CURRICULUM, ETHOS & AIMS
Providing Positive Outcomes
The Liberty Lodge ethos is to deliver quality, holistic, therapeutic care for young people with complex needs. Central to this is our philosophy of living and learning together.
The aim of Liberty Lodge School is to help young people break the cycle of failed education with a commitment to individualised learning opportunities and programmes which have at their heart the needs of the young person in order to maximise their potential.
The curriculum at Liberty Lodge is designed to meet the three statutory aims of the National Curriculum as well as the five aims of 'Every Child Matters'. It takes into account Personal Learning and Thinking Skills [PLTS] and the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths [STEM] agenda. This will enable all young people to become:
- Successful learners who enjoy learning; take some responsibility for their own learning; be aware of the how they learn and make progress and achieve.
- Confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives
- Responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society and who are aware of the importance of being financially independent.
These statutory aims will inform all aspects of teaching and learning at Liberty Lodge. It is acknowledged that the majority of young people who are placed at Liberty Lodge will have negative experiences of education and school; severe gaps in their learning from an early age; a serious mistrust of adults and lacking in the belief that they can become successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens.
Liberty lodge will provide a broad, balanced and inclusive curriculum that will provide all young people with relevant and challenging learning by:
- Setting suitable learning challenges within creative lesson plans.
- Responding to young people's diverse learning needs by taking account of statements of special educational needs and individuals' learning styles; setting realistic, achievable IEPs and weekly targets.
- Overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for
individuals and groups of young people.
Liberty Lodge wants all young people to be engaged in learning and to recognise the value and importance of education in their lives. To meet all these requirements Liberty Lodge has adopted a Thematic Integrated Curriculum approach. This will provide a focus within and between subjects and across the curriculum as a whole as well as reflecting the individual needs, interests and contexts of the learners. It will allow the young people to experience opportunities to understand themselves and the world within which they live; giving education a relevance and authenticity.
These overarching themes will provide relevant learning contexts:
- Identity and cultural diversity
- Healthy lifestyles
- Community participation
- Enterprise
- Global dimension
- Sustainable development
- Technology and media
- Creativity and critical thinking
It is vital that the curriculum creates opportunities for learners to develop as self-managers, creative thinkers, reflective learners, problem solvers, team workers, independent learners, and effective communicators. PLTS themes will be planned into regular lessons and specific projects and project weeks which will be planned to encompass as much of the whole curriculum as is possible.
Students will be entered for OCR entry level in core subjects (as an assessment tool) and will be expected to sit GCSEs when/if appropriate.
