Physical Development

Physical Wellbeing Overview

The Physical Wellbeing curriculum at Hope School & College intends to develop the body’s strength, promote physical well-being, and provide opportunities for the early physical development of the body, body awareness, spatial awareness, and health and safety. Learners are enabled to experience physical activities and their own physical development safely. They are supported to explore a wide range of stimulating resources, to the full extent of their capacity and with as much help as is required. The skills acquired should be transferable across other areas of our broad and balanced curriculum. The development of physical skills is functional to support learners to be as independent as possible in everyday life. The connection between the brain, body and movement is crucial in delivering a curriculum that supports learners to develop holistically. Opportunities to meet the sensory and physical needs of learners enables them to access a wider curriculum and have a readiness to learn. We understand that physical development is a priority for many of our learners and therefore plays a key role in our curriculum.

Underpinning our curriculum are our three core values of Achievement, Equality and Independence for all.

At Hope we:

• Provide real life opportunities to explore indoors and outdoors and use their whole body and muscles to develop their core strength.
• Provide opportunities that support learners to develop their complex physical health through their senses including vestibular (balance), proprioception (body awareness), interoception (sensing internal signals from your body).
• Provide activities to develop learners’ gross motor skills through activities that develop core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility.
•  Support learners to develop precision through fine motor activities, using small tools and equipment that will eventually lead to the progression of emergent writing stages.

Implementation

Our Physical Wellbeing curriculum utilizes 3 frameworks – Birth to 5 Matters, the Engagement Curriculum and the National Curriculum (multiple subject areas), as appropriate to the level of physical/medical need of the learner. Physical wellbeing involves elements of many curriculum areas such as PSED, PE, Exploring Arts and Design, and Design and Technology.

These frameworks underpin our objectives for all learners throughout our learning pathways of Complex Medical/Pre-Formal/Semi-Formal/Formal.

Consideration of learners’ Individual Development Plans (IDP), Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) outcomes should be a key priority when planning implementation of this core area of the curriculum.

Delivery of this core curriculum area is not intended to be done as a discrete session, rather to be embedded across all areas of the curriculum, both prime and specific and may be reflected as a significant part of a daily routine. Learning opportunities should be provided across a range of different contexts and situations.

As in all other subject areas, staff should be working on a number of strands in physical activities at the same time. Decisions on the effective selection of strands will be based on the individual needs of the group of students. The content in many of the strands will have similar aspects, and use may be made of common key teaching themes. Planning will ensure that these strands run consecutively, thus promoting consolidation of learning. Each new learning experience should build, where possible, on previous learning.

The suggested activities provide opportunities through which learners can improve fine and gross motor co-ordination, concentration, listening skills, self-esteem, self-confidence, games skills, creativity, and the ability to co-operate and communicate with others.

Many students will need a high level of physical assistance to enable them to participate in physical activities.

Consultation with other professionals such as a physiotherapist or an occupational therapist may also be required to make possible the optimum participation for learners with exceptionally high or low muscle tone. These students may need preparatory exercises before undertaking physical activity. Many students may have individualised programmes which will be embedded in daily routines.

Physical Wellbeing and development can be observed in sessions including:

• Hydrotherapy
• Postural management
• Physio programmes
• Personal care programmes
• Eating and drinking programmes
• Sensology/multisensory workout
• Story Massage/ proprioceptive massage
• Sensory cooking
• Messy play
• Dough Disco
• Wake up Shake up/ movement breaks
• Rebound
• Sensory circuits
• Sensory diets
• Cosmic Yoga/Yogacise/ Seated Yoga
• Fine and gross motor opportunities
• Self-help skills and personal care

Impact

The impact of our physical wellbeing curriculum is that learners will develop their physical skills and wellbeing to enable them to learn to their full potential. Learners will be as independent and functional as they can be with the skills they can utilise in life beyond Hope School and College.

Rationale

All learners at Hope School and College participate in the physical wellbeing curriculum to enable them to become a happy and healthy individual working towards being as independent as possible. Physical wellbeing promotes positive physical development, positive mindset, stamina, resilience and confidence in a learner’s own development and autonomy over their body.

At Hope School and College, we encourage learners’ physical wellbeing and how it can be nurtured to ensure learners develop an understanding of physical development and physical skills. All learners tend to present with a physical need including medical, postural, sensory, VI, HI, ASC, ADHD or associated challenges in the following areas: nutritional, medication management, regular exercise, sleep and rest, pain management, personal hygiene.

Management of physical wellbeing is imperative to ensure a leaners basic needs are being met (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, 1954). We also take in to account our 6 principles of nurture as a part of our physical wellbeing curriculum.

