What Matters Most

• Holistic approaches to development
• Sensory experiences
• Pupil centred aims
• Developmentally appropriate opportunities 
• Creative early communication strategies
• Development of pupil voice and advocacy
• Strategies to promote independence for the adult to come
• Physical development and medical wellbeing
• Exploration, Realisation, Anticipation, Persistence, and Initiation
• Promotion of Movement for Learning and Life

Galaxy Pathway Intent 

At Co-op Academy Delius, we offer the pupils within our PMLD Galaxies Pathway a personalised and challenging curriculum. Our curriculum focuses on giving all pupils a happy education through a range of experiences which results in developing fundamental communication skills and increased independence in all areas of life by helping them to understand the world around them. The passion our staff have in ensuring that all of our pupils are happy with their education is evident in everything we do. This then promotes pupil engagement and progression in learning.

An Ambitious Curriculum for the Galaxy 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. 

The Galaxy Pathway has been carefully designed in a meaningful and enjoyable way, where our pupils learn fundamental skills to help them engage with people around them and their immediate environment. We recognise the complexity of our pupils, and teach through a multi-sensory approach to ensure the maximum engagement of our pupils.

What Matters Most in the Galaxy Pathway:

Using holistic approaches to support development including physical development and medical wellbeing.

The importance of physical development and the physical comfort for the pupils working on this curriculum is one of the core areas that our team embed within our daily routines. By ensuring our pupils are using specialised equipment personalised to them such as standing frames and walkers, our team continuously enable our pupils to progress physically in a way that increases their independence.

Our curriculum indicates the importance of having that time spent in a range of different equipment and spending time working on muscle development with the  help and guidance of weekly physio input, our MOVE programme and other medical professionals where needed.

By following this curriculum our pupils have the opportunity to develop body awareness, build on muscles which help them move independently and develop key physical skills.

Developmentally appropriate opportunities through sensory experiences

Our school environment is designed in a highly accessible way to enable us to fulfil our curriculum goals by giving our pupils a range of wonderful experiences as well as helping prepare them for the real world.

Our pupils access our schools’ sensory room, immersive room, hydrotherapy pool, rebound, music room, sensory gardens and the Gamelan. All of our staff are trained and use each area to it’s fullest potential in focused and planned sessions.

Our Galaxy Pathway has an additional educational offer for our pupils with our specially designed Sparkle Suite. Created in 2019, our Sparkle Suite gives pupils and parents the opportunity to come into school to access education through sensory experiences, including aromatherapy.