Our Classes

Welcome to Willow Class, where we are following a Semi-Formal Curriculum.  The learning experiences the children have in Willow Class are matched to our stage of development and are highly personalised to meet our individualised needs.  Our curriculum will look a little different because it needs to be, we make sense of the world and process sensory information from it in our own individual ways.  We learn best when learning is related to our own experiences and is presented in a playful and fun way.

Willow Class children learn through play in a “hands on” and practical way because that is what engages us.   At times, you might see us doing a sensory circuit or getting messy to stimulate our senses, or to help us to regulate.  You may also hear our adults singing with us as this can help us to learn, or transition to another activity or location around the school.  We need to break down our tasks and learning into small steps, and to repeat learning to ensure it is embedded, before we try it out in different situations and contexts.  We like consistent routines in Willow Class, as they help us to feel safe and to develop independence in the things we do.

Some of us are very self-contained and focused on what we like to do, so we are learning how to play and interact positively with our friends too. During our day, there are frequent opportunities for us to make choices and to communicate them with both adults and other children.  We may communicate through our gestures, actions and behaviours.  Some of us use some verbal communication.   Our voice is important, so our adults support us and model communication using photographs, Makaton, PECs Symbols, Assisted Language Displays and Communication

In Pine Class, we adopt a semi-formal approach to the curriculum, allowing us to tailor our lessons to the individual needs of each pupil. We place a strong emphasis on fostering independence, with activities such as making snacks, engaging in creative tasks like music, dance, and cooking, and encouraging structured play.

Communication is central to our classroom environment. We model calm and clear communication, utilising a variety of methods to ensure that every pupil can express themselves, through the use of PECs, ALDs, communication books, symbols, and some Makaton to support our pupils.

We provide opportunities for pupils to strengthen their Phonics skills, including participation in streamed Phonics sessions. Maths and English are integrated into our timetable. We also offer continuous provision activities that promote collaboration, turn-taking, and sensory engagement.

Pine Class is known for being outgoing and active. We focus on helping our pupils manage their emotions positively, build strong friendships, and share attention through activities like “bucket time.” Our goal is to create a supportive, communicative, and dynamic environment where every student can thrive both socially and academically.

Welcome to Cedar Class, we are following an informal curriculum. The Informal curriculum is designed for pupils with complex learning difficulties and based on a deep understanding of what the individual pupil needs. The Informal curriculum offers six schemes of work, namely My Communication, My Sensory Play, My Physical Wellbeing, My Independence, My Creativity and My Outdoor Learning.

We believe having a good relationship with staff members is paramount to the pupils’ learning experience. Through intensive interaction pupils can learn to trust the adults and the adults can learn about the pupils’ abilities and preferred communication approaches, their feelings, their likes and dislikes. Staff can then find objects and activities of interest through the safe and secure ‘friendship’ that has formed. Once established, the activities can be used to motivate the pupils to communicate, express themselves and develop independence.

Our pupils following this pathway will spend a large proportion of the day maintaining and consolidating what s/he has already learnt so as not to lose skills and understanding. The objectives, targets, sessions and evaluations will reflect this repetition. New concepts and understandings will be taught, when appropriate, in the framework of a familiar and structured session or activity. Cedar will take part in daily phonics sessions with a focus on pre reading skills and exploring environmental sounds whilst also learning about letter and sounds recognition. The timetable ensures that we are focusing on core subjects such as Literacy and Maths, whilst also giving children the opportunity to be creative through subjects such as dance art and music.

Welcome to Larch Class, we are following a Semi-formal/ Formal Curriculum, meaning we engage in practical lessons which develop our independence alongside lessons in functional maths and literacy. We are a classroom with a mixture nonverbal, semi verbal and verbal children so when communicating with us please use simple language alongside our communication aids: communication books, ALD’s, symbols and Makaton.

In our classroom we are continuing to develop our skills in building relationships, we do this through practicing sharing, turn taking, playing and working in pairs, small groups or whole class activities. Independence is a key focus of our curriculum so we are given daily opportunities to practice our independence such as through: completing our daily morning routine, transitioning around school and cleaning up after ourselves.

We are a class with a mixture of emerging readers and early readers, meaning we are beginning to read and decode words and sight words. We are able to further develop our reading skills through our daily phonics lessons and pleasure for reading sessions. We love reading, playing and being creative come inside and have some fun with us! 😊

Welcome to Cherry Class! We are a lively bunch who love to learn through play. We can find it hard to follow instructions and direction which is why we follow an “Informal Curriculum”  and we are given lots of time to explore at our own pace and the freedom to ‘opt-out’ if we don’t like something. We require a lot of support from adults throughout the day to help us learn new things and take care of ourselves and each other. We use behaviour, vocalisation and gesture to communicate, although we are beginning to use PECS, symbols, ALD’s, Makaton and even the odd single word!

