The aim of the school is to provide a learning environment that endeavours to meet the needs of the diverse population of children and young people for whom we are responsible and where everyone is a learner. The curriculum we provide ensures breadth and balance, is child focussed, ambitious, engaging and fun. It provides opportunities for pupils to make progress academically with a deep understanding of what this looks like for our children and young people.  We balance an entitlement to broad and rich experiences whilst preparing our pupils for the challenges they will face into adulthood. 

To deliver our aims we provide pathways to learning for pupils that holistically take into account their requirements not only to learn but to be supported physically, emotionally and medically. Pupils and students are offered a curriculum that is tailored to their strengths and to their needs and teaching takes into account personal learning styles and challenges pupils to be aspirational.

The curriculum is underpinned by the pupil’s EHC Plan and Access to Learning Targets which are derived from the long term outcomes on the plan and agreed at Annual Review Meetings. 

Through working closely with our families and the professionals involved in our pupils’ lives we ensure a sense of a community and a happy and welcoming school where everyone is valued.

Our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is for the younger children at Mayfield School and classes follow an Early Years approach from the time they begin school through to Year 3.

Activities consider our belief that play is central to children’s learning and nurtures not only developmental and academic abilities, but also the children’s emotional development.

The EYFS classes offer a stimulating, nurturing, and safe environment for pupils to explore in which the children may develop socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually. We recognise that young children are active learners, and they learn through all their senses, through exploration, investigation, experimentation, listening and watching.

A continuous provision allows children to develop their interactions encouraging them to learn through exploration and play whilst practising new skills and developing interests. Staff support and further develop these skills whilst nurturing the individual allowing children to build relationships in which they feel safe and secure.

The curriculum ensures that children have opportunities to interpret their environment, to learn to make choices for themselves and to grow in confidence, understanding their value within the school community.  As children develop and make progress expectations increase, more group sessions are offered, and children will be encouraged to join these as they are able.

Pupils are assessed using Characteristics of Effective Learning, Development Matters and Early Learning Goals which support children’s learning by closely matching a child’s current needs and what is planned for them. The Characteristics of Effective Learning and the prime and specific Areas of Learning and Development are all interconnected. 

Pupils in this Key Stage continue to be offered an Early Year play based approach to learning through a planned curriculum. Pupils will still access a continuous provision model but consolidation of this learning and greater challenge will be offered through enhanced provision with more adult directed learning. There will be aspects which will be more formalised such as 1:1 reading, maths and phonics activities but these will be balanced with sensory and child led explorations. Foundation subjects will be taught through thematic half termly topics in a way that is meaningful, relevant and enjoyable for pupils.

Personalised Access to Learning targets will be taken from children’s EHC plans agreed on in Annual Review meetings and individual areas of need. Time is prioritised for pupils to develop their basic skills such as independent toileting and eating. As with the EYFS and higher key stages the focus remains on ensuring that our pupils are effective communicators and as such communication is at the centre of all that we do.

The KS 1 offer encompasses two classes and dependent on the intake in EYFS may include pupils in Year 3 and Year 4

In lower Key Stage 2 pupils begin to make the transition from an EYFS play based curriculum, to a slightly more formal curriculum where the emphasis is on making progress in the core curriculum areas of English and Maths. Personal Development forms the third core area. Teachers begin to plan for more group activities to encourage pupils to learn alongside each other. Foundation subjects are taught through thematic half termly topics where creative child-led learning opportunities ensure pupils are active participants in their learning.

At Upper Key stage 2, pupils follow a more structured timetable. This builds on the skills pupils have previously developed extending their capacity to become more independent learners. There is an increasing emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking, with an expectation that pupils will take more control of their learning and develop greater personal responsibility. The emphasis throughout the KS remains on effective communication and choice making, with emergent writers and readers following structured programmes of study.

Inevitably pupils will sit on different stages of the learning continuum and teachers will be responsive to this in terms of offering continuous and enhanced provision where appropriate.

All pupils will have individualised Access to Learning Targets set at annual reviews of Education Health and Care plans (EHCPs.) The targets and EHCP paperwork are written with parents and incorporate the views of pupils.

As our pupils and students can remain on the school site for over 10 years it is important that they feel a sense of growth and change as they move up through the school and into the secondary department. KS3 provides the link between the primary curriculum that pupils will have experienced and the skills that they will need moving forward into adult life. Opportunities for independent problem solving will be prioritised and time will be given for students to make mistakes in order to develop these skills.

The core subjects of English and Maths will continue to be taught as we recognise the impact the development of these skills will have on long term outcomes for our young people. Personal Personal Development will become increasingly individualised with a shift towards life skills and future pathways begin to be identified. Half termly projects will ensure coverage of the foundation subjects but with less emphasis than previously. Students will be encouraged to make connections between their school-based learning and the skills that they will need in the future in a variety of different contexts.

All provision will be informed by the student’s EHC Plan and Access To Learning Targets which are derived from the plan and agreed with families and parents and professionals at the annual EHC plan review meeting. Students contribute through the Listen To me process.

The aim of the SLD curriculum at KS4 is to prepare our young people for the transition up to Mayfield College in year 11 and subsequently into the next part of their lives and adulthood.

This phase of their learning journey is all about using the skills that they have learned throughout the school and applying them in a range of different contexts, ensuring that they become more confident at problem solving and being as independent as possible.

The students will follow an increasingly functional curriculum and there is a shift in focus toward the 4 areas of Preparing for Adulthood (Education, Training and Employment/ Independent living/ Friends, Relationships and Community/Good health) and opportunities to access the community to develop their life skills and work-related learning. These opportunities will include accessing Mayfield College on a weekly basis in order to facilitate a smooth transition for those students that have been identified to be on the Life & Living or Employability pathways. Students are also streamed into ability groups for Maths and English to prepare them for these pathways.

All provision will be informed by the student’s EHC Plan and Access To Learning Targets which are derived from the plan and agreed with families and parents and professionals at the annual EHC plan review meeting. Students contribute through the Listen To me process.

The PMLD/Sensory – Engagement curriculum has been designed to meet the needs of those pupils and students who have profound difficulties in communication and need specialist additional support to access their curriculum. As with the rest of the school the areas of need outlined in their EHC Plan underpins all areas of their provision and learning is targeted around these needs. At Mayfield we believe very strongly that having highly specialised teaching groups for this cohort of youngsters offers them a personalised and progressive curriculum full of rich experiences in environments that appropriately adapt to their multi-sensory needs.  Engagement lies at the centre of our curriculum offer and we strive to stimulate our youngsters to respond to classroom activities by ensuring these are creative and fun and to understand the role of their voice (whether that be through vocalisations, choices or AAC) in developing some autonomy in their experiences.