The HHTS Curriculum Model

Our curriculum is broad; going beyond the National Curriculum and encompassing academic study, creative expression, personal development, character education and vocational skill development. We regularly work with external organisations and professionals to extend our offer and raise students’ aspirations.

Our curriculum is responsive; timetables are altered regularly to meet the needs of learners as they join us. New subjects are developed and rotated in as needed. Our skilled staff team are able to deliver course content and accreditations across National Curriculum subjects while also developing enrichment programmes in response to pupils’ interests and needs.

Our curriculum strikes a balance; HHTS staff liaise with students’ home schools to ascertain programmes of study and expected levels of progress and then prepare and deliver work accordingly. This multi-faceted approach, balancing academic and enrichment work with hospital and home school curricula, ensures that all students have the opportunity to flourish in their learning whilst taking their particular mental health and medical needs into account.

Our team of teachers and Higher-Level Teaching Assistants (HLTAs) work across CAMHS Campus School at Springfield Hospital, the School at St George’s Hospital and community education services. This enables us to offer a breadth of subjects across all the sectors of the organisation delivered by key stage and subject specialists.

Our Three-Part Approach

In order to ensure each student is offered an appropriate curriculum at the point of admission, our teachers run a three-part approach across the service:

1. The HHTS Curriculum: This approach includes teachers using the national curriculum and national accreditations with an aspirational Head Heart Hands framework to plan their HHTS curriculum. Annual planning is completed for each subject. This constant annual curriculum plan for each key stage serves students as they arrive into school.
2. Identifying gaps in learning: Teaching staff are simultaneously assessing and addressing gaps in student understanding.
3. The home school curriculum. Teachers liaise with the young person’s school immediately upon admission to ascertain the young person’s prior attainment and current programmes of study; this is then used when the student is ready with modifications as needed.

The HHTS Curriculum is a dynamic and engaging annual curriculum programme for students who are with us on a short-term basis or whose school does not supply adequate curriculum content. Our timetable mirrors a mainstream National Curriculum offer, ensuring our programme is in line with nationally recognised accreditations, including GCSE, Functional Skills and A Levels.

Simultaneously, each teacher is assessing and addressing gaps in learning while liaising with new students’ home schools to ascertain the young person’s prior programme of study. From these sources, individualised schemes of work are generated for our long-term students. Through this approach we ensure that students are supported to bridge gaps in learning, make accelerated progress and keep up with their peers during their period of illness.

WHHTS Head Heart Hands Programme

We use the Head, Heart and Hands curriculum model, originally named by School 21, in multiple ways. It is used to review our curriculum offer in its entirety; to ensure that we are delivering a holistic education. Each subject lead also considers the opportunities for intellectual, emotional and skills-based learning within their curriculum. Finally, we hold thematic project days based on the principles of Head, Heart and Hands enabling students to become entrepreneurs, researchers, ethical citizens and creatives within real-life learning scenarios.

Our curriculum principles ensure our curriculum offer:

• is challenging and develops students’ knowledge, skills and intellect (HEAD)
• facilitates students to develop tolerance and kindness towards themselves and others (HEART)
• encourages all of us to hold high expectations and learn skills to make beautiful work (HANDS)
• is broad; offering continued and new opportunities for achievement and increased wellbeing
• is personalised and responsive to each young person’s needs, enabling students to keep up with peers during and following a period of illness
• is delivered through high quality, dynamic teaching by subject specialists

Examinations and accreditations
Learning is accredited through a wide range of external accreditations including GCSEs, Functional Skills, BTECs, A Levels and the AQA Unit Award Scheme. We are also a Signature Centre, enabling us to assess students for British Sign Language Level 1 and 2 examinations. We are continuously adding to our offer, and increasing the exam boards that we work with.

Our flexible approach ensures maximum access to exams both on and off-site as HHTS works closely with pupils’ home schools to ensure continuity at whatever point students may join or leave us.

We are part of a national partnership via the National Association of Hospital Education and Prisum that allows us to benchmark our exam outcomes, ensuring our attainment data is in line with or exceeds that of students in similar settings nationally.

Curriculum progression
In order to ensure that we are closely following and tracking pupil progress in line with the National Curriculum, each department is using progression criteria devised from the national curriculum or nationally recognised accreditations. These progression criteria are then used to create personalised learning aims. These aims are then reviewed and tracked to evidence progress over time.

The HHTS Academic Curriculum offer

The HHTS Academic Curriculum consists of timetabled sessions on: