Curriculum Intent

Statement of Curriculum Intent

Our Vision 

The Harbour is for children and young people who need targeted support for their social, emotional and mental health developmental needs. The children and young people who attend are supported to learn by experiencing safe, stable, and consistent care from adults within a structured, small class environment so that they experience a sense of belonging and feel safe to take the risks learning can present. 

To enable staff to meet the wide range of abilities, needs and diversity, the curriculum provided at The Harbour is flexible, child-centred and engaging. The balance between children maintaining regulation and engaging in educational challenge is achieved through skilled adjustment to meet their needs. Staff ensure that all opportunities for learning are utilised and the flexible, adaptable nature of the team and curriculum enables positive outcomes for our children. 

The staff at The Harbour are skilled at building positive relationships and supporting children through co- regulation. As a trauma perceptive provision, this is achieved through the following key values:

• Compassion and Kindness - Children learn to understand themselves and their own behaviours through personalised teaching and develop their skills of self-regulation, leading to better engagement in learning.
• Hope - Staff hold high expectations and aspirations and children build confidence and pride in their achievements. Our learning environment promotes a sense of inclusivity and opportunities for holistic progress are valued alongside academic.
• Connection and Belonging - Relationships are the agents of change and the foundations of success. The adults in The Harbour are empathetic and support learning by ensuring the children feel safe to take risks in their learning. 

Curriculum Implementation 

Children are taught by trained and experienced adults with whom they have developed trusting relationships. These adults are able to show empathy and compassion which can inspire positive learning experiences. 

Our curriculum is based on good quality resources which enable engagement through different teaching approaches and learning styles. Creativity and teacher expertise is woven into the curriculum, supported by advice and training from external agencies and through school-led improvement; sharing good practice between provisions.

Staff will often use a child’s interest to increase engagement. Staff also try and broaden their knowledge and experiences through introducing them to new topics aiming to widen their worlds. Children are given daily opportunities to access statutory curriculum teaching and learning as a discrete activity, but these are also embedded across  the wider curriculum. Purposeful assessment and planning ensures children are able to build upon prior knowledge, increasingly applying their learning to a wider range of skill-based activities and purposeful contexts. 

Foundation subjects are mostly taught through a thematic curriculum. Topics are selected to promote engagement and to provide a broad and balanced curriculum. Cross-curricular links are made wherever possible to link learning. 

Personal, Health and Social Education (PSHE) is embedded throughout our curriculum because we believe children need to feel safe and confident in order to be ready to learn. At The Harbour, we base our PSHE Curriculum on the research of the Six Core Strengths: the relational building blocks that children need to develop in order to be resilient and compassionate. We support children to form and maintain healthy emotional relationships, self-regulate, join and contribute to a group and be aware, tolerant and respectful of themselves and others. This enables them to be resourceful, successful in social situations and resilient. Targeted teaching of these key skills underpins our curriculum. Explicit teaching of neuro-science helps our children understand how their brain works.

Within each day we plan dedicated time to both structured and unstructured play. This may be planned or spontaneous to meet the child’s needs or to teach in the moment. Staff understand the importance of supporting children to develop their skills of and through play, in many different forms of solitary, alongside or with peers, indoors or outside play. These teaching and learning opportunities are utilised across all curriculum areas.

Children may also join in with enrichment activities to help them build relationships and to develop and practise their social skills. Children are challenged to share and listen to the views of others and to engage in reflective and restorative conversations. 

Curriculum Impact 

The impact of the curriculum is monitored through pupil voice, progress measured through assessment, planning, discussions with parents/carers and referring school.

The desired outcomes of the curriculum is to ensure that pupils are well rounded learners who have an understanding of what they are good at. Their learning is at least equal to that of their peers in their school as they will have developed new skills and are ready to embark on the next phase or stage of their education with the foundations to achieve success.