Education for Life: Building Bridges to Independence

Young people will leave Linden Bridge as Lifelong Learners, with the skills, knowledge and interests to access the next stage of their education or life journey. Our aim is for all our students to transition from Linden Bridge into mainstream school or college, to the world of work or to an appropriate residential or supported living placement, equipped with the skills needed to live as independently as possible.

We provide a creative, relevant and progressive curriculum, including a residential curriculum, which is underpinned by specialist Autism strategies, and which engages and excites our students and prepares them fully for the next phase in their journey. 

Building Bridges to Independence underpins all that we do, with our academic curricula feeding into this.  We are aspirational for our students and provide appropriate arrangements to enable access for all through our ordinarily available provision. 

 

Early Years
Early Years at Linden Bridge is guided by the Early Years Framework, with additional guidance being taken from Birth to Five to allow all individual starting points to be catered for. In line with the Birth to Five principles, we recognise the importance of supporting our pupils in the prime areas (Personal Social Emotional Development, Communication and Language and Physical Development) as these are the foundations for learning. Assessing the children is central to our practice and we follow a cycle of observing, assessing their learning and planning for next steps. Ensuring we have accurate and thorough assessments of each child is integral to planning next steps for them and ensuring we are best able to meet their needs.  

 

Writing
Writing is taught at Linden Bridge through access to a progression of high-quality model texts.  Each text has been chosen to enable a range of writing opportunities and outcomes.  Students will either access the text through a sensory story model or through the use of model texts.

 English Subject Profile 

 Writing Curriculum Progression  

Reading
Reading is a priority at Linden Bridge.  Our students have access to high quality texts from Reception through to Year 14 and are encouraged to develop a love for reading throughout their time in school. 

We follow the Little Wandle synthetic phonics programme to support students in developing their early reading skills.  Students will access this at a developmental stage that is appropriate for them.  Our phonics programme has been adapted to ensure access arrangements are in place for our preverbal learners, where needed.

 Phonics Curriculum Progression 

 Reading Curriculum Progression

 English Long Term Overview

Maths
At Linden Bridge, we follow the White Rose Programme of Study.  The coverage has been adapted to ensure our students are accessing age-appropriate topics at a developmental level that is appropriate to them.

As well as lessons in the classroom, pupils develop their functional skills in mathematics in practical context such as Forest School, Science, trips to the local area and Employability.

  Maths Subject Profile   

  Maths Curriculum Progression  

  Maths Long Term Overview

Science
Our science coverage is mapped across the whole school from Reception to Year 14 through Snap Science, delivering hands on lessons with appropriate access arrangements to ensure all our students can access and develop their scientific knowledge and understanding.

Snap Science is shaped by an informed understanding of the purpose and value of primary science, aiming for every child to engage with a coherent progression of the scientific skills and concepts specified in the National Curriculum.

  Science Subject Profile 

 Science Curriculum Progression

PSHE
At Linden Bridge we follow the LifeWise curriculum from reception through to Year 14. This is supported by a bespoke, age appropriate RSE curriculum.

LifeWise lessons cover the topics that really matter to children and young people today; handling anxiety, understanding cybersecurity, managing money and everything in between – their mission is to help young people develop respect for themselves and each other.

  PHSE Subject Profile 

 PSHE Curriculum Progression

PSHE Long Term Overview 

 

Art
In Art, Design and Technology we encourage our students to explore their creativity and develop skills through a range of materials and techniques, and to learn about the wider world through the work of artists and designers.

We also aim to support well-being and creativity longer term, and for students to understand that Art, Design and Technology can bring joy as a hobby, whether that be creating, or visiting exhibitions. We also want our students to understand that people have careers in the creative and technical industries.

 Art Subject Profile 

 Art Curriculum Progression Phase 1&2 

 Art Curriculum Progression Phase 3 

 Art Curriculum Progression Phase 4

 Art Long Term Overview

 DT Subject Profile

 DT Curriculum Progression Phase 1 & 2 

 DT Curriculum Progression Phase 3

PE
At Linden Bridge, we aim to inspire our students to fulfil their full potential. PE supports their health, well-being and fitness and provides the foundations for lifelong activity.

We offer our students a broad and balanced curriculum that covers a full range of skills and activities helping them to have fun and experience success in sport, join at their own level of development, develop good sporting attitudes, understand basic rules, experience positive competition and learn in a safe environment.

In order to achieve this, we ensure our lessons are structured in a way that our students can access; we incorporated the TEACCH system into PE lessons for Phase 1 and Phase 2. With this system, the students use the same structure they use in their classrooms and the transitions to a big open space are smoother.

With our Phase 3 and Phase 4 students, we use a more traditional approach, using modified sports with minimum competition in Phase 3 and sports in Phase 4. In both cases, we give more importance to the tactics, minimising the impact of the technique. With this approach we allow everyone to play and progressively, we increase the technical demands.

As part of the PE curriculum, all our students in Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 and many in Phase 4 have a weekly swimming lesson.

Our students have access to different extracurricular sport events and competitions, where they proudly represent the school.

