Our Curriculum
Our Philosophy
At Joseph Clarke School, our understanding of the pupil is at the centre of every educational decision.
We recognise that pupils experience and make sense of the world in different ways. Many connections between people, language, objects and events develop through observation, interaction and everyday experience. For some pupils, differences in sensory access, communication, cognition, physical development or emotional wellbeing mean that these connections need to be taught more explicitly.
We build understanding deliberately through touch, movement, sound, language, relationships and carefully planned experiences, adapting these opportunities to each pupil.
Many of our pupils also have additional communication, sensory, physical, developmental or emotional needs. These can influence how they experience the world, engage with learning and develop their understanding.
Our starting point is always the same question:
How does this pupil experience the world?
Understanding each pupil helps us identify the right educational approaches, experiences and opportunities. It does not limit what we believe they can achieve.
Our ambition is no less for any pupil. The starting point helps us understand the route. It must never become a ceiling.
Our Curriculum (Click to Expand)
Every pupil at Joseph Clarke is entitled to a broad, meaningful and ambitious education.
Our curriculum brings together four interconnected elements:
Subject knowledge: Providing breadth, depth and progression in learning.
Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with a Vision Impairment (CFVI): Where relevant, developing the specialist knowledge and skills pupils need to access education, participate and develop independence.
Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) priorities: Ensuring that individual communication, physical, sensory, developmental and other identified needs inform educational planning.
Preparation for adulthood: Developing independence, relationships, choice, participation and opportunities for future education, employment and adult life.
These are not separate or competing curriculam. They work together to provide a coherent education that responds to each pupil’s strengths, needs, aspirations and changing circumstances.
Our curriculum is guided by five principles:
Understand, Engage, Belong, Achieve, Thrive
We aim to develop the concepts, communication, mobility, independence and agency that enable pupils to understand the world, participate within it and have increasing influence over their own lives.
Our Curriculum Approaches (Click to Expand)
Our curriculum is organised through formal and informal approaches. These provide structure, progression and clear expectations while allowing teaching to respond to the individual pupil.
The approach a pupil follows is informed by their current understanding, learning needs, communication, development and the educational opportunities that will be most meaningful for them.
A curriculum approach does not define a pupil’s potential. As pupils develop, their learning and the approaches used to support them are continually reviewed.
Formal Curriculum Approach
Our formal curriculum provides a broad, subject-based education, with carefully planned progression in knowledge, understanding and skills.
Subjects include:
- English
- Mathematics
- Science
- Digital Skills
- Physical Education (PE)
- French
- History
- Art
- Music
- Food Technology
- Geography
- Religious Studies
- Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE)
- Careers Education
Subject teaching is adapted so that pupils with a wide range of learning, communication, sensory and physical needs can access learning and develop secure understanding.
This may include specialist resources, tactile and practical experiences, assistive technology, adapted materials, explicit teaching of concepts and opportunities to explore learning through different senses.
Relevant specialist frameworks, including the CFVI where appropriate, are integrated alongside subject learning. Pupils may need explicit teaching in areas such as mobility, independent living, communication, technology and self-advocacy.
Our formal curriculum maintains high academic expectations while recognising that meaningful preparation for adulthood extends beyond academic achievement.
For some pupils, this approach supports progression towards qualifications, further education, training and employment.
Informal Curriculum Approach (Click to Expand)
Our informal curriculum is informed by the EQUALS curriculum approach to providing a structured, meaningful and personalised education for pupils whose learning needs require a more individualised and developmental approach.
Learning focuses on developing understanding through meaningful experiences, communication, interaction, exploration and participation in everyday life.
Rather than organising all learning into traditional subject lessons, the informal approach enables knowledge and skills to be developed through connected, practical and carefully planned experiences.
This may include developing:
- Communication
- Play and Leisure
- Habilitation (orientation, mobility and independent living skills)
- The World Around Me
- Thinking and Problem Solving
- Literacy and Accessing Information
- Health
Learning is carefully sequenced, with opportunities to revisit, consolidate and apply understanding in different contexts.
The informal approach provides a framework for planning and progression, while EHCP priorities and relevant specialist frameworks, including the CFVI, help shape the teaching and experiences each pupil requires.
For some pupils, progress may be demonstrated through increasingly purposeful communication, greater anticipation, meaningful choice, participation in relationships or greater control over everyday experiences.
These achievements are no less ambitious. They can make a profound difference to a pupil’s quality of life, independence and future opportunities.
Learning to Access and Access to Learning (Click to Expand)
A central part of our curriculum is drawing on wider research and recognising the relationship between learning to access and access to learning.
Learning to access involves developing the skills, knowledge and understanding each pupil needs to explore, communicate, move, make choices and engage with the world.
Access to learning involves ensuring that the curriculum, teaching approaches, resources and environments are adapted so that pupils can participate in meaningful education.
These two elements work together. Pupils need opportunities to develop their own skills, while adults have a responsibility to create accessible environments and remove barriers to learning.
We also recognise that learning does not happen in isolation.
Drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, our curriculum considers the relationships, environments and wider circumstances that influence each pupil’s development.
Families, peers, school, specialist professionals, community experiences and wider social systems all contribute to the opportunities available to a pupil.
Understanding these connections helps us plan education that is relevant, responsive and connected to the pupil’s wider life.
The Importance of Carefully Planned Experiences (Click to Expand)
For many of our pupils, concepts and connections that others acquire incidentally through observation, interaction or everyday experience need to be taught explicitly.
A pupil may learn a word without fully understanding the concept it represents. They may encounter an object without understanding its purpose, or experience an event without recognising how different people, actions and objects are connected.
We therefore place significant importance on carefully planned, meaningful experiences.
Through touch, movement, sound, language, exploration and relationships, pupils are supported to make connections, develop concepts and build understanding.
These experiences are not simply activities. They are purposeful opportunities for learning, designed to extend what pupils know, understand and can do.
Our aim is to help pupils connect their learning with the world around them, supporting greater participation, independence and agency.
Responsive Teaching and Progression (Click to Expand)
We recognise that pupils do not always develop in a straight line.
Learning may be uneven, emerging understanding may become visible through a different approach, and a pupil’s needs or circumstances may change over time.
For pupils with progressive conditions, meaningful progress may sometimes involve maintaining communication, participation, relationships or control as their needs change.
Our teachers continually observe, assess and reflect on the difference education is making.
We use an enquiry-based approach to curriculum decision-making, asking:
- What does this pupil understand, experience and communicate?
- What approaches and opportunities will support them to achieve?
- What should happen next?
These questions help us identify meaningful next steps, adapt teaching and reconsider educational priorities when needed.
Assessment is not simply about recording progress. It helps us understand whether our educational decisions are making a meaningful difference.
Ambition for Every Pupil (Click to Expand)
At Joseph Clarke, ambition does not mean that every pupil must achieve the same outcomes.
For some pupils, ambition includes academic qualifications, further education and employment.
For others, it may mean developing communication, building relationships, making meaningful choices, participating in their community or having greater control over everyday life.
Independence does not always mean doing something without support. It can mean having a voice, expressing a preference, making a decision or influencing what happens next.
We recognise and celebrate these different forms of achievement while maintaining high expectations for every pupil.
The pathway follows the pupil. It does not predict the pupil.
Our responsibility is to understand each pupil, provide the right opportunities and continually extend what becomes possible.