Kingsweston Centre: Brightstowe (Secondary)
Our Brightstowe Centre caters for pupils in Key Stages 3 & 4. All pupils have a primary need of autism and many will have moved to Brightstowe after attending our Shirehampton Centre. Most pupils will be expected to achieve a number of accreditations, ranging from entry levels to Level 2, at the end of KS4. Some pupils attend inclusion lessons within the mainstream co-located Academy and will be aiming towards GCSEs in this context. Brightstowe is a 47-place provision. There are approximately 8 pupils in a class. Each class has a teacher and a full-time teaching assistant and extra teaching assistants may be involved with the class at particular times. Pupils are organised by Key Stage, but within their Key Stage they are vertically grouped, with classes grouped by academic/ social/ emotional need.
The National Curriculum is delivered at the Kingsweston Centre, but it is modified to meet the individual needs of our pupils.
The curriculum is delivered in a duel aspect manner: an academic aspect and a personal development aspect.
All Some pupils also have a pupil support plan which is shared with all staff working with the pupil (and parents) so that there is a consistent approach to helping that pupil with his/ her behaviour.
In Key Stage 3, there are daily maths and English lessons, followed by opportunities to learn other core subjects via a cross-curricular topic, which changes termly. There is a focus on skills for learning, and pupils are encouraged to think about how, rather than just what they are learning. There is also a strong focus on Personal and Social Education, looking at areas such as personal hygiene, accessing the local community and autism awareness, as well as aiming to address areas of deficit within the spectrum, such as literal interpretation, emotional literacy, reading body language.
There is no specific overarching approach used by our staff, but elements of ASD approaches, such as TEACCH/ PECS/ Social Stories can be used if felt to be appropriate. Teaching resources support the visual learning style of the majority of our pupils.
Accreditation
In Key Stage 4 there are many different accreditation pathways for pupils. Some access ‘mainstream’ qualifications, such as GCSEs; delivery of the GCSE curriculum takes place in partnership with Oasis Academy (our co-located mainstream school) but KWC staff support pupils and communicate with teachers in the centre where pupils might need to revisit specific areas and receive more consolidation.
Alternatively, some pupils who are not maybe academically or emotionally ready to access this level take a range of subjects at Entry level and in some cases can work up right up to level 2. For English, Maths , pupils have the opportunity to work from Entry level 1, 2 3 and then Functional Skills level 1 and 2.
Youth Award Scheme is also delivered to pupils and they have the opportunity to complete 6 credits = bronze award; 12 credits = silver award; 18 credits = gold award. Many of the challenges in Youth Award cover vital life skills and also link with work experience as well as the College Link Course.