Curriculum
All pupils at Cherry Trees have access to a broad, balanced, and relevant curriculum which is devised through a pathway approach. Some of our pupils will access formal learning based on the national curriculum and some of our pupils will access a more specialised pre formal approach to learning.
Speech, language, and communication are given high priority. All pupils work on the basic skills as part of their curriculum. Included in this is our focus on developing independent skills - which in turn help us to focus on our employability.
Within the first 6 weeks of entering school children will be given a Baseline Assessment from which targets will be set for their Individual Education Plan or IEP; each child will have an IEP with termly targets set by their teachers and agreed with parents.
Class sizes are small with a high teacher to pupil ratio, enabling individual programmes to be devised to meet the needs of each pupil. Personal, as well as academic skills are encouraged. All pupils have an Education, Health and Care Plan or are in school on an assessment placement.
Our curriculum is differentiated to take account of each pupil’s very different learning styles. Some of the work has been influenced by TEACCH, a highly structured approach which uses individual timetables and encourages pupils to work independently.
Symbols provide a progressive system which leads naturally into a reading scheme of words. Social interaction skills are promoted through activities taken from the Interaction Curriculum written by Staffordshire teachers. All programmes adopt a very positive approach of frequent and relevant reward.
At school we also promote the use of The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is used as an alternative/augmentative communication system for children with autism and other social communication deficits.
We work with a range of specialists to provide a relevant and up to date approach to meeting the children's needs. This includes a Speech and Language Therapist, a behaviour specialist, a sensory Occupational Therapist and other NHS services that are provided through the relevant Local Authorities.
Please explore the documents below, to gain more specific information. Curriculum information for each class can be found on the relevant class page on the "Classes" section of this website.