Our SEND specialist curriculum for our students
We’re a holistic provision, which means that each student’s progress is valued and celebrated, both within their academic learning and their personal development.
Curriculums and qualifications
To meet the range of needs our young people have, we use a range of curriculums and qualifications at SENse Learning.
Primary functional curriculum
For primary-aged children, we developed a primary functional curriculum that offers a streamlined version of the national curriculum, that they can work to, at their own pace.
Functional Skills curriculum
A nationally recognised curriculum offered as an alternative to GCSEs, children of secondary-school age and above can gain the qualifications and skills they need to move into work and adult life.
Our own SENse WILL framework™
We’ve created a bespoke SENse curriculum called the WILL framework™ which sits alongside our academic curriculums. The WILL framework™ covers four main areas: wellbeing, interaction, life skills and learning skills.
A range of qualifications and certifications
As well as Functional Skills qualifications, students have the opportunity to gain a range of other certificates through ASDAN programmes and Arts Award qualifications we offer.
Our partners
Primary functional curriculum
For our primary-aged students we have developed our own primary functional curriculum. Based on the essential components of the primary national curriculum we’ve created a streamlined version that our students can work through at their own pace.
For children who may be aiming to reintegrate back into primary education, they will have the key academic knowledge needed to slot successfully back into the classroom. Likewise, there’s an easy shift up to the Functional Skills curriculum when children reach secondary school age.
Functional Skills curriculum
Our academic curriculum for secondary-school aged pupils and above follows the nationally recognised Functional Skills curriculum. This curriculum was developed as an alternative to GCSEs and focuses on the essential functional skills students need to move successfully onto work and adult life.
It’s a well-established curriculum, used nationally across the UK. Functional Skills Levels 1 and 2 in Maths and English are accepted by many colleges and post-16 providers as an alternative to GCSEs.
The WILL framework™
We’re committed to celebrating every aspect of progress our students make. Which led us to create our bespoke WILL framework™ to sit alongside the academic curriculums we offer.
Our WILL framework™ is split into four areas: wellbeing, interaction, life skills and learning skills. These four areas link to the areas of a student’s EHCP and ensure we’re tracking progress across all aspects of their development.
It supports our holistic educational approach and allows our teams to monitor, evidence and celebrate small steps of progress which can be demonstrated in infinite ways.
ASDAN and Arts Award qualifications and certifications
As well as Functional Skills qualifications, students have the opportunity to gain a range of other certificates with us through ASDAN and Arts Award programmes.
ASDAN
ASDAN’s Lifeskills challenges and short courses enable our students to gain certificates for completing work across a wide range of subjects and interest areas. Some of the most popular include building a famous landmark in Minecraft, cooking a meal on a budget and animal care.
Short courses are available across a variety of areas including the core subjects, vocational tasters, sports and personal development. Students are supported to work towards these through practical activities in the community as well as research and learning activities.
Arts Award
We offer four different levels of the Arts Award, certified by Trinity College London. From Discover – an entry level award designed to start young people on their creative journey – right up to the Silver award, where students develop their own talent and learn the organisational skills needed to take on a leadership role in the arts.
The flexibility and scope within the Arts Award allows students to use their interests to explore the arts, try a range of arts activities and discover local arts and organisations. Recently students have become immersed in animation, photography and singing as well as more traditional painting and craft activities.
Visit our Content hub to read the article our Exams Coordinator wrote about the benefits of the Arts Awards.
What learning looks like at SENse
Education doesn't need to look like worksheets and textbooks. We know that given the space to learn in a way that suits them, our students make progress in all sorts of ways. We value each learning experience equally – learning core skills in English and maths is just as important to our students, as learning to feel confident leaving the house or speaking to their peers.
All of our sessions are set up in a way that allows the student to feel successful from the start, by using their interests and leading with fun and enthusiasm. This builds our students' confidence in their learning ability and allows them to feel able to try new things in session.
Using our WILL framework and academic curriculums as our starting point, our team will work hard to get to know the students and their interests, aspirations and preferred ways of learning. The team then creates an interest-based, fun and engaging curriculum that is fully personalised to the individual student.
This means that no two sessions look the same! Where one student might be learning measurements whilst cooking, another might be developing their social communication skills by ordering a drink in a cafe.
We use the home and the local community to ensure our students are offered a wide range of experiences and learning opportunities. In some locations, we also have student clubs they can attend such as Forest Club or Animal Club, where students can gain hands-on skills whilst being able to practise socialising with their peers at a pace they manage.
Setting the right path
We offer four different pathways which are carefully considered to help guide our students in the right direction, at the right time. On referral, we carefully consider the pathway most suited to a young person’s needs and continuously re-evaluate to check that they are still following the right path.
Heading for a bright future
We offer a range of qualifications to suit all sorts of aspirations. This case study demonstrates how we make education make SENse for individuals. T’s journey, building strong relationships with tutors and finding the right pace, helped them achieve Functional Skills and ASDAN qualifications, and set them on the path to college and a future career.
