"To enable pupils to reach their communication potential"
GIBSIDE SCHOOL
Curriculum Statement
Co-ordinator; Jayne Handy
Date Approved; June 2015
Date of Next Review; June 2017
Gibside operates in much the same way as a mainstream school. All children follow the
National Curriculum or in Nursery and Reception, national guidelines for the Early Years
Foundation Stage.
Aims
The school has high expectations of all children and aims to:
 Enable pupils to interact and communicate with a wide range of people
 Enable pupils to express preferences, communicate needs, make choices and make
decisions.
 Promote a positive attitude towards learning, so that our pupils enjoy coming to school,
and acquire a good basis for lifelong learning.
 Teach children about their developing world, including how their environment and
society have changed over time.
 To help children to understand Britain’s cultural heritage.
 Promote self-advocacy or the use of a range of systems of supported advocacy.
 Teach children to have an awareness of their own spiritual development and understand
right from wrong.
 Prepare pupils for an adult life in which they have the greatest possible degree of
autonomy and support them in having relationships with mutual respect and dependence
on each other
 Encourage pupils to explore, to question and to challenge.
 Encourage children to have respect for themselves and develop high self esteem, and to
be able to live and work co- operatively with others.
 Provide a wide range of learning experiences for pupils in each key stage suitable for
their age.
Many of our pupils will have personal priority needs which are central to their learning and
quality of life. Some pupils will have therapeutic needs or require paramedical care. The
range of therapeutic needs and paramedical care is wide. Provision for these needs is a
legitimate and essential element of the curriculum and should be planned for. This provision
enhances individual pupils’ readiness to learn in many ways, for example by:
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Supporting the accurate identification and assessment of individual needs in language
and communication
Positioning pupils so that they learn effectively
Helping pupils to maintain good posture, appropriate muscle tone and ease of movement,
and encouraging the development, refinement or maintenance of skills in independent
mobility
Helping pupils to manage eating and drinking
Promoting relaxation and support to help pupils manage stress and anxiety.
Providing palliative care for painful or degenerative conditions to ensure pupils’ health
and well being.
Promoting pupils’ autonomy and independence through the use of specialist aids and
equipment.
Allowing pupils’ behaviour and alternative ways of communication to be acknowledged and
understood.
Children with more severe and complex needs will have some adaptations made to their
curriculum to ensure it matches their needs and provides particular experiences;
PMLD Curriculum.
The curriculum is approached differently for children with profound and multiple learning
difficulties as they are likely to remain within the earlier p-levels for all of their time at
school. The curriculum has been adapted to meet the unique needs of these children (see
complex needs policy for further information)
Curriculum Organisation
Planning
 Schemes of work have been created for all subjects with the exception of Maths and
English
 Each scheme of work contains topics for the half term/term. Where possible links
should be made to ensure opportunities for cross-curricular learning.
 The curriculum is planned carefully so that over the three terms there is full coverage
of all National Curriculum subjects and Early Learning Goals.
 Teachers use the objectives to translate them into activities for the children.
 Learning and teaching is flexible based on children’s current knowledge and skills.
 Whole school themed days/events will occur on a regular basis to promote a particular
curriculum area, in accordance with the School Development Plan and priorities.
Monitoring and Review
Teachers are required to ensure that subjects are covered in accordance with national
requirements.
All teaching staff are responsible for the planning and delivery of the curriculum on a dayto-day basis and for making cross-curricular links where appropriate. Staff make
amendments to planning in order to optimise learning opportunities when they arise.
The delivery of the curriculum is monitored through:
 Regular formal and informal discussions with staff.
 Monitoring planning to ensure curriculum coverage. This is monitored by the School
Improvement Teams, led by Senior Management Leaders.
 Carrying out work scrutinies alongside planning to ensure cross-curricular links are
optimised.
 Observing learning and teaching to ensure progress is being made.
 Regular reviews of the curriculum
 Making changes where necessary.
 Formulating an action plan to move the school forward.
 Speaking with the children about their learning.
 Analysis of data to monitor impact on achievement
Teaching Time
At Gibside our weekly teaching time is
KS1 - 22 hours 55 mins.
KS2 - 23 hours 45 mins.
