Teaching & Learning

 

The Kassia Academy is specialist learning environment for students with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND). We cater for students with a broad ability range and most of our students achieve GCSE level qualifications by the end of Key Stage 4.  At Kassia our approach draws together our whole school approaches to curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning. We aim to provide a high quality of education to our students and to ensure that they achieve their best possible outcomes.

 

INTENT (Why and What)

 

Our teaching and learning is designed to be creative, inspiring and memorable to provide our children with opportunities where doors are opened to them for the future with the hope that they will learn to find a love of school.   Due to the difficulties that many of our students face, we include Alternative Provision (AP) opportunities throughout the year to ensure that our children have positive life experiences alongside the curriculum.

 

IMPLEMENTATION (How and When)

 

We aim to provide a full reading diet for all pupils in a literacy rich curriculum. Pupils regularly read 1:1 and access guided reading each week.  Pupils are then exposed to age appropriate texts through the teaching of English lessons. We feel that this in turn enhances pupils writing skills by providing a context for writing, which is something that our pupils struggle with.  Maths is taught following the mixed age curriculum as adopted from the White Rose scheme of learning.  Our approach to the Foundation Subjects is cross curricular and we seek opportunities to make authentic links with the core subjects whenever possible.

 

IMPACT (Measurement of progress against targets)

Pupil’s will increasingly engage in learning, where historically, this is something that they were unable to do in other educational settings.  Pupils will work towards core learning objectives from the national curriculum, with end goal of children leaving with a range of qualifications from City and Guilds and NCFE to GCSE’s.

 

Through teaching and learning we aim to:

 

·       To ensure a broad, balanced, enriched and ambitious curriculum which is accessible for all students

·       To hold high expectations for our learners and carefully plan their learning journeys to ensure that they are well prepared for their next stages of education, employment or training

·       To ensure students are successfully prepared for adulthood

·       To enable those students, to access qualifications which support their aspirations and planned outcomes

·       To assess student progress and take action to improve learning outcomes for individual students where difficulties have been identified

·       To capture evidence of learning and enable regular access to progress information for parents/carers

·       To ensure students understand and remember key concepts through the application of effective teaching and learning strategies

·       To monitor the progress students make towards their individual EHCP outcomes throughout the full range of our provision and work closely with parents and carers to plan and personalise support

·       To monitor whether the outcomes for students are improving as a result of the additional provision being made for them

·       To maintain regular continued professional development opportunities for all staff and ensure that teachers maintain strong subject knowledge for the subjects they teach

 

Vision

To give our learners the currency for life

Aspiration

To be the top alternative provision in the country (progress and attainment)

Priorities

• High quality feedback, assessment and systems
• Data rich tracking systems with support and intervention
• Principles of direct instruction, metacognition and blooms taxonomy