Curriculum Policy
Purpose of this policy This policy explains the educational offer at Learning Barn on Manor Farm, how learning is personalised and delivered, and how progress is identified and communicated. It should be read alongside each learner’s agreed placement information, individual outcomes and relevant safeguarding, health and safety, equality and animal welfare procedures.
1 Our provision
Learning Barn on Manor Farm provides specialist educational support for children and young people, including learners with special educational needs and disabilities. Our provision uses calm relationships, practical learning, animals and the farm environment to help learners engage, regulate and make progress.
We are not a school and do not claim to provide the whole National Curriculum or replace the statutory responsibilities of a learner’s school, local authority or placing body. Where appropriate, our activities connect with National Curriculum knowledge and skills, Education Health and Care Plan outcomes and targets supplied by the learner’s school, family or referrer.
2 Curriculum intent
Our curriculum is designed to:
• provide a safe, predictable and respectful environment in which learners can participate without unnecessary pressure
• rebuild confidence, curiosity and a positive relationship with learning
• develop communication, emotional regulation, independence and social understanding
• support progress in functional English, mathematics and wider learning where these form part of the agreed placement
• use meaningful practical experiences to make learning accessible and memorable
• work towards individual EHCP outcomes, personal targets and priorities agreed with the learner’s family and referrer
• recognise strengths, interests, neurodivergent ways of learning and different forms of communication
• prepare learners for greater participation in education, home life and their community.
3 Principles
Principle
What this means in practice
Individualised
Planning starts with the learner’s needs, strengths, interests, current presentation and agreed outcomes.
Relationship based
Trust, consistency and emotional safety are treated as foundations for learning.
Needs led
Demand, pace, language, environment and level of adult support are adjusted when a learner is anxious, overloaded or unable to access an activity.
Strengths focused
Progress includes engagement, communication, self-advocacy, regulation, independence and confidence, not only academic attainment.
Practical and purposeful
Learners are offered real tasks, choices, problem solving and experiences connected to animals, nature, daily life and their interests.
Inclusive
Reasonable adjustments are used to remove barriers and promote dignity, participation and belonging.
4 Curriculum offer
The balance of learning is agreed for each placement. Not every learner will access every area in every session, and the same activity may support several areas at once.
Communication and English
Conversation, listening, vocabulary, reading, writing, comprehension, storytelling and functional communication.
Mathematics
Number, measure, money, time, data, estimation and practical problem solving.
Personal social and emotional development
Self-awareness, emotional literacy, relationships, boundaries, turn taking, collaboration and self-advocacy.
Independence and life skills
Choice making, planning, organisation, following routines, caring responsibilities and safe participation in everyday tasks.
Science nature and the environment
Animal needs, habitats, lifecycles, observation, classification, seasons, sustainability and environmental responsibility.
Animal care and welfare
Respectful handling where suitable, husbandry, feeding, cleaning, observing behaviour and understanding welfare needs.
Creative and practical learning
Art, design, making, sensory exploration and projects shaped by interests and agreed goals.
Physical and sensory development
Movement, coordination, fine motor skills, safe tool use, outdoor activity and sensory regulation.
5 Planning and personalisation
Before or at the start of a placement, we seek relevant information such as:
• the learner’s strengths, interests, communication preferences and sensory profile
• known triggers, risks, support strategies and reasonable adjustments
• relevant EHCP outcomes, school targets or priorities identified by the referrer
• health, allergy, medication and animal-related information needed for safe participation
• the intended purpose, frequency and expected outcomes of the placement.
Session planning identifies suitable opportunities and a flexible route through them. Staff may adapt or pause planned learning in response to regulation, communication, safety or welfare needs. This is purposeful professional adjustment, not an absence of educational intent.
Learners are given meaningful choices wherever possible. For learners with a demand-avoidant profile, staff may use collaborative language, indirect invitations, shared problem solving, humour, visual supports and reduced pressure. Adjustments are individual and are reviewed according to their effect.
6 Teaching and learning
Teaching may include:
• modelling and demonstrating a skill
• breaking tasks into manageable steps
• using visual prompts, concrete resources and repetition
• following a learner’s interest to create a purposeful learning opportunity
• guided practice followed by increasing independence
• short focused academic tasks integrated with practical or animal-related activity
• co-regulation, movement or quiet time to restore access to learning
• reflection and conversation to help the learner notice their own progress.
