What Matters Most

• Routines and structure

• Routines and structure

• Opportunities for purposeful communication

• Development of skill retention over time

• Irresistible opportunities to engage

• Curriculum through the provision

• Real-life concrete objects and experiences to give context to the curriculum

• Exposure to life skills for the adult to come

 

Comets Pathway Intent 

The Comets pathway caters for pupils who mainly have a primary need of ASC or SLD  who display developing learning behaviours which require that they have access to more structured learning sessions.

The Ambitious Curriculum for Comets Pathway 

The curriculum has been designed to offer challenge and ambition for all pupils, therefore the pupils within our non-subject specific pathways will access the same topics, as the pupils within the same key stage as them in the astronaut pathway. However, the knowledge and skills which will be taught will be more relevant to the learning needs of the pupils and the context and theme will act as an exciting vehicle for their learning. 

The curriculum design has taken into account the needs of the pupils within the pathway and has ensured that some elements of the national curriculum are repeated and revisited in order to ensure that pupils have the opportunity to build long term memory of their knowledge and skills. The curriculum is based around a 5 year plan which ensures that all pupils have the opportunity for new skills to be developed, whilst continuing to consolidate previous knowledge. 

Pupils in the Comets pathway require engaging, concrete experiences with the opportunity to repeat skills and display knowledge in a range of contexts. 

What matters most in our pathway?

Routines and structure

Classes in the Comets pathway aim to provide the structure and routine the pupils require in order to make the world more predictable and therefore easier to navigate. Through the use of ‘Now and Next’ boards and visual timetables, clear routines for the beginning and endings, structured transitions between settings, and increased preparation for any changes in normal routines, the teams aim to reduce anxiety about the unknown and help to regulate the pupils’ emotions. Importantly, although routine led, dealing with change is taught and rigidity is avoided through carefully planned opportunities to experience unexpected change and manage these situations successfully. 

Behaviours for learning

Behaviours for learning are actively taught in Comets pathway and develop for individual pupils as they move within the pathway. This may include building a pupil’s independence skills through the use of work box activities or gradually increasing the amount of time a pupil is expected to spend in a group and listening to instructions. Reward and recognition is provided universally through class systems and individually through the use of motivators and reward tokens. The individual needs for all pupils is always taken into consideration and behaviour for learning strategies are approached in a child-centred, holistic manner. 

Opportunities for purposeful communication

Building communication skills is integral to learning within our pathway. All pupils are treated as intentional communicators and we follow an ‘assume competency’ way of working. This principle means that we believe everyone has something to say and everyone can learn.

Pupils’ individual communication needs are catered for through universal and targeted strategies such as Makaton, PECS, communication folder, symbol support, or more high-tech AAC use, as assessed by the Communication team and the Speech and Language Therapy service. Comets pathway aims for pupils to develop their purposeful communication and strives for pupils to be able to make their needs met as independently as possible. Opportunities are developed with the aim of pupil’s communicating effectively in their preferred manner with both adults and peers. Class activities and interventions are put in place to support this progress.

Development of skill retention over time

Comets pathway aims to provide pupils with the opportunity to develop their skill retention over time. Our goal is to give the pupils ways to show us their development throughout the school year and how much skill they have retained from previous activities. This will include retrieval activities such as warm-up activities before a different session, or by moving lesson activities into continuous provision or workboxes. Leaders of Learning will aim to build upon learning and focus on pupils retaining the skills they have developed. 

Irresistible opportunities to engage

Leaders of Learning aim to provide opportunities that the pupils just cannot help but engage with! We recognise that this can look very different from one pupil/class to another in the Comets pathway due to the sensory needs of the pupils. An irresistible opportunity for one pupil may include a new area in a communication folder to interact independently with, whereas for others in the pathway it may be a colourful, noisy, sensory exploration. What is important is that irresistible opportunities for all pupils are strived for. 

Curriculum through the provision

Classes in the Comets pathway are encouraged to use provision areas throughout the school to provide creative opportunities to learn. Some of the areas available to deliver the curriculum are: the library, soft play, the sensory room, the pond area, the immersive suite, Rebound Therapy room, and Road Safety.

Repetition of learning opportunities

To develop skill retention and embedded the learning, it is recognised tha pupils on the Comets pathway require increased opportunities to employ the skills they are practising before moving on to the next stage. In that way, Leaders of Learning are encouraged to match the pace of the individuals and ensure that assessments of learning are taken throughout the embedding of new skills. The use of retrieval within the curriculum supports this. 

Real-life concrete objects and experiences to give context to the curriculum

Pupils on the Comets pathway require concrete objects and experiences to help make the curriculum relevant to themselves. These may include using real objects to count with 1:1 correspondence in Maths, or using the Road Safety traffic lights to practise crossing the road in PSHE. The aim is for learning to become embedded more easily through concrete experiences of skills as opposed to abstract concepts. For example, if pupils are ordering instructions about brushing teeth, this will be accompanied by an opportunity to brush their teeth!

Exposure to life skills for the adult to come

All pupils should be viewed through the lens of the adult they will become. In Comets pathway, opportunities to experience life skills (such as road safety, food preparation, or dressing appropriately for the weather) will be embedded in the curriculum at the appropriate developmental level for the pupils taking part. All Leaders of Learning will strive to enable the pupils to be as independent as possible to help prepare them to be the adult they will grow to be.