Welcome to Lower School!

In lower school we are predominantly Key Stage 2, with some Year 7’s. We are taught in mixed classes, based on our abilities and our SEND needs, by a small handful of teachers, who know our needs well.

Our curriculum covers both Key Stage 2 and lower Key Stage 3, as sometimes children in Year 7 continue in the Primary model to give them a more nurturing environment and better access to learning through meeting their SEMH needs closely.

We learn through a cross-curricular and thematic approach to learning where we use ten key questions across the year to enhance our personal development and understanding of the wider world. We look at our core subjects discreetly within these themes, to ensure a knowledge-rich approach to learning.

Every morning we begin with a range of quick fire learning activities, where the children can independently practise their core skills, including reading, spelling and mental maths. This links to our prior knowledge and builds on what we still need to know.

Additionally, to this, we have a focus on reading. We read independently in the morning, as a class in the afternoons and then build our class reading book into our English lessons to support our knowledge of language and literary development.

As well as a knowledge-rich and academic-focussed curriculum, we also have weekly sessions dedicated to supporting our SEMH needs. These include emotional literacy lessons and sensory lessons. These help us to build the resilience and regulation skills needed in order to access the middle school curriculum.

Please see an example timetable below of how our learning day can look daily in lower school.

We are very lucky in lower school as we have access to a range of equipment, resources and animals to help support us to regulate. We use chill out spaces within our classroom, as well as our extensive outdoor grounds to help us feel calmer and less anxious.