The Provider:

Cherry Garden School, Southwark

• 46 pupils on role
• 75% of pupils have free school meals

Summary:

Cherry Garden has remodelled its schemes of work to be topic led rather than subject and has been able to develop a creative approach to its planning. which allows the school many more opportunities to enable the pupils to practice their new skills, develop their understanding of the concepts it is teaching and celebrate their achievements. Pupils are now happier to attend to teacher led tasks and individual progress is very good for all pupils.the whole school environment is more relaxed and challenging behaviour is minimal.

The Aim:

The school has worked at developing a curriculum which reflects the needs of its children and has had a fundamental impact on the teaching and learning taking place in its school.. Its practice is shared with others to ensure every pupil has the opportunity to work within an exciting, challenging environment which regards all achievement to be worthy.

What do you see in the school?

• All teachers involved in writing new curriculum
• Schemes of work reviewed by subject co-ordinators to ensure breadth and balance
• New curriculum monitored by senior leadership team. Plans collected and reviewed by deputy head
• Each completed block of work evaluated by teachers. This allows teacher to adjust future planning
• Curriculum policy underpins classroom practice. All policies are consistently implemented.
• Assessment is used effectively to guide planning and tailor future activities to personalised needs of individual pupils.
• Monitoring policy promotes consistency in quality of teaching and ensures appropriate challenge is incorporated into lessons.
• Peer teach practice allows teachers to develop their own practice within a cycle of improvement and to make best use of expertise and ideas of colleagues
• Senior leadership team play an active role in monitoring outcomes as a result of the new curriculum
• Deputy head has led the planning of a new creative curriculum. She has led Creative Curriculum team meetings
• Subject leaders have been involved in contributing topics and subject links within a 3-year rolling programme of topics. They have ensured continuity and progression of their subjects within topic coverage.
• Assessment ensures individual pupil's progress is assessed against planned learning outcomes
• Funding secured by head teacher to release teachers to plan new curriculum
• Senior leadership team has supported planning process attending each planning meeting and ensuring planned activities are challenging
• Subject leaders have reviewed scheme to ensure breadth and balance with regard to their subject
• Teachers consistently use the same planning format that they helped to devise. This has given them a sense of ownership.
• Lessons are differentiated to address individual needs of pupils. Pupils are assessed against learning outcomes on individually planned curriculum.
• Lessons are judged to be good or better throughout the school. Pupils engaged in lessons and making significant progress towards their targets
• Assessments made directly onto planning ensure future plans are modifiedto address developing and changing needs. They are transferred onto pupils' individual assessment records each half-term
• Curriculum is exceptionally well matched and modified to meet the complex needs of learners. Each learner has an individually tailored programme
• Senior leadership team observe lessons at least twice a year and provide effective feedback on how to improve
• Planning reviewed by teachers each half-term. Evaluations help to modify future planning
• Head teacher checks planning 3 times a year
• Senior leadership monitor planning, progress in IEPs and samples of work each term
• Peer teach involves subject leaders in cycle of activities including team teaching, lesson demonstrations, lesson observations, joint planning which allow them to monitor and spread good practice
• More creativity, variety and active learning in lessons has led to calmer learning environment, reduced behavioural difficulties and improved rates of progress.
• Lessons show cross-curricular links. These allow skills, knowledge and understanding to be practised with in a meaningful context across the range of subjects
• Pupils have opportunities to take part in dance, drama and art activities linked to their topic.
• Through the child centred creative curriculum, pupils are motivated to learn life skills and to take an active and independent role in their daily lives outside school e.g. using electronic communication system and communication folder to contribute to shopping lists and to communicate with shopkeepers
• Parents are helped to build on the school's strategies at home so that parents, carers and families are better able to support children (e.g. coffee morning used for makaton training)
• Regular links with mainstream schools support community cohesion and inclusive practices e.g. Red class link with Kintore Way Nursery for music lessons
• Community involvement in creative activities advances pupils' learning and creates rewarding links with external enterprises and visitors e.g. Red class linked to Globe Theatre Company in curriculum time.
• The school has received £6000 grant in response to its ideas to promote safety in the community.
• Staff at other schools benefit from drawing on expertise of Cherry Garden School staff
• Internal school structures and procedures ensure that good practice and successful ideas are shared with staff e.g. through detailed individual assessment records, at staff meetings and at pupil celebration assemblies.
• Two-way links with mainstream schools and nurseries. The attendance of one pupil for a morning a week at local mainstream school ensures that mainstream school can access training from Cherry Garden staff.
• Nursery staff draw on Cherry Garden staff expertise when visited by Cherry Garden staff and pupils
• Peer teach used to disseminate and refine good practice drawing on the expertise of subject leaders
• The school has invited staff with SENCO responsibilities from local schools to attend an Open day in order to provide training

What difference does it make?

• Pupils make good progress towards targets
• Displays linked to topics and changed regularly support learning.
• Resources have been divided into topic areas so that pupils have easier access and thus have more time to plan.
• Wow factor built into planning to introduce and conclude topics in an exciting way which engages pupils

From where is evidence collected to prove the Leading Aspect?

• 2007 Ofsted Report
• Analysis of improvement in overall lesson grades over past two years
• Artsmark Gold
• Assessment policy, records and folders
• Breadth and balance recording sheets
• Classroom observations
• Creative curriculum agendas and minutes
• Curriculum map & policy
• Discussion with staff and parent
• Discussions with teachers, teaching assistants and parent
• Evaluations
• Head teacher records
• Lesson observation records
• Letters of appreciation
• Monitoring folder & policy
• Observations of practice seen in all classrooms
• Parent/school communication book
• Peer observations and action plans
• Peer teach observation records & policy
• Planning (medium-term and short-term) plus three year curriculum overview
• Press releases e.g. SINGALONG
• Pupils observed in active learning and engaged by creative, motivational and exciting activities
• Resource Room
• Sample lesson plans taken from school's planning on s-drive
• Schemes of work
• Senior leadership team observation records
• Subject leader portfolios
• Teachers' planning folders
• Team meeting agendas and minutes
• Various classroom and corridor displays often providing sensory interaction
• Visitors' book
• Wide range of sensory approaches observed in classroom activities.

The Verifiers Comment

The school has transformed a subject-based curriculum over the past two years into a child-centred creative curriculum. This has allowed pupils with a range of physical and multiple learning difficulties together with pupils on the autistic spectrum to actively engage in learning within a meaningful context. Individualised planning and very effective assessment against personalised learning outcomes underpin classroom practice which always seeks to provide multi-sensory approaches within a creative curriculum to stimulate pupils to be motivated to participate in activities.