Curriculum

Curriculum Intent Statements

At Brookhaven School we have designed a broad, balanced, and challenging curriculum that is tailored towards each student’s individual need, incorporating:

Social and emotional support
Building of confidence and self-belief
Rigorous academic progress where appropriate
Development of life skills
Support from specialist therapists

Our curriculum is intended to prepare our students for their future, by helping them to seize the opportunities and experiences that will enrich their lives and enable them to take on responsibilities both at Brookhaven and beyond.

Our curriculum acknowledges that all of our students are unique and come to us with their own starting point; students are able to achieve as individuals with their own personal targets.

Students’ emotional well-being and mental health is at the heart of the curriculum, with Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) & Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) delivered in stand-alone weekly lessons, as well as being incorporated within other subject areas. PSHE provides students with the knowledge, skills and understanding to lead confident, healthy, and independent lives. Students also engage in a range of tasks during tutor time to support their social, emotional and mental health.

We deliver life skills lessons in both key stages; our students benefit greatly from learning skills that are linked to real-life situations, and such lessons help to prepare them for adulthood. Where appropriate, we work alongside families to ensure that students are taught these skills in a bespoke manner.

The school will provide every student with an iPad that they use in school. They take their device to every lesson where they are used for starter quiz activities, research tasks, plenaries and individualised learning via platforms such as Lexia, Core 5 and MyMaths.

Students are supported during the school day by holistic therapeutic interventions where appropriate; these may be as explicit as the provision of a sensory diet, or implicit in the implementation of a lesson. This provision can also be supported by external professionals.

Students receive a high-quality teaching and learning experience delivered by staff who are highly skilled in supporting students to overcome their barriers to learning. Staff adopt a ‘can do’ rationale in their lessons, differentiating work appropriately so that students can achieve and reach their potential. Staff strive to build students’ confidence, applauding success at all levels, and developing our students into rounded citizens of the future who are able to make a valuable contribution to both the school and the wider community.

At Brookhaven we have subject specific classrooms for Science, Food Technology, Computing and Art, enabling students to take part in practical lessons where they can learn by doing. By offering practical lessons we can offer a full complement of subjects that reflect the breadth of the national curriculum, whilst ensuring that positive relationships and pastoral support underpin everything that happens in a student’s learning journey.

We also aim to provide challenge for all our students at an appropriate level as well as flexible accreditation pathways that cater for the needs of all our learners. Curriculum intent statements for each subject can be found below:

To deliver a broad, balanced and challenging curriculum.
To inspire in our students a love of the subject and a desire to read for pleasure.
To develop students’ literacy skills so that they are able to function within society.
To provide opportunities for creativity.
To enable students to communicate as effectively as they can in written and/or spoken form.
To empower students to take the next steps in their English education, where appropriate.

To provide a curriculum that is accessible to all.
To maximise the development of every student’s ability and academic achievement through lessons that are creative and engaging.
To allow students to make rich connections across mathematical ideas in order to develop fluency, mathematical reasoning and competence in problem solving at all levels.
To be able to reason and problem-solve mathematically and have a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the subject.
To enable students to apply their mathematical knowledge to other subjects and real life contexts.
To be able to recognise and understand mathematics in the world at an appropriate level.

To experience a broad and balanced science curriculum.
To inspire in our students a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena, by being encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring and to make predictions about how things will behave.
To develop students’ ideas and ways of working that enable them to make sense of the world in which they live through investigation.
To use scientific vocabulary correctly, in order to aid the student’s knowledge and understanding not only of the topic they are studying, but also of the world around them.
To help students to acquire a growing understanding of the nature, processes and methods of scientific ideas.
To prepare students for life in the increasingly scientific and technological world of today and the future.
To make links between science and other subjects.

To prepare students for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life as a member of society.
To provide students with accurate and relevant knowledge about a range of issues and topics, including identity, relationships, healthy lifestyle, risk and safety, equality and diversity, rights and responsibilities, consent, change and resilience, and the use and abuse of power.
To provide students with opportunities to turn that knowledge into personal understanding.
To enable students to explore, clarify and if necessary, challenge, their own and others’ values, attitudes, beliefs, rights and responsibilities.
To provide students with the skills, language and strategies they need in order to live healthy, safe, fulfilling, responsible and balanced lives.

To inspire in our students a love of the subject and a desire to create art, to participate in crafts and to visit museums and art galleries for pleasure.
To empower students to take the next steps in their Art education, where appropriate.
To develop students’ critical, historical and analytical skills.
To give students opportunities to experience diverse and challenging art and artist reflecting the society we live in.

