RAP Curriculum
RAP as a school based Alternative Provision
At RAP our goal is to re-engage children with learning in order that they attend every day, grow as individuals and experience being successful.
Our pupils are of different ages, have different interests, have different educational needs and engage in activities in very different ways. Therefore, each pupil’s provision is highly individualised and is designed to maximise engagement, achieve high attendance and achieve the best outcomes.
Each pupil has their own room, where they can experience being calm and settled and engage with their provision. Each room develops over time and reflects each pupil’s interests and learning journey. RAP is an Alternative Provision, that constantly and dynamically adapts each child’s provision over time. At RAP the pupils, for example, cook, read, solve maths problems, play sport, paint, build, fix bikes, learn to play instruments, visit a whole variety of places, learn about the world around us and much, much more.
National Curriculum
RAP is an Alternative Provision (AP) and, therefore, the pupils at RAP do not follow the subject specific National Curriculum. The provision is highly individualised and is designed to maximise attendance and engagement through carefully considered incidental learning.
With that said, we continually look for opportunities to link the pupils’ learning to the national curriculum subject content learning that the pupils would be accessing if they were attending a mainstream school.
For example, a learning mentor will know that a year 8 pupil learns about The Normans in History and will, therefore, look for incidental learning opportunities to expose the year 8 pupil at RAP to this part of the national curriculum. The ambition is that the pupil will engage and want to learn more which the learning mentor can then explore with them. It must be stressed, however, that if the pupil did not want to engage in a specific area, such as The Normans, RAP will not insist that they do. We will move on, continue with activities that do engage the student and look for the next opportunity to hook into the national curriculum.
The Engagement model
Alongside the above measures RAP is beginning to use elements of the Department for Education’s Engagement model https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-engagement-model to plan and assess the pupil’s engagement in the provision provided, where relevant. The model is used to help us ask the right questions in order to inform our observations of how each pupil engages with the provision and progresses.
Functional skills
At RAP older pupils have the opportunity to take Functional Skills qualifications in Maths, Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening.
Functional Skills is an alternative qualification route to GCSE’s – https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/functional-skills-qualifications-requirements
Post 16
RAP actively supports year 11 pupils in securing a post 16 educational placement. In collaboration with the pupil, the pupil’s parent/carer, the pupil’s SEN caseworker.
Careers
Careers – Riversides School At RAP we follow Riversides School’s careers curriculum which is informed by the Gatsby Benchmarks.
How do we assess and track progress?
Being an Alternative Provision RAP does not track each pupil’s academic progress as in Mainstream schooling. However, we do believe in rigorous assessment through observation and in using a variety of assessment tools to track each child’s progress against a whole range of criteria.
Below are the measures that we use to assess and track each pupil’s progress and to develop and improve the provision each pupil receives.
RADAR – Progress Tracking Tool
To track the progress of each pupil at RAP we have developed an assessment tool called RADAR. Every term each pupil is scored against 116 developmental criteria. As each pupil grows so does the RADAR graph giving a clear overview of the areas in which the pupils are progressing and the areas in which more input is needed.
Attendance rates
Attendance is an absolute priority for RAP. We monitor very closely attendance rates and continually work in close partnership with parents and carers to tackle any barriers to attendance.
EHCP – Education and Health Plan
Each pupil at RAP has an EHCP which has outcomes that the pupils are working towards. The annual EHCP review assesses the child’s progress against the outcomes and sets new ones if the present ones have been achieved.
IEP – Individual Education Plans
Each pupil at RAP has an IEP with at least three targets. IEP’s are reviewed half termly (6 times a year) and targets are RAG rated. New targets are set when present ones have been achieved.
Pupil voice
Every term the pupils are asked about their experiences of RAP and their specific provision.
Parent voice
Every term, parents and carers are asked about their views on their child’s provision.