ENGLISH 

There is a two- year program for Post 16 with an emphasis on learning for living skills in English. There are  four English groups  so that the needs of girls with different abilities can be fully met. Most students will embark on a program including speaking and listening, reading and writing skills. In the Autumn term, Year 1 will include tasks such as planning an assembly and an event. Presentation skills will be developed as well as organisational skills. In year 2  the students will look at podcasts and audio materials. This will encourage students to use other media available to them. In the second part of the term they will look at all the types of instructions and using their reading skills to understand what is being asked of them. In some cases students may continue to work towards their Edexcel Functional Skills in English qualification. This will involve formal assessments in Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening. Tasks will be set with an emphasis on language structure, format, spellings, punctuation and grammar.  

MATHS 

In Post-16, Mathematics is still taught in a very structured manner however, more of an emphasis is given to real-life skills. For some students that may not have gained a Functional Skills qualification in Year 11, there are further opportunities to work towards this. For others, a non-qualification pathway is more suitable. Relevant topics across Post-16 include shopping, including online and in-person, budgeting, banking, jobs, wages, tax, National Insurance, rent and mortgages, planning your day/being organised with time amongst many others.

PE 

An emphasis will be placed on enhancing pupil social interactions with an increasing range of people within the wider community, through leadership opportunities which promote physical activity. Personal organisation of specific kit and equipment will also feature frequently through swimming, trampolining and personal fitness development. 

PSHE 

The PSHE programme is designed to engage students with life skills and topics that will prepare them for adulthood and direct them from dependence to independence by focussing on subject areas that will equip them in the wider world.

These topics include:

• Healthy Relationships
• Consent
• Fertility, Parenting, Pregnancy
• Health, Safety and Diversity
• Mental and Positive Wellbeing
• Online Safety
• Self-Care
• Being responsible
• Abuse and consent
• Delaying parenthood
• Personal Finance
• Drugs & Risk Education

Post 16 students are split into three groups. Each group will access all sections of study during the year: 

1.Health and hygiene; skin, hair and make-up; Body image and self-esteem; Peer pressure and assertiveness; Relationships and bullying; Child Sexual Exploitation; Domestic Violence (teenage relationships); Use of devices and Internet safety. 

2.Families and related issues; Relationships; Contraception and conception; HIVs and STIs; Pregnancy and birth, including diet, exercise and effects of drugs; Medicines and Drugs; Keeping safe. 

3.Safety in the home/road/water/fire; First Aid and dealing with emergencies; Caring for others in the community, including disabled and elderly; Housing and the homeless; Crime and its consequences; Knife crime; Racism. 

Students will work in small groups according to their individual needs and abilities. 

SOCIAL SKILLS

The focus of each social skills lesson across all three therapy teams will be to prepare the girls for their transition from a school to college. The aim will be to support the pupils’ development of the skills needed for their next steps towards integration into the wider community in line their abilities pathway. They will develop their confidence to socialise with new people, develop new friendships and interact successfully with their peers and to gain the skills for an independent life. The pupils will be empowered to recover quickly from difficulties, both in school and outside in the community – overall building their resilience in preparation for transition. This will occur through three schemes of work: independence & community, communication & interaction and self-efficacy & self-esteem. Each pathway group will experience 1 term with each therapy team. 

In the Speech and Language sessions, the girls will focus on their Communication and Interaction skills following the Social Use of Language Programme (SULP). They will work on their social communication skills, their awareness of themselves and others, and the development of friendships and relationships in new settings. 

In the Occupational Therapy Lessons there will be a focus on building independence skills that will benefit them when they leave Alfriston. These will include budgeting, creating a shopping list, choosing an appropriate outfit for a specific event and planning a trip. The pupils will then spend time working as a large team to plan an event or a trip out. 

In the lessons delivered by the Wellbeing team, there will be a focus on building self-confidence and self-efficacy in preparation for adulthood. This will include planning a team building trip, self-reflection, creating and implementing a CBT-centred confidence and using these skills in an event to put themselves out of their comfort zone (i.e. performing, off-site activity or hosting others). 

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 

Community Engagement is split into two strands: engagement and experience.  

