‘Strong teaching across the school has been maintained… Teachers show great patience and sensitivity when working alongside pupils with chronic medical needs. Relationships are exceptionally strong.
Teachers use their detailed subject knowledge to stimulate pupils’ interest and enthusiasm for learning. Activities are designed to be practical and enjoyable, but also challenging.’
OFSTED, 2018
Teaching and Learning Process
HHTS prides itself on making sure our learners are able to make excellent progress during their time with us. Key to this is understanding their starting points and prior learning. Teachers meet with new students to ascertain their programmes of study, interests and goals. In combination with rigorous baseline assessments, we are able to set specific learning targets and create individual timetables. Ongoing assessments enable us to review pupils’ progress and ensure that targets remain aspirational and challenging.
‘Your high expectations and systematic monitoring ensure that teaching and its impact on pupils’ learning are consistently strong. This enables pupils to make rapid progress in their academic studies, and in their personal development.’
OFSTED, 2018
Understandably, not falling behind with home school work is a priority for many of our learners. The education team works closely with a young person’s home school, to strengthen transition and ensure that each student keeps up with progression milestones; minimising stress.
Other young people may not have been in education at the point of admission and we are able to provide them with a full curriculum planned and delivered by our own highly skilled teachers.
‘When pupils arrive, teachers find out promptly about pupils’ prior learning, and their personal and medical needs. They use this information to plan learning suited to their needs and abilities, and their interests. Teachers carry out detailed assessments and these provide a clear overview of how well pupils are doing over time.’
OFSTED, 2018
Making sure that we provide the right balance of learning is integral to our students’ recovery, and we encourage all students to take part in our enrichment curriculum in addition to their academic work, with lessons designed to maximise peer working, group discussion and self-expression.
By ensuring that our young people are engaged in stimulating and challenging lessons that are matched to individual need, not only do learners make excellent progress and keep up with their home school work, they also receive positive educational experiences which help prepare them for returning to mainstream education when their health allows.
Personalised Learning
Our commitment to personalised learning underpins everything we do. Our curriculum is highly flexible and individualised; enabling us to meet the needs of the diverse and ever-changing cohort of learners we support.
Each student has their own Lead Teacher who will liaise across the wider team, and the student’s home school, to create a bespoke timetable; ensuring the learners have ample time to complete work being followed by home school peers, whilst benefiting from our extensive core and enrichment curricula.
Timetables are constantly reviewed in liaison with the clinical team, and adapted to meet students’ developing needs, and current mental health functioning in education.
For further information on the broad range of subjects we offer, please see our Curriculum page.
