Strategically Resourced Provision

At Wigton Infant and Nursery school we have 6 strategically resourced provision places where we have specialist staff to provide care and learning for children with SEND.

In our school we promote inclusive practice wherever possible so that children can be supported to learn alongside their peers. However, when the needs of children are more complex and mainstream provision is less appropriate, we have a specialist unit referred to as 'Whitebeam Class', which allows children to access learning in an environment more suitable to their needs and stage of learning.

Children accessing our Resourced Provision have an EHCP in place, reflecting their high level of need.

The curriculum offer for our Resourced Provision is designed to adapt and change as the needs of our children adapt and change.  We have worked closely with local Special Schools to ensure that our approach is the right one for our children.

What is the Pre-Formal Curriculum?

Our pre-formal curriculum is for our children with complex and multiple learning difficulties.  This group of pupils are engaging at the very earliest stages of learning and will likely remain within developmentally early intellectual parameters for the whole of their school career.  The learning needs of our children with complex needs are best met through a personalised learning approach that places relationships at the heart of the activities and is based on the principles of communication, cognition, social and emotional development and physical development.  This group of learners need a bespoke timetable that enables education and care plans to be seamlessly incorporated into their daily timetable.  The focus of the curriculum is on the learner and his/her abilities rather than disabilities. 

Curriculum Focus

Our pre-formal learners are unique with individual learning needs and as such it is impossible to force them to fit into a formal and structured framework.  Our pre-formal curriculum takes a holistic view of learners and focuses on how they best learn.  Staff have a clear remit to ensure that the curriculum is flexible and adaptable to meet each pupil's individual need whilst taking account of patterns of development which impact on a learner's ability to process new information and stimuli.  

Our pre-formal curriculum places relationships at the heart of all learning and recognises the fundamental principles of intensive interaction. 

• learning to give brief attention to another person
• sharing attention with another person
• learning to extend those attentions, learning to concentrate on another person
• developing shared attention into 'activities'
• taking turns in exchanges of behaviour
• having fun and playing
• using and understanding eye contacts and facial expressions
• using and understanding of non-verbal communication such as gesture and body language
• learning use and understanding of physical contacts
• learning use and understanding of vocalisations, having your vocalisations become more varied and extensive, then gradually more precise and meaningful

Our staff work on a Repetitive, Consistent and Interactive approach.

Assessment

The Engagement Model is used to assess the progress for our pre-formal learners.  The Engagement Model assesses linear and lateral progress for learners as well as their consolidation and maintenance of knowledge, skills and concepts in the following five areas:

• Exploration
• Realisation
• Anticipation
• Persistence
• Initiation

Recording and Reporting

Alongside the child's support plan and EHCP, we record observations in Floor Books and on Tapestry.  Staff make more formal assessment judgements using PIVATS.