Community Engagement takes place on Monday mornings and is designed to emulate the community engagement that all SEND young adults will need regardless of if they gain employment. The focus will be around running the school’s own small, not for profit social enterprise MAD Products (Making A Difference), external voluntary roles and work related learning. Activities will encourage student autonomy and development of community awareness in addition to promoting ways to engage with a purpose in order to play a role in protecting mental health. This has previously included working with local primaries, Wycombe Arts Centre, Wycombe Food Hub, The Ark Café, Marlow and High Wycombe Salvation Army Charity Shop. We will differentiate activities and support using the pathways (care, supported and independent) but groups will not be split according to this. Travel training is included where it can be facilitated. In addition, on a Wednesday afternoon, we look to link students up to organisations who can provide longer term opportunities to aid the transition into adulthood and provide a wider support network for students and their families. We call this Community Networks and currently have links with Chiltern Rangers, Riding for the Disabled and One Can Trust.  

Community Experience takes place on Monday afternoons and are sessions are to promote independence and interaction in the wider community e.g. planning a journey, handling money, using public transport, and accessing community facilities. Activities will promote student autonomy. Previously this has included martial arts tasters, yoga sessions, leisure pools and dance sessions to name a few. Independence levels will be scaffolded and increased across the year, related to individual pathways. 

WORK EXPERIENCE  

Where appropriate, students will have the opportunity for independent work experience. This happens on a Monday or Friday depending on the student’s college link course. Students have to able to get themselves to a placement, or supported by parents/carers, and be able to manage on a placement alone. Preparatory time is given to set up the placement and support trials and induction. Monitoring visits and regular feedback and liaison with placements happens throughout the year. Placements are also asked to write a reference to go in the student’s Record of Achievement at the end of the placement.  

COLLEGE LINKS  

There will be several groups of students attending different colleges as part of our Link Course Program. These College links will take place on Mondays and Fridays. Whilst at College the students will be involved in a variety of activities, including Literacy and Numeracy. They will gradually feel more comfortable in the college environment and this will aid them in their transition from Alfriston to college in the future. The school will ensure that students are developing new skills and making progress whilst at college through close liaison with college staff who will report back regularly to school.  

HOME MANAGEMENT 

A group of Post 16 students will take part in a range of practical activities to develop their Independent Living Skills. They will contribute ideas to discussions and then plan to make simple lunches each Friday. Girls will go shopping to buy ingredients, prepare the food and enjoy developing their social skills as they eat lunch with their friends. They will work in a team to clean and clear up the cookery room following their sessions. 

TUESDAY ENRICHMENT

Pupils from Y10,11 and post 16 will work in mixed groups for a full morning (Lessons 1-4). Pupils are able to choose from a range of activities that they will complete over the course of a full term. All activities are designed to develop key employability skills and are aligned to our Learning for Living goals.

Autumn: LEARN (September to December). Focus on developing skills related to Christmas events such as the Christmas Bazaar and the Christmas show. There will also be a wellbeing theme running through each enrichment session to support the girls in building positive mental health through physical activity, music or art therapy style activities. 

THURSDAY BLOCK

In Years 10, 11 and Post 16 students are timetabled together on Thursday mornings. During this time, they work on a range of half termly units of work or activities for which they can express a preference. Some of these activities are accredited and some are unaccredited. For the accredited units the specifications used are BTEC Pre-vocational Study (Entry 1 and Entry 2) and BTEC Entry to Vocational Study (Entry 3). These specifications focus on the development of interpersonal, organisational and learning skills. The contexts used to develop these skills and therefore deliver the units include cooking, art, dance, sport and media studies. Non accredited units include collaborative work with other schools, colleges and community organisations.

For the first half of the autumn term 2022 the units of study offered are:
– Serving food and drink (Home Ec. Entry 3 – Providing a customer service)
– Animal Care (Berkshire College of Agriculture)
– Street Dance (collaboration with Stony Dean school)
– Ready, Steady, Action (Media studies – Entry 2 – Participating in a visit)
– Print Perfection (Art/craft – Entry 2 – Being Creative)
– Care in the Community (Entry 3 – Skills for Learning)
– Building the Ultimate Lifestyle (sport)
– Exploring the Outdoors (PE/outdoor activities – Entry 1 – Navigating from one place to another)
– Looking After Animals (collaboration with Stony Dean school)
– Chiltern Rangers – Green Thursdays (environmental conservation)

For the second half of the autumn term 2022 the units of study offered are:
– Winter Warmers (cooking – collaboration with Stony Dean school)
– Alfriston Rangers (collaboration with Chiltern Rangers and local primary schools)
– Behind the scenes (Dance/drama – Entry 3 – Going on a visit)
– Radio News (Media studies)
– Crazy Collage (Entry 1 – Taking part in a creative activity)
– Local Heroes (Collaborative work with Community Youth Ventures)
– Hosting a sporting event (Collaboration with local primary schools – Entry 3 – Supporting other individuals)
– Looking After Animals (collaboration with Stony Dean school)