Statement of Purpose
Core values drive our culture and are the foundations of our practice. We measure each decision against these standards.
Values = Culture
R.I.S.E stands for:
• Respect:
The ability to be polite and understand that every individual deserves to be kept safe and listened to.
• Inspire:
The ability to withstand difficult situations, and produce positive outcomes.
• Support:
• Effort:
The characteristic of resilience and pursuing challenges without fearing failure.
By adhering to such values and creating a high performing culture, we believe we are preparing students for the next stage of their journey and providing them with the opportunity to be respected citizens who positively contribute to society.
Our overall aims:
• Creating a happy and safe learning environment where students feel secure.
• Teaching for learning that is both enjoyable and meets the needs of the individual.
• Providing opportunities that enrich experiences and build cultural capital.
• Enabling students to be successful adults by preparing them for their future lives through broad curriculum and robust personal development.
To achieve this, we provide appropriate challenge and support, and accreditation opportunities. We develop the personal resources necessary for the students to be happy and successful in a world that can present challenges. We teach our students to respect and celebrate differences between people; to question, reasonably, the position of others and to treat all with respect, compassion and understanding. We encourage our students to be innovative, creative and flexible in their thinking; to become life- long learners and always strive for growth.
Intent
Howard House School is located on the outskirts of Bedlington, Northumberland. The school setting is very nurturing, with its picturesque view and students are encouraged to exploit this and walk the peaceful grounds. Howard House is an alternative provision for students with special educational needs.
There is a 2:1 staff to student ratio and 1:1 support is available to match the needs of the child. For our most vulnerable students, we have the facilities to educate them outside of the usual classroom environment. The aim is to support such students and reduce barriers to learning for all.
At Howard House we recognise that education and care are the key integral factors, to our students achieving success. Our intent is to provide a broad, challenging curriculum, designed to meet the needs of all students; delivered by outstanding staff, in an enriching and nurturing environment.
We have created a broad and ambitious curriculum, with a range of different qualifications offered to students, providing different pathways to suit special educational needs. Many of our students join Howard House School with significant gaps in their learning, therefore it is important that we inspire and encourage students to reach their full potential; and provide alternative curriculums and accreditations to help them do so.
Our curriculum entails the core subjects of English, Maths and Science; as well as Humanities (Religious Education, Geography and History) Art, DT, PE and Personal Development. Further enrichment is provided through the teaching of Spanish, Music, Duke of Edinburgh and Sport Science. We provide Entry Level One and Two, Functional Skills, in-house awards; and GCSE. The purpose of our school is revealed by the curriculum we provide; we have high aspirations for our students and work to close the limits of opportunity that exist in society. Whilst we offer personalised pathways for our learners at each Key Stage, all students have equal access to a broad and diverse curriculum.
A further intention is to provide students with opportunities to always be learning, academically and about the world around them. We help students to comprehend that while knowledge is powerful, it is also contested and evolving. We encourage our learners to see themselves as enquiring learners who help to build their own sense of their place within their educational world.
Every teacher is a teacher of English, which is something we truly believe at Howard House School. Every member of staff is dedicated to raising the levels of oracy and supporting our students to be confident and effective communicators. All subjects encourage reading, writing and speaking and listening opportunities.
OfSTED Inspection – March 2019
Implementation
Each subject discipline has its own curriculum planning, which follows the same format for short-term and long-term planning. There are high expectations of subject knowledge from teachers, as well as up-to-date, quality assured planning, which makes learning effective for our students.
All teachers are observed at least once per half-term, with a work scrutiny of students’ workbooks and planning files taking place. All planning promotes a cyclical and sequential structure, with a focus on helping to improve the working and long term memory of our students. The National Curriculum has been used to guide and inspire all subject planning.
Operating as a collective staff body supports our focus on managing and reducing staff workload. Sequencing of content, with ‘cross-curricular’ links being identified in long-term planning, enables knowledge acquisition to be extremely effective and sophisticated, as well as increasing students’ ability to synthesise and create more innovative connections with their learning.
All teachers use a tracker for all taught classes, with links to the learning objectives students are expected to meet on a weekly basis. The tracker is useful to monitor progress over time. The tracker is also beneficial in highlighting missed learning and gaps in key skills and content, which can then be addressed in lessons or in intervention time. All students receive two hours of intervention specific and targeted to individual’s needs.
Teachers have the opportunity for regular professional development and are encouraged to find professional development which they think would be beneficial to their practice. All of our teachers are encouraged to be living readers and researchers into their own subject discipline which will improve their pedagogy.
Assessment at Howard House School is wide ranging. When a student first joins, they are baseline assessed using an initial and diagnostic assessment in both English and Maths and through an Online Literacy Assessment, which produces a reading and spelling age. Each term, both assessments will be re-taken and tracked, which shows progression over time.
Trust underpins the strong relationships that exist between staff and pupils. The good social skills modelled by staff permeate throughout the school. This helps pupils build their self-esteem and interact positively with others.
OfSTED Inspection – March 2019
Impact
Our students thrive in a safe and inclusive environment where their specific special educational needs are met. Our students access a broad curriculum and leave school with skills and qualifications required for future educational, career or personal aspirations and into adulthood.
Our students not only leave with a range of qualifications, but with instilled British Values and a positive ethos, which will allow them to be well respected citizens. Students will feel fully prepared to successfully transition into adulthood; there is a huge focus on preparing students for adulthood from Year 7. At Howard House School, we take all the necessary measures to ensure we have 0% NEETS.
We use forms of planning which is consistent and enables the core business of our school – teaching and learning, to be effective. Assessment is frequent and rigorous. All staff are encouraged to see themselves as leaders of learning and to inspire not just students, but other staff members. SLT at all levels follow a robust monitoring schedule, including lesson observations, learning walks, work scrutiny, student surveys and curriculum review, so they can evaluate and review the provision and make necessary amendments and improvements to ensure all students’ needs are being met.
