The intent of the life skills driven curriculum is to ensure that teaching and learning taking place is driven by pupils needs as they transition into adulthood. The aim is ensure they are taught key life skills at an appropriate level in real life situations and environments to bring context and relevance to their learning outside of the classroom and into their everyday lives. Pupils are based full time in our newly refurbished on-site Life Skills bungalow.

The curriculum is to be implemented through a weekly timetable that is driven by 5 key strands of the schools Skills For Life Profile – Domestic, Community, Vocational & Employability, Healthy Lifestyles (Physical, Dietry, Mental & Relational) and Leisure & Recreation.

These daily focuses are then broken down into half termly themes around key skill areas. The half termly themes are carefully constructed to ensure coverage of a broad range of life skills required for independent or supported living as an adult, and to offer a rich and varied experience of opportunities across the academic year.

Each theme is mapped against the many different strands of the Skills For Life Profile which is made up of a range of hard skills (concrete measurable abilities) and soft skills (less tangible interpersonal skills around communication, co-operation and participation).

The soft skills provide opportunities for teaching and learning to help develop and cultivate key skills for accessing their community, building meaningful relationships, developing socially appropriate behaviours, and preparing for employment alongside being taught the practical hard skills.

Pupils are accredited through ASDAN Life Skills challenge units that have been specifically written and based upon the Meadowgate Skills For Life Profile.

Maths and Literacy are taught in context of the life skill strands. Each half term focus each ASDAN accreditation unit include relevant Functional Maths and Numeracy objectives. These are taught and rehearsed as part of the practical sessions giving pupils the opportunity to develop their maths and literacy skills in the concrete context of a life skill – bringing meaning and relevance to learning.

Maths objectives will demonstrate skills across Time, Number, Measure (Capacity, Money, Weight, Temperature)
Statistics and Geometry.

Literacy objectives will demonstrate skills across Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening

Structure

Teaching sessions are designed across the week to provide 3 key processes around developing pupils’ life skills.

Pre-Teaching – The setup of the practical scenario they will be working in and the expectations of what they are learning or working to demonstrate in the application session. This will include teaching of sequences, resources, vocabulary, expectations, barriers, or problems they may face – whatever may be relevant to small groups or individuals.

Application – The practical opportunity to apply the pre-teaching and actively practice the skill in the relevant environment – e.g. domestic skills in a household setting, community skills in local amenities, leisure skills in community leisure facilities ect.

Review & Refinement – The opportunity to review and reflect on their progress and refine the knowledge they have to improve their application of the skill. For example developing the numeracy skills required to complete the laundry and use the washing machine, refine their interactions and communication with unfamiliar staff in a supermarket, rehearsing use of ICT effectively to support them across home, community and work.

Assessment and progress – Pupils progress will be evidenced through their practical work and recorded on Earwig as evidence records. Pupils will have key objectives from the relevant Skills For Life Profile strands identified for each session but staff can also evidence any other objectives that the pupil may have demonstrated. Skills for Life Profile evidence will also be used to complete any relevant ASDAN Accreditation units mapped against the half termly themes. Pupils will also continue to have progress evidenced against their EHCP Targets.