To develop successful learners who are as independent as possible and who enjoy learning, who make outstanding progress and achieve or exceed their potential in Humanities.
To provide a flexible and an accessible accreditation pathway that will cater for the needs of our learners.
To inspire in our students a love of Humanities and a desire to develop their understanding of the world around them.
To develop students critical thinking and analytical skills through immersive experiences.
To empower students to take the next steps in their humanities education.
To develop students’ understanding of the world, hem the value of perspective and balanced analytical thought which will support them in becoming functioning members of society

To allow students an opportunity to reach their full potential in a range of vocational and creative subjects.
To inspire in our students a love of the learning and a desire to explore different learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom.
To empower students to take the next steps in their education and training, where appropriate.
To develop students’ research, communication, organisational and presentation skills so that they are able to function within society.
To equip students to become positive members of their local, national and global community.

To provide a broad curriculum that encompasses computer science, information technology and digital literacy.
To educate our students on how to use technology positively, effectively, responsibly and safely.
To give students the experiences and opportunities to explore and apply knowledge in a safe environment.
To understand there is always a choice when using technology.
To model the positive use of technology across the curriculum.
To embed the use of technology across the whole curriculum in order to make learning creative and accessible.
To educate our students in the use of a variety of technologies so that they have the independence and confidence to choose the best tool to fulfil any task and challenge.
To enable our students to become effective digital citizens in a changing world.

To give students an overview of the construction industry / sector.
To provide students with an introduction to Health and Safety.
To develop skills in carpentry, electrical installation work and technical drawing.
To engage students in their learning and provide them with opportunities to develop a range of techniques, personal skills and attributes essential for successful performance in further education and the steps to working life.

To develop students’ cooking skills, including being safe and hygienic in the kitchen, to enable them to function as independently as they are able.
To inspire in our students a love of cooking and a desire to cook for pleasure and potentially employment.
To enable students to share their recipes and experiences of home cooking.
To empower students to be able to develop a lifelong skill and enjoyment in cooking well-balanced and nutritious food for themselves and others.

To develop student's creative imagination and design skills.
To give students the capability and knowledge to solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts considering their own and other’s needs, wants and values.
To acquire a broad subject knowledge and draw on different disciplines such as maths, science, engineering, computing and art in assisting with their product development.
To learn how to take risks within a safe, closely monitored environment.
To become more resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens.
To develop a better understanding of how design and technology affects daily life and the wider world.

To prepare students for everyday life.
To equip students to live as independently and safely as possible in the future.
To equip students with ability to make choices and communicate their needs.
To inspire our students to make positive and informed choices about future living, education and work.
To empower students to take the next steps in education, training or work, and as they move into adulthood, independent living.

To participate in a range of music-making activities.
To develop skills on a variety of instruments.
To develop students’ self-discipline and self-confidence.
To demonstrate students’ ability in an area not dependent on language or literacy skills.
To enable students to participate in both formal and informal performances.
To be involved in activities that may provide a fulfilling hobby or pastime and promote lifelong learning.

Supports the development of a relationship between the learner and the natural world.
Aims to promote the holistic development of all those involved, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creative learners.
Offers learners the opportunity to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and to themselves.

To provide students with opportunities to develop their understanding of relevant issues which can impact social and emotional health.
To develop learners who are able to recognise and understand emotions in themselves and others.
To work with learners to develop successful strategies which they can use to self- regulate their emotions where needed.
To develop learners who have good self-awareness, being aware of their own strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivations and emotions.
To develop learners who are motivated and engaged.
To develop the ability to empathise amongst learners.
To provide students with opportunities to develop social skills.
To empower students to seek support where needed.
To give students the tools to manage their social and emotional health so that they become functioning members of society.

To develop successful learners who are as independent as possible and who enjoy learning, who make outstanding progress and who achieve or exceed their potential in the subject.
Allow students to experience a range of activities that help then to develop their health, fitness and well-being developing competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities.
To provide a challenging curriculum that inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sports and other physically demanding activities.
To provide flexible accreditation pathways that will cater for the needs of our learners.
To encourage the conventions of fair play, honest competition and good sporting behaviour as individual participants, team members and spectators. Thus, embedding life-long values such as co-operation, collaboration and equity of play.
To empower students to make positive contributions across School through sporting sessions and events enabling them to function in society.

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