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    • Purpose and aims

      The school follows the Curriculum for Wales, which applies to all children and young people in Wales who are in statutory education, that is aged 3-16 years old.  The overarching principles of the curriculum are the Four Purposes, which are to support children and young people to become:

      • ambitious, capable learners ready to learn throughout their lives
      • enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work
      • ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world
      • healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

      Learning and progress across the Four Purposes will be achieved by schools planning across six Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLE):

      • Languages, Literacy and Communication - which includes Welsh and English 
      • Mathematics and Numeracy
      • Health and Wellbeing - which includes PHSE, PE and Relationships and Sexuality Eduaction
      • Science and Technology - which includes computing
      • Expressive Arts
      • Humanities - which includes Religion, Values and Ethics

      Each AoLE is sub-divided into What Matters Statements which set out the key concepts in that area.  Progression in skills and understanding in each AoLE is set out across five Progression Steps which describe what most children and young people can be expected to achieve by the time they are 16.

      The Curriculum for Wales sets out the aims and structure of the curriculum.  It is for each school in Wales to plan what they should teach (knowledge, subjects, skills), how it should be taught and how it will help children and young people achieve progress in the Four Purposes. 

      The way the Curriculum for Wales is structured and described is excellent for children at Ysgol Pen Coch.  Teachers can plan topics and lessons to meet the needs of the children in their classes, be that more or less formal, sensory, therapeutic, spending more time on one curriculum area than others.  Lessons include all sorts of sessions in class, using the school’s specialist facilities, outdoor learning (including use of the Forest Area) and community visits to maximise learning opportunities.  We use play based learning approaches to keep the children motivated and happy in their learning.  Staff use their skills and experience to ensure the children's individual targets and whole class learning objectives are met within the play based sessions.  More formal learning approaches will also be used where appropriate.  The key is engaging the children and helping them achieve success. 

      To support our curriculum, we deliver a number of therapeutic approaches and use specialist facilities which provide for the wide range of needs across the school. We continue to look to develop our approaches, and staff professional development and school improvement priorities support us to meet the changing needs of our school population.  Each child is an individual, with individual learning, social and emotional needs and we continually look to better ourselves as a school to meet those needs.