RF Curriculum

Alongside our main curriculum, we provide the Romans Field Curriculum, which is an individualised, bespoke curriculum for our children with complex needs. Through this specialist curriculum, we planned and deliver a broad, balanced and personalised curriculum, which reflects the needs and interests of our children. We have the purpose of preparing them for life in modern Britain. Our aim is for our children to become confident, successful learners who progress and achieve both academically and in their independent, social and emotional skills.

We deliver our English curriculum, through the use of Talk4Writing, sensory stories and colour semantics. In maths, we follow White Rose, concrete, pictorial, abstract methods. Our Foundation subjects are taught through Attention Autism, a four-step speech and language intervention, that builds on turn-taking, adult instructions, attention and engagement. We also recap our learning to promote independence through the use of the Teacch approach. We also offer a range of interventions, social, academic and therapeutic, such as TACPAC, Intensive Interaction and Lego Therapy, to name a few.

The areas of the curriculum have been linked to our pupil's Education Health and Care Plans. The areas of the curriculum are as follows, showing the National Curriculum elements covered:

• Social, Emotional & Mental Health Development (PSHE)
• Physical & Sensory Development (Physical Education & PSHE)
• Communication & Interaction Development (Speaking & Listening, PSHE)
• Cognition & Learning:
  • Literacy (Reading & Writing)
  • Mathematics (Number & Measurement/Position/Shape)
  • Understanding the World (Science, ICT/Computing, History, Geography, RE & PSHE)
  • Expressive Arts & Design (Art, DT, Music)

The outcomes have been created as a continuum, from Stage 1 – Stage 20, with an additional Stage termed Stage Beyond. These outcomes are used to identify progress in students from Reception – KS2.

The outcomes have been constructed using a variety of sources, experience and best practice. Materials and support used to develop the outcomes include:

• The Early Years Foundation Stages: Development Matters & Characteristics of Effective Learning
• Speech and Language Therapists
• The Zones of Regulation
• Safeguarding training resources
• National Curriculum 2014
• The PSHE Association, “Mental Health & Emotional Wellbeing, in PSHE Programme of Study”
• CASEL (Emotional Literacy) casel.org
• Mental Health Foundation mentalhealth.org.uk
• Safeguarding resources
• “My Money” PSHE Teacher Handbook
• Youth Sports Trust, “Assessing without Levels”
• The Hertfordshire Grid for Learning

We believe it is vital to explicitly teach our pupils to safeguard themselves & about their wellbeing, especially their mental health:

• SEMH includes a section on relationships & behaviour and self-awareness & self-confidence. Within these levels outcomes are included to ensure pupils understand Protective Behaviours, including CSE & FGM.
• ICT and computing has an e-safety element in each stage.
• We also overtly teach Sex & Relationships lessons which is part of the PSHE outcomes and using age-appropriate guidance.

“Sustainable learning can only occur when there is meaningful engagement. The process of engagement is a journey which connects a child and their environment to enable learning and development.” (Carpenter et al, 2011)