Curriculum

This pathway is for our most independent learners. The formal curriculum forms a broad and balanced holistic curriculum that fully meets the needs of pupils struggling within a conventional National Curriculum model. The schemes of work are non-key stage specific, so that pupils work at levels appropriate to their developmental stage.

1. Maths: developing mathematical skills and understanding in areas such as Number, Shape and Space, Measurement and Data Handling. It aims to provide pupils with foundational mathematical knowledge and problem-solving abilities applicable to real-life situations.
2. English: encompasses language and literacy skills, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening. It aims to develop learners' communication skills, vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, and writing abilities to enable effective communication and participation in society.
3. Independence: emphasises the development of skills necessary for autonomy and self-reliance in daily living tasks. This may include skills related to personal hygiene, self-care, household management, time management, decision-making, and problem-solving.
4. The World Around Us: focuses on exploring and understanding the world beyond the immediate environment. It includes topics such as science, geography and history, aiming to broaden learners' knowledge and awareness of their surroundings and society.
5. Outdoor School: promotes learning experiences and exploration of the natural environment. It involves outdoor activities, nature exploration, environmental education, and outdoor play to foster physical activity, sensory engagement, and appreciation for nature.
6. Physical Well-being: addresses aspects of physical health, fitness, and well-being. It includes activities and strategies to support gross and fine motor skills development, physical fitness, healthy lifestyle habits, and overall physical health.
7. Play & Leisure: focuses on promoting recreational activities, leisure pursuits, and social interactions. It aims to provide opportunities for play, creativity, socialisation, and enjoyment, contributing to overall well-being and quality of life.

We deliver a range of programmes, interventions and strategies to support our pupils depending on their area of need(s).

Attention Autism

Attention Autism is an intervention model designed by Gina Davies, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist. It aims to develop natural and spontaneous communication through the use of visually based and highly motivating activities. Gina’s primary objective is that the sessions are fun and “offer an irresistible invitation to learn”!

Intensive Interaction

Intensive interaction is an approach for teaching communication skills to people who do not find it easy communicating or being social. It is for pupils who are still in the early stages of development. The approach focuses on teaching the communication concepts and performances that precede speech development.

TEACCH (Treatment of education of autistic and related communication children)

Supports pupils through:

• Information being presented visually alongside speech (real objects, photos, pictures, symbols, words)

• Routine and predictability

• Having a clear structure and ‘finish’ to activities

Picture Exchange Communication System

The Picture Exchange Communication System® (PECS®) allows people with little or no communication abilities to communicate using pictures.

Assistive Technology

We use Assistive Technology such as Switches and Augmentative Communication Applications such as Grid Player.

Communication Books

Communication books are a way of representing speech/sentences and usually contain a large variety of symbols and words organised into different categories. With a communication book, the pupil is required to point to the symbols to make up the sentence: they may or may not be able to speak the message as they do this but an adult can model this for them. The number of symbols used to make up a sentence will be dependent on the individual’s ability.

Sensory Curriculum

This is designed to enhance the curriculum offer and support students to access a range of multi-sensory experiences. Examples of enrichment activities on offer for our sensory learners include or sensory room, hydrotherapy sessions, swimming, horse riding, Bike4Life, Yoga and a sensory based “Singing Jo’s” session.

TacPac

Communication through touch and music - it draws together touch and music to create a structured half hour of sensory communication between two people. TACPAC creates sensory alignment and helps people of any age who have sensory impairment, for example, visual impairment, developmental delay, complex learning difficulties, Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) or limited or pre-verbal levels of communication.

Signalong

Signalong is a key word sign-supported communication system based on British sign language and is used in spoken word order. It uses speech, sign, body language, facial expression and voice tone to reference the link between sign and word.

See and Learn

See and Learn teaching programmes provide evidence-based activities, guidance and support to help children with Down syndrome improve their speech, language, reading and numeracy skills.

Subject Specific teaching where appropriate and interventions which support this e.g. Language Link, 5 minute Literacy Box, 5 Minute Numeracy Box, Precision Teach

Visual Support Strategies

Visual aids are used consistently in all of our classes. Visual aids are evident in all sessions/activities/trips to support learning e.g. new language and concepts and to support challenges around behaviour particularly transitions.