There must be 36 weeks of teaching time in a teaching year of 38 weeks (190 days). This
allows 2 weeks (10 days) for special curriculum events, and activities such as religious
festivals, concerts, educational visits, sports day. At Gibside we use this time for whole
school celebrations, social activities with parents, residential experiences and curriculum
focussed weeks.
Guidance for Curriculum Planning
Medium Term Planning
Teachers should complete a medium term planning grid each half term. It provides the
following information: 
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Objectives to be covered by the class group in English & Maths for the half term.
Shared texts for the half term.
Visits planned for the half term and the curriculum links.
In the Early Years Foundation Stage
 Pupils learn through a theme based topic which changes every term.
 Staff consider the individual needs, interests and stages of development of each child
and they use this information to plan challenging, inspiring and enjoyable experiences.
 Activities and resources that will be used to meet the Development Matters
targets/Early Learning goals are set out for all seven areas of Learning ensuring there
is a breadth of coverage (see Early Years Policy for more information)
Weekly Planning
English and Communication:
 Focussed learning outcomes should be identified for all areas. These are differentiated
according to pupil needs (usually 3 groups).
 Generally 3-4 texts to be used per half term. For children with the most severe and
complex needs, texts may be revisited more frequently.
 A balance of communication reading and writing objectives must be planned each week.
They should also indicate opportunities via cross curricular links – reading, writing and
communicating across the curriculum.
 The assessment column on the weekly planning sheet should include annotations and
identify opportunities for AFL and next steps.
Maths:
 Focussed learning outcomes should be identified for all areas. Over the year there will
be coverage of all aspects of the seven strands of Maths. The areas that are being
covered in a particular week will be identified in the weekly planning.
 The weekly planning will indicate opportunities via cross curricular links – for developing
maths skills communicating across the curriculum.
 The assessment column on the weekly planning sheet should include annotations and
identify opportunities for AFL and next steps.
Other Subjects areas:
 Focussed learning outcomes should be identified for all subject areas to be taught
 The assessment column on the weekly planning sheet identifies opportunities for AFL
and identifies next steps.
In the Early Years Foundation Stage
 Weekly planning follows children’s interests
 Opportunities for next steps are identified
 Adult directed group sessions are set out within weekly planning
 Group sessions are planned for in further detail in the form of ‘Large Group Plans’ and
are updated regularly.
Planning & Assessment Guidance for PPA Teacher
The PPA teacher follows class teacher’s medium term plans. When taking sole responsibility
for teaching a foundation subject the PPA teacher should follow the objectives for that
subject/topic.
The usual school proforma for weekly planning should be used. Copies of medium term &
weekly plans should be kept in the planning file on the server.
Assessment strategies to be used by the PPA teacher:  Use class observation schedules for individual pupils as appropriate.
 Annotate work.
 Photographs/assessment comments in pupil’s work books for practical activities where
there is no recording by the pupil.
 Contribute to/complete summative assessment records as appropriate.
 Annotate planning
Individual Learning Plan
 ILP targets are set and evaluated termly – October, February and June.
 The ILP should identify strategies to support pupils’ in the area which presents a
barrier to their learning.
 For each pupil 2-3 targets are identified which are additional to or different from the
differentiated curriculum plan. Where strategies are in line with normal classroom
methods and approaches there is no need to identify these separately on the ILP but
where particular strategies are necessary these should be written in.
 2 copies of each new ILP should be sent home to parents/carers. Their contribution
should be added and a copy returned to school.
 Parent teacher meetings are a form for discussion of progress and evaluation of ILP
targets.
 Joint communication Targets set by multi-disciplinary teams also form part of the ILP.
Home Learning: Home learning gives children the opportunity to practise and reinforce
their learning and also helps parents and carers to understand more clearly what their
children are learning in school. Homework is given as set out in the Home Learning
Agreement. See Home Learning Policy.
Meeting Statement Objectives
Short term targets are formulated from long term outcomes/statement objectives at
single plan and annual review meetings. ILP targets work towards these targets as an
ongoing part of curriculum planning. Links to ILP and annual review/single plan targets
should be apparent.
Community Links
Where possible we will invite in parents or members of the local community. Visits to
places of interest will also be planned regularly to support curriculum objectives.