Whole School Intent

• Build independence to the greatest degree possible.
• Improve understanding of the world around them.
• Develop self-advocacy skills.

Independence and Life Skills at a glance

Whole School Implementation

• Functional and cross curricular reinforcement
• Specific and engaging.
• Mastery approach.
• Use of real resources.

Across the Pathways

Willow

Cherry

Chestnut

Intent

• Developing self-awareness
• Encourage increased independence in personal care
• Encourage and support interaction with the world around them.

Implementation

• Sensory experiences
• Mastery approach
• Targets set through OPAL and link to EHCP outcomes
• Exploratory approach to independence and life skills
• Life skills woven throughout the curriculum.
• Learning powers: Explore, Connect and Persevere.

Intent

• Developing self-awareness and awareness of others
• Support understanding of the world around them.
• Encourage independence in personal care.

Implementation

• Short activities
• Functional and active learning opportunities.
• Repeated opportunities to practise skills.
• Mastery approach
• Targets set through OPAL and link to EHCP outcomes
• Learning powers: Explore, Connect, Persevere and Feel

Intent

• Generalisation of life skills for use in everyday life.
• Developing self-advocacy.
• E safety and travel safety are key.

Implementation

• Functional and cross curricular links
• Whole class or small groups
• Mastery approach
• Targets set through OPAL and link to EHCP outcomes
• Learning powers: Explore, Connect, Persevere, Feel and Reflect

Curriculum Content

• Cookery Curriculum: We intend for our learners to leave Oaklands having mastered a good range of cookery skills built up over time, through their weekly Cookery lessons, which teach a progressive set of basic skills and related recipes.
• Growing Curriculum: Making use of our converted garden area. We want all of our children to be healthy and have a good diet and understanding of how to feed themselves well, as well as build a bond with nature and gardening that had been shown to support good mental health.
• SoSafe: This is designed for use with SEND learners and is a very clear rules-based approach to social safety. It uses a standardised framework of symbols, visual teaching tools and concepts to teach strategies for moving into intimate relationships in a safe and measured manner, and provides visual communication tools for reporting physical or sexual abuse.
• Life Skills: We have identified a number of life skills that can be taught explicitly in school.  These are Eating & drinking, Personal hygiene, Dressing & undressing, Road and travel safety in the community, Out & About Life events and Basic health & safety.
• Curriculum overviews and planning have been developed as appropriate for each pathway. The typical time budget for each pathway, including embedded pratice and ‘teachable moments’ is as follows:

Willow

Cherry and Chestnut

1 hour per week of Cookery

1 hour per week of Growing time

3 hours per week of explicit I&LS sessions

SoSafe! is interwoven into other areas of the curriculum

1 hour per week of Cookery and

1 hour per week of Growing time

2 hours per week of explicit I&LS sessions

1 hour per week of SoSafe!  (3x 20 minute sessions)

Resources, Training and CPD

• a5 booklet (falkirk.gov.uk) Falkirk Council have excellent occupational therapy resources for staff and parents/ carers related to a range of life skills
• Preparing for Adulthood | PfA | Home Page
• https://www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk/resources/progression-framework AET Framework
• https://www.sendgateway.org.uk/resources/preparing-adulthood-earliest-years-review-guide Preparing for Adulthood from the Earliest Years Review Guide
• https://www.autismspeaks.org/life-skills-and-autism
• https://learningforapurpose.com/
• http://test.nhsggc.org.uk/media/2068/life-skills-for-little-ones.pdf

Staff CPD-see staffshare & OneDrive CPD folders: 

Planning and advice guides linked to dressing, eating and drinking, hygiene, personal hygiene, road safety, sleep and toileting.

Strengths

• Staff have a strong understanding of the needs of their students
• Staff teams are able to create engaging and purposeful curriculum for their pathways.
• Repeated revisiting of life skills in different contexts and with cross curricular links.
• Students are making progress in their OPAL ladders.

Areas for Development

• Developing the growing curriculum
• Completing the Independence & Life Skills Curriculum Map for Cherry and Chestnut pathways
• Setting up a SIT team so that teams can improve their depth of knowledge and share this with the whole school