The physical wellbeing curriculum can be strategy specific or a multi-sensory approach and develops as per the cohort of learners and their individual need. We build on existing and current physical presentation of learners and are the curriculum has the flexibility to be reactive to the physical wellbeing changes that learners experience. These could include leaners progression through specific programmes, recovery from surgeries, environmental changes such as equipment changes or classroom transition. The curriculum also addresses naturally occurring physical developments e.g. changes in physicality linked to diagnoses, sensory differences developing (hyper and hyposensitises becoming stronger or more noticeable) and puberty.

Our school site offers opportunities for learners to do this through having space to use equipment, access calm and quiet spaces, soft play areas, warm water pool, steps and handrails, immersive studio, resonance boards and trampoline sessions.

We provide opportunities that enable learners to practice and develop their physical self in a variety of functional contexts and situations. This will be developed through provided health programmes, songs, games, sensory and imaginative play leading to more practical contextual experiences such as cooking, PSE skills and PE. The physical wellbeing curriculum reflects an integrated approach to development encompassing a variety of technologies, physical equipment and simple language when communicating about our body.

Learners may have difficulty accomplishing skills quickly or facing challenges as physical changes occur. The curriculum enables learners to build resilience, tolerance and adjusts for those learners who experience regression. Learners may require repeated programmes of physio or occupational therapy, so that they can transfer skills across a range of different settings and situations. This repetition and coverage of physical development is stipulated in daily routines and planned for individually when appropriate.

Physical Wellbeing at Hope School and College

Physical wellbeing in our Complex Learning Pathway

Learners with complex medical needs and PMLD will access the physical wellbeing curriculum as devised and advised through multidisciplinary input and through the Attending section of the Engagement Curriculum. They will explore physical experiences and work towards individual goals through a multisensory approach which is embedded as part of their holistic experience of education at Hope School and College. Physical development assessment within this pathway is non-subject specific and is assessed using the Engagement steps B Squared Assessment Tool and referred to in IDP’s, ‘I can’ targets and EHCPs as part of the annual review process. Learners who are under specific therapy services will also be reviewed in accordance with their own assessment protocols.

Within this pathway learning may look like:

Physical wellbeing in our Early Steps Pathway

Learners within Early Years and Key Stage 1 will follow the Birth to 5 Matters curriculum. They will explore physical experiences and work towards individual goals through a multisensory approach which is embedded as part of their holistic experience of education at Hope School and College when working in the early stages of Birth to Five matters. As they progress, physical wellbeing development is promoted through self-initiated play-based activities or adult led focussed activities when appropriate. Continuous provision provides planned enhanced opportunities to support child led learning. Physical wellbeing assessment within this pathway is non-subject specific and is assessed using the Early Steps Physical Development B Squared assessment tool but is also covered in multiple areas within the assessment tool. Learners who are under specific therapy services will also be reviewed in accordance with their own assessment protocols.

Within this pathway learning may look like:

Physical Development in our Semi-Formal Pathway

Learners within this pathway build upon the foundations of learning on which the pre-formal curriculum pathways are based. Continuous provision is still available for learners who need to develop skills through play-based activities. The curriculum is taken from the Engagement Curriculum predominantly the Initiation section and where learners may have strengths or elevated skills and interests e.g. sports skills, learners may be taught discretely to maximise progress. Physical wellbeing may be accessed through continuous provision or day to day routine activities, planned key times and sessions or individualised tasks and self-help skills. In addition to this, specific sessions (e.g. sensory circuits/sensory messy play/yogacise) are delivered through a variety of whole class, small group and 1:1 activity.

Physical wellbeing is monitored and assessment within this pathway is a mixture of cross curricular and subject specific and is assessed using Engagement Steps, Progression Steps and Steps 4 Life B Squared Assessment Tool. Learners who are under specific therapy services will also be reviewed in accordance with their own assessment protocols.

Within this pathway learning may look like:

Physical Wellbeing in our Formal Pathway

Learners within this pathway build upon the learning on which the semi-formal curriculum pathways are based. The Curriculum utilises the National Curriculum or specific programmes of need and introduces a greater range of physical wellbeing awareness opportunities that pupils can explore, seek and use independently. Sessions are delivered through a variety of whole class, small group and 1:1 activities and include planned enhanced opportunities including working towards independent living skills.

Physical wellbeing assessment within this pathway is assessed as a part of the wider curriculum and encompasses many aspects of multiple subjects using Progression Steps and Steps 4 Life B Squared Assessment Tool. Learners who are under specific therapy services will also be reviewed in accordance with their own assessment protocols.

Within this pathway learning may look like: