Pathways
At The Secret Garden School all of our pupils and their families are at the heart of everything we do. Therefore, we aim to provide an educational journey that is, versatile and powerful within its approach in order to prepare our young people for adulthood and life beyond The Secret Garden.
As a school, we aim to support the characteristics and challenges associated with Autism Spectrum Condition and pupils with Social, Emotional and Mental Health difficulties by offering a comprehensive educational programme via our two pathways, depending on the pupils’ individual needs. Both our pathways are designed to promote social communication, language, literacy, problem-solving and self-management, of behaviour and emotional literacy, using our nurturing and therapeutic approaches. Furthermore, our approach at The Secret Garden is set into two distinct Pathways: The Central Pathway and Discovery Pathway, with the purpose of meeting the individual needs of all our pupils.
Our Central Pathway consists of a specialist route that will lead to formal, accredited qualifications suited to the pupils’ individual needs within our holistic environment. Our pupils will access a curriculum based on the aims and objectives of the National Curriculum at an appropriate pace, whilst developing their independence. Our pupils will be given the opportunity to work towards achieving their GCSE’s and other qualifications in supportive, safe, and nurturing spaces across our eight-acre school site. The calm and tranquil spaces across our school are fundamental in supporting our pupils to achieve their formal qualifications. Pupils will access bespoke support alongside this to support with any difficulties or challenges they may face as a result of their needs. This may include the support from external professionals.
Our Discovery Pathway embraces a bespoke platform whereby the curriculum is delivered to support the pupils’ individual needs in short sequences whilst catering for sensory, physical, communication and cognitive needs. This platform embeds some of the National Curriculum aims and objectives. The Discovery Pathway is suitable for pupils that are unable to access our Central Pathway. The Discovery Pathway offers a higher pupil to adult ratio of support, while accessing shorter focused lessons which covers elements of the curriculum alongside project-based learning, active learning, learning through creativity and play. This prepares pupils with complex needs for their next steps towards gaining accredited vocational qualifications such as Functional Skills and ASDAN. Our Discovery Pathway incorporates bespoke weekly specialist support from our in-house Occupational Therapist and Speech and Language Therapist where they may access, personalised sensory diets and speech and language interventions, as well as one to one support from such agencies when required.
The Secret Garden Pathways
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