A SECONDARY SCHOOL FOR SEND LEARNERS AGED 11-19
Beatrice Tate School provides a curriculum that is ambitious, relevant and challenging for all learners. Our curriculum is structured around three pathways which reflect the diverse learning needs of our students and ensure clear opportunities for progression.
Pathways are not defined by age but by need and achievement. Each pathway develops knowledge, skills and understanding across a wide range of subjects. Learners may move between pathways at any point in their school career as part of a seamless continuum.
The pre-formal curriculum is based on the Castle Wood School model developed by Dr Penny Lacey, former Senior Lecturer in Education at University of Birmingham. It is designed for learners who are at very early stages of development (typically those working below the statutory pre-key stage standards and historically assessed at P Levels 1 to 3).
The pre-formal curriculum enables learners to:
Each learner’s curriculum is personalised based on thorough assessment and in consultation with families, class staff and multi-disciplinary team professionals. Individual Learning Objectives focus on developing the fundamental areas of communication, cognition, physical skills, and self-help and independence.
Physical and sensory development are integral to the pre-formal pathway. The Motor Activity Training Programme (MATP) provides a structured, inclusive framework through which learners participate in purposeful movement activities. These promote mobility, body awareness, coordination, and self-esteem, while celebrating achievement in physical development at every level of ability.
Assessment at this level is carried out using Welsh Routes for Learning (WRfL), a nationally recognised and fit-for-purpose framework for learners with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). WRfL takes a holistic view of each learner and focuses on how learning occurs. Assessment considers learners’:
preferred learning channels and sensory processing (visual, auditory, tactile)
methods of communication
ability to connect new experiences with prior learning
capacity to anticipate and remember routines
approaches to solving problems
ability to form relationships and interact socially
Learners following the semi-formal curriculum learn best when learning is related to their own experiences. Some learn through structured play; others through functional, topic-based or community-based activities.
The curriculum content broadly aligns with the former National Curriculum P Levels 4 to 8—now replaced by pre-key stage standards—but continues to use these reference points for consistency and continuity within special school assessment frameworks. The teaching approach reflects each learner’s age, needs and learning style.
This pathway is supported by teaching materials from EQUALS, a professional organisation and registered charity that supports schools in delivering high-quality education for learners with severe and profound learning difficulties.
A key feature of teaching within the semi-formal pathway is our Attention for Learning approach. This whole-class engagement model helps learners to develop the skills of focus, joint attention, anticipation and participation. Through structured, motivating and interactive sessions, learners are supported to sustain concentration, share enjoyment and develop readiness to learn across all areas of the curriculum.
At semi-formal level, progress is assessed using PIVATS (Performance Indicators for Value Added Target Setting), developed by Lancashire County Council. PIVATS extends and refines the former P Levels and early National Curriculum levels, providing smaller, measurable ‘stepping stones’ between developmental stages. This enables accurate target setting and recognition of progress across the curriculum.
Note: Pre-key stage standards are the statutory national assessment framework for learners working below the standard of national curriculum tests but who are engaged in subject-specific learning. They replaced P Levels 5 to 8 following the DfE’s Rochford Review. Learners who are not yet engaged in subject-specific learning are assessed through the Engagement Model, which replaced P Levels 1 to 4. Although the Pre-key stage standards apply only to the end of Key Stages 1 and 2, they remain a useful national reference framework for secondary special schools. Beatrice Tate School uses them, alongside PIVATS and EQUALS, to support continuity of assessment for learners working below national curriculum expectations.
Learners at the formal level access National Curriculum subjects that are adapted to meet their individual needs. The formal curriculum is structured but practical, ensuring that new learning is consolidated through meaningful activities, repetition and reinforcement.
Teaching is guided by EQUALS schemes of work and supported by a wide range of evidence-based literacy, numeracy and communication frameworks that enable staff to design learning experiences matched to each learner’s stage of development.
PIVATS (Performance Indicators for Value Added Target Setting) is used as a benchmarking and reference tool to support consistency and moderation across subjects. However, teachers develop individualised Learning Objectives drawn directly from each learner’s EHCP objectives, ensuring that teaching is personalised and meaningful.
Assessment is coordinated through the school’s STARRS platform (Student Tracking, Assessment, Recording and Reporting System), which integrates evidence and progress data across frameworks and applies MAPP principles to evaluate progress in four dimensions: independence, fluency, maintenance and generalisation.
By combining the structure of PIVATS with highly personalised learner-centred targets, the formal curriculum at Beatrice Tate School ensures that every learner experiences challenge, relevance and measurable success.
Curriculum flexibility
Although each curriculum pathway has clearly defined content and approaches, there are occasions when mixed groupings are appropriate. This may be, for example, to provide learners with an age-appropriate peer group, or to extend and challenge those who are ready to access the next pathway.
This flexibility ensures that every learner receives a curriculum that is both relevant and ambitious, promoting personal growth, engagement and progress throughout their time at Beatrice Tate School.