We use social stories to support pupils in preparing for new situations or change and for pupils to be able to follow instructions for example, on life skills or in a cookery lesson.

Advantages of using visual aids:

• An aspect of ensuring Total Communication
• Proven to be the most effective way to support pupils with complex needs
• Pupils with ASD are visual learners
• Using visual information to communicate takes advantage of how children with ASD naturally prefer to communicate
• Removes the barriers around Social Communication

Smile of Mann Toothbrushing Programme

Dental Hygiene is an important part of overall health. From an early age, regular teeth brushing and dental visits are crucial in building good habits and preventing tooth decay. We appreciate that for many of our pupils tooth brushing is extremely challenging. We take part in this programme daily so that we can support pupils (and parents) with overcoming sensory challenges or discomfort with tooth brushing. This is a very successful programme and pupils do this well as part of their daily routine in school.

Forest School

At HBN, we are fortunate to have an area within the school grounds where we can take part in weekly forest school activities. These aim to provide learner inspired, hands-on experiences in the natural environment.

Impact

We employ a multi-faceted approach to measure the impact of our curriculum pathways, ensuring that we gather comprehensive data on pupil progress and well-being. Here's how we assess and evaluate the effectiveness of our curriculum pathways:

• Curriculum outcomes - what pupils should be able to achieve by the end of a session or block of sessions/intervention/programme. This may be changes in their knowledge, skills, attitude or behaviours.

• BSquared Connecting Steps - Connecting Steps assessment software to track and monitor the small steps of progress made by pupils with special educational needs. This tracks progress across EYFS, Primary, Secondary & Post-16 and is used in all SPC settings on the Isle of Man so the data is transferable. This tool allows us to capture changes in students' knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours across various developmental areas. By regularly assessing student progress using Connecting Steps, we can identify areas of growth, set individualised targets, and adjust teaching strategies accordingly.

Pre-formal, Semi-formal, Informal and Formal Curriculums

Pre-formal Curriculum We track pupil progress using the Engagement Model

Informal/Semi-Formal Curriculum We track pupil progress using Progression Steps

Formal Curriculum We track pupil progress using the National Curriculum (stage not age)

• Teaching and Learning- pupil progress is monitored in our daily lessons and next steps noted and planned for.
• Observations and photographs - we use learning journey’s for our pupils. We record observations alongside photographs.
• The Portage SEND Best Practice Assessment Checklist - this supports the assessment of children who have special educational needs and focuses on their developmental strengths and needs. This document is continued from the Preschool Assessment Centre (if pupils have attended here).
• Individual Education Plans - Individual Education Plan targets are worked on daily and monitor the benefit or difference made to an individual as a result of an intervention or programme. They are reviewed each half term but updated as and when they are achieved and shared with parents in October, February and at review meetings. These targets are written based on individual needs and informed by the curriculum and/or specific challenges that pupils need to develop. These targets are also developed in collaboration with parents.
• Evisense (from September 2024) - An easy-to-use and secure online learning journal helping school and families celebrate their children’s learning and development
• Collaboration with external agencies - such as occupational therapists (OTs), speech and language therapists, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), Respite Services and social workers, allows us to gain additional insights into a pupil’s needs and progress. Through regular meetings, consultations, and joint assessments, we exchange information, share best practices, and develop coordinated support plans to support pupil's complex needs effectively.
• Parent Meetings - regular feedback from parents to determine impact of interventions/strategies and programmes and how pupil’s skills are generalised in other areas apart from the school environment
• Annual Report - these are given to parents in July of each school year

We will know that our curriculum has been successful if our pupils can:

• make sense of the world around them
• achieve their full potential in all aspects of their development regardless of their starting point
• become confident, resourceful, enquiring and develop their independence as a learner
• demonstrate self-respect and positive self-esteem
• show understanding of the attitudes, ideas and values of others
• show respect for others’ feelings
• build positive relationships with other people
• acknowledge their school community and feel valued within it
• engage with and contribute to experiences which take them beyond their own, immediate experience of the world