 PE Subject Profile  

 PE Long Term Overview 

Geography

At Linden Bridge School, our Geography curriculum aim is to inspire students to explore and ask questions to help them make sense of the world around them and take their role within it. The curriculum provides them with essential component knowledge, key vocabulary and practical skills that they can apply in real life situations. Students are supported in developing both their geographical skills and their geographical thinking within and beyond the classroom.

  Geography Subject Profile

 Geography Curriculum Progression  

 Geography Long Term Overview

History

At Linden Bridge School, our history curriculum aim is for our students to develop a secure understanding of past, present and a sense of chronology, to acquire a knowledge and understanding of time, events and people through the passing of time and to understand how key historical events helped to shape the world we are living in today. Historical skills and concepts are taught progressively across the school in line with the National Curriculum with adaptations made to ensure students are able to access age-appropriate content at their developmental stage.

 History Subject Profile

 History Curriculum Progression

 History Long Term Overview 

Religious Education

At Linden Bridge, we follow the Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education in Surrey Schools.  Through RE, students develop positive attitudes to their learning and to the beliefs and values of others including self-awareness, respect for all, open-mindedness, appreciation and wonder.

 RE Subject Profile

 RE Curriculum Progression

 RE Long Term Overview

 

Music

 Music Subject Profile  

 Music Curriculum Progression  

  MFL Subject Profile 

 Computing Subject Profile  

 

 

Linden Bridge Careers Programme

Careers Lead – Sophie Drewitt, Sophie.drewitt@lindenbridge.thpt.org.uk

At Linden Bridge, we are committed to providing all students in years 7-14 with a comprehensive programme of careers education, with the intention of offering the best outcomes for adulthood.  Our aim is to support our students to discover their strengths, build on aspirations and provide them with information on the different pathways available to them.  

We offer a range of work-related learning opportunities, both within our curriculum, as part of everyday school life and through engaging with local employers to provide work experience and encounters as part of our Phase 4 pathways offer. 

 

We follow The Gatsby Benchmark Framework, which allows us to monitor and track our offer. This is broken down into eight steps:

1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each pupil
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experiences of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance

 

How do we implement our Careers Programme?

Students have:

• Access to careers learning from Year 7 onwards through the curriculum, work experience opportunities and bespoke careers and enterprise events. Our offer is routinely monitored and evaluated to ensure it is fit for purpose and meets the Gatsby Benchmarks.
• Access to up-to-date and unbiased information on future learning and training, and careers and labour market information.
• Access to a student-centred curriculum that meets their needs and enables engagement and progress. We provide hands-on, real-life learning experiences, such as through our weekly Phoenix Hub Café, Linden Bridge Lavender project, whole school enterprise events and through work experience opportunities with local employers such as Waitrose, Pets Place, Worcester Park and Cheam libraries and Worcester Park Baptist Church Café. 
• Support via our structured Phase 4 pathways to embed the key employability skills that are required for adulthood to allow our students to flourish once they leave Linden Bridge. This includes working together, continuing to improve, problem solving, developing communication skills and building relationships with others.
• Support from a Surrey Choices job coach in Years 12-14 as part of our Employability programme.
• Meaningful encounters with representatives from the world of work each academic year; this will be through experience days, assemblies, careers talks (in or outside of lessons) and bespoke events.
• The opportunity to hear from a range of education and training providers, including colleges and apprenticeship organisations; this could include visits and taster days as well as assemblies, talks and meetings at school.
• The opportunity to discuss their aspirations and future pathways through the transition process. From Year 9, the Transitions Lead supports students and their families to make positive and meaningful decisions by sharing up to date information about FE College Pathways, apprenticeships, supported internships and social care projects.  The Transitions Lead also attends student Annual Reviews to support next steps, which encompasses visits to provisions and interview support, filling in college applications and travel support forms.
• Access to one-to-one guidance with a trained and impartial Careers Advisor.

 

How do we assess the impact of our programme? 

 

• Regular Compass * report updates to evaluate our offer
• Review of student progress against their EHCP and PfA outcomes
• Robust QA and internal moderation processes for all qualifications, guaranteeing a standardised approach to our vocational offers. External moderation by awarding bodies where applicable e.g. Pearsons exam board and ASDAN.
• Ongoing monitoring of the range of qualifications we offer at Linden Bridge ensuring access for all.
• Regular formal and informal feedback from linked employers
• Feedback from students and their families

 

Parents and Carers:

• Will be kept informed of information to support students’ career planning and decision-making through Annual Reviews, information sharing events, the school website and parents and carers newsletters.

 

What is the impact of our programme?

Students will:

• Have a successful transition on from Linden Bridge, equipped with skills for life.
• Have had experience of a wide range of opportunities, interests and options, so that they are best placed to make informed decisions about their future choices.
• Develop the skills needed for them to be able to make a meaningful contribution to society e.g. through voluntary or paid employment and to be able to live as independently as possible.
• Know that they have a valued and important part to play in the world in which they live and are motivated to contribute to society in a way which best suits their interests and skills.
• Know about, and make use of, the range of support and advice that is available to them to support their choices and decision-making beyond Linden Bridge.

 

Annual Careers events and experiences

 

 

 

*Compass is a tool for schools and colleges in England, that quickly and easily helps you to evaluate your careers activity against the eight benchmarks of best practice – known as the Gatsby Benchmarks.