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Our Curriculum Statement

Our curriculum builds lifelong learners. At Ysgol Hendrefelin, we believe learning should be rewarding and enjoyable for everyone, with learner wellbeing at its heart. Our teaching gives every learner the skills, knowledge and experiences they need to take on the world around them.

We design curriculum experiences around each learner. We extend learning beyond the classroom and open up a wide range of community-based learning. Our residential experiences build the life skills learners need to become as independent as possible.

A Shared Understanding of Progress

Staff work closely with learners, parents, governors and the wider community to build a shared understanding of progress. At our school, progress shows in three ways:

  • Growing complexity: we raise challenge as learners are ready for it.
  • Developing independence: we build each learner's autonomy.
  • Greater control: we develop the skills learners need to manage their own learning.

Curriculum Design

Our curriculum meets the four purposes of Curriculum for Wales. We plan learning that develops skills, knowledge and experiences through purposeful concepts and real-life contexts. Learners learn to think, analyse, evaluate and create across different situations.

We have studied the four purposes in detail: what they mean, how they relate to our learners and what they look like here. The four purposes drive our curriculum, alongside our learners and their needs.

Curriculum for Wales has many parts, and we pull them together into one curriculum. As Curriculum for Wales sets out, a curriculum is everything a learner experiences in pursuit of the four purposes. It is not only what we teach. It is how we teach, and why.

The four purposes are:

  • Ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives.
  • Ethical, informed citizens, ready to be citizens of Wales and the world.
  • Enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work.
  • Healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

Equity sits at the heart of Curriculum for Wales. Every learner, whatever their needs, can achieve aspects of the four purposes. Learners practise and develop the skills within the four purposes and the areas of learning and experience. We listen to the learner's voice and use it to co-construct and shape what we offer. The learner's voice is part of how we design the curriculum.

We organise learning through the six Areas of Learning and Experience: Expressive Arts, Health and Well-being, Humanities, Languages, Literacy and Communication, Mathematics and Numeracy, and Science and Technology. Learners practise and develop the skills within them at a level that is right for each learner.

Cross-curricular skills help every learner make progress. We focus on functional literacy and numeracy, since these open the door to learning across every area and into daily life. We build these skills into individual education plans, with targets shaped around each learner's needs. We review these as part of each learner's journey, so support moves with them as they grow.

We develop the skills of creativity and innovation, personal effectiveness, planning and organising, critical thinking and problem-solving. We do this through real-life experiences that motivate learners to play an active part in their communities.

We develop the Welsh language in ways that suit our learners. We weave Welsh into daily school life, so learners meet it as a living language, not only a lesson. Through an ethos of Cynefin, learners build knowledge of their locality, a sense of belonging and their place in the local, national and global community. This roots learning in who our learners are and where they come from, and it helps them value the culture and heritage of Wales.

We teach Relationships and Sexuality Education holistically, at a level that is right for each learner's development. It grows from the positive relationships learners build with their peers, staff, parents and the wider community.

We develop the UNCRC across every area of school life. We have achieved the UNICEF UK Rights Respecting Schools Silver Award, and we are working towards Gold.

We value and embrace diversity. Through daily activities, and through experiences we plan on purpose, learners widen their view of their own culture and other cultures, in local, national and international contexts.

We teach Religion, Values and Ethics through a carefully planned curriculum, pitched at a level that is right for our learners.

Our wider achievements reflect this work. We hold the Eco-Schools Platinum Green Flag Award and the Careers Wales Bronze Quality Award in Careers and Work-Related Experiences.

Assessment

Progress at Ysgol Hendrefelin is unique to each learner. Our learners progress in different ways and in their own time.

The aims and objectives of assessment in our school are:

  • Let learners show what they know, understand and can do.

  • Help learners understand their next step and how to reach it.

  • Help teachers plan work that reflects each learner's needs.

  • Give the headteacher and governors the information they need to judge how well the school is doing.

Learners get regular, clear feedback and time to act on it, so they know how to improve. We do this through success criteria, formative assessment for learning, and longer-term targets such as their Individual Development Plan outcomes. Teachers use a range of formative and summative assessments to record progress and show each learner's next step. Key Stage 4 learners work towards a range of formal accreditations.

Review and Collaboration

We review our curriculum regularly so it keeps meeting our learners' needs. Staff, learners, parents and governors run a steady cycle of self-evaluation focused on the standard of learning and teaching across the school. We work with other schools across Wales and beyond to develop our pedagogy and curriculum design.

We share our practice and welcome other schools to visit, building partnerships that benefit our learners. Our curriculum responds to our learners and changes as their needs change.

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