We strive to provide a varied and inclusive curriculum for all
our pupils, as well as a range of exciting and fun opportunities
At Best Futures, SEMH (Social Emotional Mental Health) is at the root of everything we do.
It is the foundation on which we build our curriculum, values, and beliefs.
Our curriculum has been carefully designed to give our pupils opportunities to develop new skills and knowledge through our school values of uniqueness, nurture, inclusive, fun, respect and independence. This enables our pupils to experience the challenge and enjoyment of learning, develop and demonstrate their creativity, and learn within a coherent and progressive framework.
Best Futures curriculum is also been created to positively impact our pupils’ well-being through developing their confidence and self-esteem, learning to respect themselves and others, and recognising that people are good at different things.
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Our curriculum includes ​
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Maths
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Phonics
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PE
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IT
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Music
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SEMH
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Project Based Learning
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PSHE
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Enrichment
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Celebrations and Visitors
Our Curriculum
SEMH
Maths
PSHE
PE
Project Based Learning
Music
IT
Enrichment
Celebrations & Visitors
At Best Futures, SEMH (Social Emotional Mental Health) is at the root of everything we do. It is our foundation on which we build our curriculum, values and beliefs.
​
Phonics is the trunk of our tree, as with an ability to read, write and speak, all of the branches of our tree can grow.
Our Curriculum Principles
Our Curriculum Principles
Best Futures specialist school
Our curriculum policy sets out the principles and values that underpin the design and intent of our curriculum, how the curriculum is implemented and how we measure the impact that our curriculum has on our pupils’ learning and development.
Our curriculum is designed to give our pupils opportunities to develop new skills and knowledge through our school values of unique, nurture, inclusive, fun, respect and independence. This enables our pupils to experience the challenge and enjoyment of learning, develop and demonstrate their creativity and learn within a coherent and progressive framework.
Our curriculum is also designed to positively impact our pupils’ well-being through developing their confidence and self-esteem, learning to respect themselves and others and recognising that people are good at different things.
These principles are at the heart of our curriculum, and we believe the best way to support this is through an engaging, sequential and aspirational project-based curriculum which ensures a progression of skills and knowledge. To develop long-term memory and therefore the retention of information learnt, we utilise opportunities for retrieval practice, dual coding and knowledge organisers.
Cornerstones Curriculum
Best Futures has chosen the broad and balanced Cornerstones Curriculum. This covers a four-stage pedagogy to engage, develop, innovate, and express. The topics covered are carefully selected and in line with pupil interests and ages.
Each topic has a subject focus - geography, history, music, art etc to provide coverage of the curriculum. The new Curriculum maestro allows for companion projects to run alongside knowledge-rich projects (KRP) and imaginative learning projects (ILP). These focus on science, history, art, and design and allow for further depth of learning, bridging gaps within the curriculum plan.
The Cornerstones curriculum covers EYFS, KS1 & and KS2 and is planned into three phases: long-term planning, medium-term planning and short-term planning.
Our 3 Phase Approach
The long-term planning gives an overview of the topics to be covered across the academic year and runs on a four-year rolling cycle. The long-term plan is designed to ensure there is balance and sequence through the range of topics covered. Consultation with pupils also informs the design of the long-term plan.
The medium-term plan develops the long-term plan further by outlining the skills covered across the topic. The short-term plans are developed on a weekly basis, and formatively assessed through PIVATs 5 and Cornerstones.
Additional opportunities for learning, improving outcomes and developing cultural capital are provided through enrichment activities, visits and visitors.
Reading at Best Futures School
At Best Futures, we promote a love for reading and value the importance of and ability to decode and read fluently to access all areas of the curriculum.
From January 2022 we commenced the Read Write Inc. (RWI) systematic synthetic phonics programme across the whole school. Matched decodable books are read alongside the sounds being taught. This is to experience success and promote confidence and self-esteem.
Re-reading and book discussion further supports increasing fluency in decoding. Half-termly assessments are carried out to monitor and track progress, identifying any intervention required. Matched decodable books are also provided for home reading.
Measuring Progress
The PSED (Personal Social Emotional Development) of each pupil is closely monitored using PIVATs 5 (Performance Indicators for Valued Assessment and Targeted Learning).
This assesses the pupil's social, emotional, physical, and behavioural development.
The PIVATs are used in various contexts including discreet SEMH sessions.
The Jigsaw Scheme
We use the Jigsaw Scheme of work to support the teaching of Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) including statutory Relationships and Health Education, providing pupils with relevant learning experiences, emphasising emotional literacy, building resilience and nurturing mental and physical health.
The programme is supplemented and personalised with identified needs and local areas of concern.
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, updated in September 2021, alongside the Development Matters guidance which provides an overall view of how children develop and learn but does not replace professional judgement. The framework runs alongside PIVATs 5.