We try our best to join in with all the fun activities but some of us also need lots of extra movement breaks and access to sensory circuits and different areas of the school, such as soft-play. We are a very friendly and sociable class, so come on in and say hello! We look forward to meeting you!

Welcome to Lime Class, we are following a Semi-Formal Curriculum. The Semi Formal Curriculum is designed to give our children the freedom to be inquisitive, explore and the freedom to be creative. We will be focussing on core areas for development, some of which will include: ‘My communication, my play and leisure, my thinking and problem solving and my independence’.

Children will be engaging in role play and real-life scenarios and encouraged to complete life skill tasks independently such as cooking, self-dressing and self-feeding skills in PSHE as well completing tasks with greater independence. There will be an emphasis on communication and children will be supported to use their communication tools, books and symbols to communicate in a range of contexts, throughout the day. Staff will promote use of communication through regular modelling, signing and PECS exchanging. The classroom environment also reflects a communication rich environment that provides our pupils with opportunities to communicate through our communication wall, visual timetables and Aided language displays.

Lime Class will take part in daily phonics sessions with a focus on pre reading skills and exploring environmental sounds whilst also learning about letter and sounds recognition. The timetable ensures that we are focusing on core subjects such as Literacy and Maths, whilst also giving children the opportunity to be creative through subjects such as dance art and music.

Welcome to Lilac Class!  Some pupils are following our Pre-formal curriculum and some pupils are following our Informal Curriculum (AH, TH and AL)

Our staff use a play-based, sensory approach to support all our learning needs. We are heavily focused on Engagement and work with the 5 areas of the Engagement Model (exploration, realisation, anticipation, initiation, and persistence).

We are learning to become effective communicators and to develop our interaction skills. We use a range of communication strategies with our pupils such as intensive interaction, TaSSeLs on body signing, eye gaze alongside body language and gestures.  Some of our pupils rely on adults interpreting their body language and vocalisations to support their communication.  Our semi-formal pupils are supported by Makaton, Aided Language Displays and Communication Books, please model the use of these throughout the day.

Please follow our individual communication strategies and take advice from our regular members of staff.  Communication will be supported all day, every day!

We need regular changes of position throughout the day and require daily physiotherapy to support our physical wellbeing.

We are a class of pre-readers and are learning to understand that print and symbols in our environment carry meaning and to notice and respond to familiar words and phrases.  To develop this, we need lots of opportunities to listen and respond to spoken language, e.g., simple instructions, call and response, musical interaction, stories, and rhymes. Please use lots of visual prompts such as our visual timetable, photos, now and next boards.  We are working on our pre-maths skills through play and by having opportunities to develop our problem-solving skills and having exposure to early number activities.

Some of us are working within the engagement model, ensuring the 5 areas are being developed (Exploration, Realisation, Anticipation, Persistence, Initiation).

We are learning to show awareness of the passage of time through routines and events.  We use a range of audio cues to support our understanding of transitions throughout the day.

Please provide us with lots of opportunities to develop our independence.

We are Rowan Class, we follow a semi-formal/ Formal curriculum which provides us with functional opportunities to become independent. We are a mix of verbal, semi- verbal and non-verbal pupils so please use simple language when communicating with us, alongside our communication aids; ALD’s, communication books  and Makaton. We are a class with early readers, pre-readers and emerging readers therefore symbolic means, visual prompts, spoken language, gestures and signing are used to develop our literacy skills.

We enjoy musical interactions, stories, rhymes to support this. We are learning to build relationships through sharing, turn taking, structured play and group activities. We are given lots of opportunities to build our independence and try things on our own such as; putting our coats and bags away, taking out our snack boxes, helping carry the dinner box, dressing, undressing, putting our shoes on and helping to tidy up.  We are friendly and lively class, we love singing, sports, sensory play, making music, dancing, being creative and meeting new people so come in and say ‘hello’.

Welcome to Beech class, we are following a Semi-Formal Curriculum. This allows us to make learning an individual experience whilst building the foundations for pupils to grow. We want pupils to be as independent as possible through the choices they make and the opportunities within the curriculum, from snack making to creative arts, pupils learn the skills they need to apply to their life within the community as well as at school.

Pupils are taught and use a variety of communication methods with PECS, ALDs, Symbol support and Makaton.  We also encourage verbal communication and a strong emphasis on reading and phonics. Our continuous provision activities allow pupils further opportunities to develop skills through Mark making, turn taking and sensory play.

We have a great emphasis on exploration and discovery – allowing pupils to investigate and discover new skills and more about themselves as they progress through school. We also spend time developing friendships within the class to build their social skills and interaction with their peers.

We involve parents and carers at every level using our Class Dojo to send information, photos and details of how your child is progressing. Beech Class is the place to be!