The purpose of our curriculum is to improve the quality of life for all students and prepare them for the next stages of their life. This includes providing achievable, ambitious and challenging goals for each child that consider their background, their barriers to learning and the possible future that we can prepare them for. We recognise our strong responsibility to develop confidence and strength in tackling issues that arise throughout life, giving students the tools to be able to make good choices for themselves and contribute to the world around them.

Each student has a different story, a different reason for being with us and our curriculum and staff expertise allows us to provide an education which is individualised and focused on ensuring the knowledge and skills taught are relevant and can be transferred to long-term memory.

It is crucial that our curriculum continues to be accessible, engaging and enjoyable for students and so our learning environments are inclusive, immersive and our staff are patient, experienced and adaptable.

We utilise the frequent and ongoing support giving from our internal therapeutic team, including Speech and Language therapy and Occupational Therapy. Therapeutic input feeds into our planning, delivery and assessment of learning. Therapists provide expert information and training to staff and teachers and leaders are challenged to consistently implement the strategies and techniques provided as part of this crucial support.

We utilise a range of different outcomes from different sources to ensure that we can provide a comprehensive assessment of each child as they develop and progress through our curriculum. Our different pathways allow us to provide catered learning outcomes that run alongside the child’s EHCP outcomes.

These allow teachers to plan an appropriate and individualised learning journey for each student, based on their starting points and the end points we feel they can reach.

All of our students are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) or display very similar traits. For this reason, we develop our curriculum in-line with the aims set out in the Autism Education Trust Framework, such as Communication and Interaction, Social understanding and relationships, Sensory processing, Interests, routines and processing, Emotional understanding and self-awareness, Learning and engagement, Healthy living and Independence and community participation.

We offer a broad and balanced curriculum, individually tailored to meet the needs of our students. Our curriculum is ambitious and does not aim to cap the potential of our students but rather help them realise it.

Where appropriate, our curriculum follows the guidelines of the National Curriculum, and we will strive to ensure that the young person works at or towards their appropriate Key Stage. In many ways, our curriculum goes beyond the National Curriculum and we are proud to provide learning experiences which consider the individual child, their individualised outcomes and the journey they wish to take.

Whilst the curriculum is individualised for each student, each pathway has a sequenced curriculum that is topic based and covers a huge range of areas in each subject.

Each student in each pathway has a clear route to achieve qualifications at a range of levels and areas of study, making our curriculum accessible, inclusive and comprehensive.

Students at Stafford Hall School enjoy a range of outdoor and offsite experiences including canoeing, climbing, swimming, visits out in the community and staff enjoy the challenge of developing our curriculum further to include a wider range of experiences that shape our students as they develop into adulthood.