Pathways Overview
To ensure that we are able to meet each student’s needs as specifically as possible Beacon Hill School’s curriculum is arranged into four pathways. These are the Explorer ; the Traveller; the Adventurer; and the Discoverer Pathway. Students transition into the best pathway for them following the Early Years Foundation Stage. Each curriculum pathway is designed to best meet the needs of the students in terms of the curriculum areas, the learning environment and the teaching and learning approaches. Pathways are not static and students can move into different pathways as their learner characteristics develop and change.
Early Years Foundation Stage
We recognise the importance of the Early Years Foundation Stage and aim to give our students the best start to school life possible. During this stage of school, we focus on the prime aspects of development; Communication and language, Physical development and Personal, Social and Emotional Development as well as Play and Early learning. Students in the Early Years Foundation Stage benefit from a period of observation used to build individual profiles that identify their learner characteristics, engagement profiles, and motivators. By the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage, the pupil’s individualised curriculum pathway begins to harmonise into one of the four main pathways used throughout the rest of the school.
Explorer Pathway
Students within the Explorer pathway are developing their cognitive skills as well as skills of communication and interaction. The overall aim of this pathway is to enable these students to become intentional communicators and develop cognitive skills so that they can interact with their environment with increasing independence and exercise autonomy in a range of contexts.
Traveller Pathway
Students within the traveller pathway are learning to self regulate, engage with their environment, and develop communication and interaction skills. The overall aim of this pathway is to develop skills to become intentional effective communicators and to become well-regulated, so that they can engage meaningfully with their environment and people around them with increasing independence in order to develop early learning skills and skills for life.
Adventurer Pathway
The overall aim of this pathway is to encourage students to engage in broad and rich experiences that are appropriate to their needs and prepare and enable them academically, socially, physically, and emotionally for the opportunities for their immediate next steps and into adult life. To develop emotional and sensory regulation, functional communication, social interaction, health safety, and self-care, and resilience..
Discover Pathway
The overall aim of the Discoverer Pathway is to develop students’ independence, agency, curiosity to learn, and ability to interact with other people and the world around them in different ways so that they can develop some subject-specific skills and knowledge.
Post 16 Pathways
All pathways extend into Post 16 provision, where the curriculum areas evolve to have a sharper focus on ensuring students have the opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge they need to have an independent, happy, fulfilling life. Curriculum areas in the post 16 pathways are all underpinned by the Preparation for Adulthood Framework.
