Heathermount School is proud of the rich, broad and balanced curriculum we have to offer across the school in 'Building confidence and preparing students for life'. Our curriculum is designed to support the specific individual needs of our students.  We have adopted the National Curriculum to underpin our education programme and have built on this to support students to achieve to the best of their ability. 

Children in class groups have similar profiles. A mainstream environment may not have been suitable for their needs previously, with increased levels of anxiety often leading to our pupils being unable to access school, resulting in extended periods of missed education, gaps in learning and possible deep-rooted disaffection with education. 

To support this, our curriculum is delivered by expert teachers who adapt the curriculum delivery in order to deliver learning at a pace appropriate to individual students with flexibility in the timetable to suit their individual needs. Our teachers continually assess, plan, do and review to continue to adapt and meet the needs of all children. 

We consider progress within students’ social and emotional wellbeing to be just as important as academic progress. Our curriculum is therefore integrated with our READY framework, offering integrated therapeutic classrooms to ensure that our students’ needs are met first, students are regulated and therefore can learn to be learners. 

Our aim is to help students to transform their own perception of their abilities, which in turn can help them transform their futures. Alongside their academic studies, we provide enrichment activities, comprehensive learning resources, therapeutic care and more personalised approaches. Our curriculum is ambitious in creating opportunities and learning experiences that prepare our children for further education/employment, independent living and community integration. 

The school differentiates for individual student needs by offering three learning pathways: Discover, Explore & Adventure. These pathways take into account the individual needs of our students and offer a range of qualifications and learning experiences in order to prepare students for their next stages in life. 

Our target is for each pupil to gain at least 5 qualifications by the end of our Key Stage 4 offer, preparing them for their next stage. These may be a mixture of Awards, Entry Levels or Functional Skills, as well as GCSEs, supported by opportunities to access taster days at local colleges and explore the world of careers. 

We want each pupil to achieve standards which allow them to move on to further education and employment opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach. 

Please see the attachment below to view our working Curriculum Offer.