FHS Reaching High Curriculum

For our students who have an Educational Health & Care Plan and are working significantly below expectations for their age group, we believe that the key to ensuring their progress is an aspirational core curriculum, personalised to meet their learning needs.  Many of these students have severe dyslexia and/or dyscalculia alongside challenges with working memory and cognition.  To fulfil their potential, they need significant and long-term personalised curriculum delivery.

At Formby High we are proud to have established ‘Reaching High’ for English, Mathematics and Science in Years 7,8 and 9. The ‘Reaching High’ cohort are taught as a small group by SEND specialists who tailor the curriculum journey to the learning profiles of each group.  These students receive the bespoke learning journey they need to make progress at the same time as their peers lessons are delivered.  This approach to curriculum delivery means that specialist support and teaching is embedded into our curriculum lessons.  Our students benefit from a cohesive and nurturing learning experience, without withdrawal from other subjects they also enjoy and continue to study.

The bespoke nature of this curriculum means that each cohort have a tailored curriculum, designed to ensure progress from their starting points.  Learning is sequential, embracing cross-curricular links and life skills.  Following and tailoring the National Curriculum means our students can continue their journey towards the Key Stage 3 curriculum with the support and encouragement they need to achieve and excel.

Life, Living & Employability Curriculum (LLE)

Alongside bespoke curriculum provision in English, Maths and Science, some students Education Health and Care Plans identify that they need ongoing support to develop their independent life and living skills so that they are able to thrive personally as they move through adolescence into adulthood.  For a small nurture group in each year group, we provide a supportive, needs led programme which enables them to be explicitly taught life and living skills whilst developing their understanding and awareness of the world around them.

In Years 7 and 8, the LLE curriculum is designed and tracked using the AET Framework.  Units are selected based on the identified needs of the students in each nurture group and lessons focus on developing awareness and understanding alongside practising the practical skills needed.  In Year 9 the LLE curriculum is further developed to enable students to gain accreditation of their skills development through the completion of Open Awards Skills for Further Learning and Employment Level 1.

Our LLE curriculum has enabled our students to grow personally and develop into more self-assured adolescents.  They develop a sense of pride through the completion of these units and the ongoing student-led development of our school garden is an excellent example of this.

Modern Languages

At Formby High School it important to us that our students access the full breadth of the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum and feel strongly that this includes the study of Modern  Languages. We understand that for a very small number of students with EHCPs, delivery of ML needs to be adapted to suit their style and stage of learning. To respond to this, for students in our small nurture groups, Spanish is delivered in a personalised way taking advantage of their ability to communicate verbally.

Pride in our Determination for all to Achieve

At Formby High School, our pioneering approach to blending specialist curriculum provision within a mainstream school has become the flagship approach to SEND across Sefton and we are actively supporting other schools to develop their offer.  The Reaching High Curriculum enabled us to offer places to students who would previously have accessed a Specialist Provision and we are extremely proud to be leading the way with this innovative approach which is greatly appreciated by the families we support.