Staff maintain clear, calm boundaries and avoid shame, coercion or punitive responses. A learner’s refusal, withdrawal, shutdown or change in behaviour is treated as communication and considered alongside safety and wellbeing.
7 Assessment and evidence of progress
Assessment is proportionate to the placement and is used to inform teaching rather than create unnecessary pressure. Baselines may be drawn from supplied records, discussion, observation and early sessions. Evidence may include brief session notes, work samples, photographs where consent permits, learner comments and observations of increasing participation or independence.
Progress may be shown through:
• new knowledge or a skill completed with less help
• greater tolerance of a task, environment, transition or shared activity
• improved communication, self-advocacy or ability to make choices
• use of regulation strategies and recovery after difficulty
• increased confidence, persistence, curiosity or willingness to try
• progress against an agreed academic, personal or EHCP outcome.
The detail and frequency of written reporting are agreed with the purchaser or referrer. Records are factual, respectful and focused on relevant educational information. Concerns about limited progress may lead to changes in approach, outcomes, session structure or a review of whether the placement remains suitable.
8 Communication and review
We work with parents, carers, schools, local authorities and other professionals where this is part of the placement and information sharing is lawful and appropriate. Reviews consider what is working, current priorities, progress, attendance, barriers and any changes needed.
Urgent safeguarding or safety information is shared in line with the relevant policy. Routine communication and reporting arrangements are agreed for each placement so that expectations remain clear and staff time is used proportionately.
9 Inclusion equality and accessibility
Learning Barn on Manor Farm values each learner and does not discriminate unlawfully. We consider reasonable adjustments relating to disability, communication, sensory needs, culture, faith, sex, gender reassignment, race, sexual orientation and other protected characteristics. Resources and teaching should avoid stereotypes and support respectful understanding of difference.
An adjustment must also be safe, practicable in a working farm environment and compatible with the needs of other learners and animals. Where we cannot safely or reasonably meet a need, we will explain this and discuss the placement with the family or referrer.
10 Safeguarding safety and animal welfare
Safeguarding is embedded throughout the curriculum. Staff follow the provision’s safeguarding and child protection procedures, professional boundaries and information-sharing requirements. Activities are planned with regard to risk assessments, hygiene, allergies, zoonotic infection, safe movement around the farm and the learner’s level of supervision.
Contact with animals is never guaranteed and is based on the learner’s needs, staff judgement, insurance arrangements, current risk controls and the animal’s welfare. Learners are taught respectful behaviour around animals. An activity will be changed or stopped if a learner, member of staff or animal shows signs of distress or if safe participation cannot be maintained.
11 Staff responsibilities
The policy owner is responsible for:
• setting the overall curriculum approach and reviewing this policy
• making sure placements have clear educational aims and suitable information
• supporting staff to understand agreed targets, adjustments and recording expectations
• monitoring the quality, safety and suitability of the provision
• responding to concerns and coordinating reviews with purchasers or referrers.
All staff are responsible for planning or delivering purposeful activities within their role, making appropriate adjustments, recording relevant information, maintaining confidentiality, reporting safeguarding or safety concerns and treating learners and animals with respect.
12 Quality assurance
Quality is monitored through review of plans and records, discussion with staff, learner engagement, feedback from families and referrers, progress against agreed outcomes, incidents and safeguarding information. Observation of practice may be used where appropriate, but must be planned carefully so that it does not unnecessarily disrupt or distress high-anxiety learners.
Training and professional development are identified according to learner needs, staff roles and changes in guidance or practice. Themes from complaints, incidents and reviews are used to improve the curriculum and its delivery.
13 Complaints and concerns
Questions about a learner’s programme should normally be raised with the policy owner. Formal complaints are managed under the provision’s complaints procedure. Safeguarding concerns must be reported immediately through safeguarding procedures and must not wait for the complaints process.
14 Related documents
• Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy
• Health and Safety Policy and relevant risk assessments
• Equality and Inclusion Policy
• Behaviour or Positive Support Policy
• Animal Welfare and Handling Procedures
• Data Protection and Privacy arrangements
• Complaints Procedure
• Terms and Conditions.
15 Monitoring and review
This policy is reviewed at least annually and sooner if there is a significant change to the provision, learner population, legal requirements, insurance conditions or relevant guidance. The current version should be made available to staff and to parents, carers, purchasers or referrers on request.
