Our curriculum is mainly based on the areas of study suggested by each young person’s home school. This is so that continuity is maintained, and students continue to progress within their usual setting.
Where this is not possible or appropriate, Emerald Place Clinic School has developed its own holistic curriculum to ensure it meets the need of each student.
The school provides a broad and balanced curriculum for young people with a diverse range of educational needs. We offer classroom environments in which debate and discussion can thrive, free of political bias. Any viewpoint, including that of the teacher or other adults, can be the subject of healthy challenge.
The goals of the curriculum offered are:
Our curriculum is informed by a young person’s situation, health information, previous experiences, aspirations and the school’s layout or resources.
We believe a successful curriculum should be innovative, excite and engage our pupils while providing the appropriate stretch and challenge. Thus, empowering our pupils to have ownership in their learning. Our students are encouraged to aim high. We believe that exceptional results (academic, creative or social achievements) are achievable through a healthy mindset, hope and hard work.
While the school is not legally obliged to follow the National Curriculum, we adhere to it, wherever appropriate for individual students and the group as a whole. We recognise the importance of keeping abreast of curriculum development and opportunities that we develop and exploit to promote and extend young people’s learning.
We recognise the importance of social, moral, spiritual, and cultural (SMSC) development and highlight opportunities within each curriculum subject offered to address, explore, and teach these aspects and values accordingly. Prominent in each of our classrooms are our own values, agreed and developed with young people, which set out the expectations for behaviour and conduct in the classroom.
We firmly believe and are committed to teaching of values which promote cohesiveness within our school and community. We believe that these values which traditionally underpin British society should permeate all aspects of school life and be upheld by every member of the school and wider community. We promote these values through our own school values, curriculum delivery, and the school offer and enrichment activities.
Our small classes assist in the provision of a personalised curriculum. A wealth of information is gathered at point of admission both through formal and informal assessment in conjunction with baseline measurements over this period. This is used to create an overall picture of a student’s strengths and weaknesses to address any gaps in learning and as a starting point to measure progress across the length of the hospital admission.
For some lessons, such as PHSE, Citizenship, RE and Finance, we teach in larger groups to make the learning more effective and develop positive peer interactions.
Emerald Place Clinic School offers a core curriculum of English, Mathematics, Science, PSHE and Computing (Digital Skills). The remainder of the curriculum and option choices in KS3, Functional Skills, GCSE & A level remain flexible in order to accommodate the various demands and challenges presented to us by the student cohorts.
An EHCP is a legal document that describes a child or young person’s special educational, health and care needs. It explains the extra help that will be given to meet those needs and how that help will support the child or young person to achieve what they want to in life.
During a young person’s stay in hospital, a referral to the LEA for an EHCP may be an appropriate way forward for a student to facilitate greater support in school and other areas upon discharge. We are happy to discuss this with parents and the young person and have experience in assisting LEAs to facilitate this process. An EHCP that is already in place will have an annual review completed by our team, and the meeting organised with relevant professionals – both in the community and within the hospital.
We are committed to helping all students achieve the best they can. In line with all UK schools, we maintain a Most Able register and provide enrichment to enable these students to excel in their area. A wide range of provision is used to ensure that students identified in this group are provided with the stimulation to enable them to fulfil their potential.
We are committed to provide equal opportunities for all students and accordingly, we ensure they are not disadvantaged by language differences. Further advice from the home school or young person’s LEA will be sought and specific support provided so any student with English as an additional language will have the same access and opportunities as students for whom English is the primary language.
We provide a highly personalised programme of careers and guidance from an impartial Careers Advisor who visits the school regularly throughout the year. Our advisor offers 1-2-1 appointments as well as group workshops on CV writing, and interview roles plays.
The school also offers careers guidance through our PSHE which addresses career pathways and interests on an individual basis and facilitates work experience where possible.
In addition, we also discuss individual careers pathways and interests through key work sessions.
Young people often express their concern about leaving hospital and what lies ahead in their future, particularly in education.
At the hospital school, we are skilled in managing learning-related anxieties and supporting the transition back to an education environment. Our school reintegration model addresses and facilitates successful transition with the aim of preventing further hospital admissions.
Sometimes it is not possible for a student to return to their previous education provider e.g. a Year 11 student leaving a school which doesn’t have sixth form provision. With the assistance of the home LEA, we are fully involved in supporting the transition to an identified new provider of education.
Many of our students aspire to attend university and our staff are very experienced in supporting the UCAS application process, including applications to Oxbridge and other Russell Group universities.
Emerald Place Clinic School was registered with the DfE in July 2024 and at this time there are no exam and assessment results to publish.
