The ‘Get Real’ Curriculum at Wilson Stuart School

At Wilson Stuart School, we educate students, aged 2-19, with physical disabilities and complex medical conditions, some of whom have profound and additional learning needs or severe learning needs. All students have an Education, Health and Care Plan.

Vision for Wilson Stuart GET REAL Curriculum

The curriculum at Wilson Stuart School ensures that all students regardless of their starting points have access to an ambitious and personalised curriculum which provides them with the key skills, knowledge and understanding to facilitate future learning in a challenging, safe and stimulating environment.

We aim to engage and include our students to become, resilient, independent and successful in life by applying what they learn together in all aspects of their life.

Through their learning experience we want all students to ‘know more, remember more and do more’; we know this is underpinned by the fundamental areas of our curriculum – Communication and Interaction, Applied Cognition and Learning and Physical Development/Health and Wellbeing.

What they learn must be relevant and apply to real life learning in preparation for their next steps required for adulthood. Our curriculum is designed to ensure that we can adopt a flexible and personalised approach: identifying key personal learning goals (PLGs) throughout the learning journey of the student, empowering them with the most appropriate key skills and the capacity to learn and achieve. We have developed CIRCLE – our Golden Thread – which provides opportunities for our students to develop their personal qualities.

We recognise that each learner is unique: their learning encompasses a wide range of experiences including sensory exploration, play, outdoor learning, enrichment opportunities and accreditation with student progress being carefully monitored and evidenced as part of their learning journey.

We believe that ‘Better Never Ends’

Curriculum Intent

“To meet the individual needs of every pupil to prepare them for their life beyond Wilson Stuart”

We want every pupil to be able to access and be fully engaged in an exciting learning journey whilst at Wilson Stuart, following the Get Real Curriculum which aims to:

“Give Enough Time for REAL Life Learning

Everything we do in school as part of our ‘Get Real’ curriculum is about giving enough time for real life experiences and preparing students effectively for adulthood by improving their resilience and independence on a daily basis.

Wilson Stuart has created a 5-pathway curriculum model. Each pathway represents careful consideration of what is important for our students to learn and experience, at each developmental level. Our students are working across a very wide range of levels therefore we ensure that work is highly differentiated through adaptive teaching strategies.

The 5 curriculum pathways are Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), Inspire (PMLD), Explore (SLD), Challenge (MLD/SLD including higher ability Challenge students who will complete some GCSEs and entry level accreditations) and Believe (Post 16).

Each pathway has a distinct rationale and planning model and is summarised within each pathway rationale document:

  • EYFS – The Early Years Framework
  • Inspire – The Engagement Model / Routes for Learning
  • Explore – EQUALS/semi-formal curriculum
  • Challenge – Adapted National Curriculum/National Curriculum
  • Believe – Bespoke Post 16 life skills curriculum / PfA

Our Curriculum aims to:

  • Equip students with the life-skills to be able to take care of themselves in their own home based on their individual abilities.
  • Prepare students for life in modern Britain ensuring they can navigate life challenges as safely as possible.
  • Ensure that our students are able to go forward beyond their school career and enjoy a productive and contented life as part of a community.

Motivate and inspire our students towards a lifelong interest in learning and where appropriate, develop aspirations for volunteering or paid employment beyond school.

  • Our curriculum aims to engage parents as key stakeholders in their child’s life.

Curriculum Implementation

To achieve these aims our curriculum provides:

  • A broad and balanced curriculum based on bespoke and finely differentiated learning intentions to be responsive to the unique personal learning goals (PLGs) of our students.
  • Maximise the use of highly specialised resources to support the impact of every learning opportunity created or encountered.
  • Plan opportunities to engage in the community and settings beyond the school gates.
  • Facilitate access to a wide range of learning opportunities for personal development and Preparing for Adulthood (PfA).
  • Parents are invited to visit school to engage in their children’s learning through a variety of experiences such as for workshops, lessons, enterprise events, applied learning sessions.

Our curriculum is designed to maximise the potential of each student. The nature of the planning process ensures that the curriculum is dynamic and responsive to our students’ progress – Assess, Plan, Do and Review – this graduated approach allows us to continually learn about all our students’ needs and ensure they make outstanding progress through the continual revisiting of learning.

Each pathway’s curriculum is based on the following principles:

  • High level of ambition and challenge with realistic expectations for all students.
  • Providing highly motivating experiences and opportunities to learn.
  • Giving opportunities to develop applied learning skills.
  • Learning intentions are identified in the planning to focus the learning taking place.
  • Close collaboration with therapists and other agencies, ensuring that therapeutic provision is incorporated into the curriculum.
  • Giving enough time to allow for real life learning to ensure our students are provided with the opportunity to know more, remember more and do more – seeing how to apply their learning to their lives.
  • Outstanding classroom environments with high quality, well-considered resources designed to stimulate and engage quality thinking and reasoning.

Curriculum Impact

We will know that our curriculum has been successful if it:

  • Equips students with the life-skills to be able to take care of themselves in their own home based on their individual abilities.
  • Prepares students for life in modern Britain ensuring they can navigate life challenges as safely as possible.
  • Ensures that our students can go forward beyond their school years and enjoy a productive and contented life as part of their community.
  • Motivates and inspires our students towards a lifelong interest in learning and where appropriate, develop ambitions for voluntary or paid employment beyond school.
  • Engages with and contributes to experiences, which take them beyond their own immediate experience of the world.
  • Achieves their full potential in all aspects of their development.
  • Develops self-respect and positive self-esteem.
  • Promotes diversity by sharing the attitudes, ideas and values of others.
  • Builds positive relationships with others and show respect for a diverse range of cultures.
  • Engages and educates parents in their children’s learning.
  • CIRCLE – Our Golden Thread
  • Throughout the curriculum, regardless of pathway or phase, our CIRCLE qualities will remain the golden thread that runs throughout a student’s time at Wilson Stuart.

CIRCLE – Our Golden Thread

Throughout the curriculum, regardless of pathway or phase, our CIRCLE qualities will remain the golden thread that runs throughout a student’s time at Wilson Stuart.

We believe that these personal development qualities are important to help our students grow into good citizens and members of the community, as well as key values that will support them in preparing for adulthood and developing cultural capital opportunities.

All elements of this golden thread should be seen in all aspects of teaching and learning across the school and can be tagged as evidence in each student’s learning journey on Evidence for Learning.

Cultural Capital

Our aim is to give children the knowledge and skills to prepare them for what comes next in their lives. Cultural Capital is the essential knowledge that children need to prepare them for their future success – we aim to give students every opportunity to participate in a wide range of learning experiences, all the time, within and beyond their classroom.

Preparing for Adulthood at Wilson Stuart:

Employment – for our students this is more than paid work – for our students we think about experiencing the wider world of work and understanding the significance of contributing.

Friends, Relationships and Community – these three areas are essential for mental and emotional wellbeing and form a substantial part of our PSHE programme (currently being reviewed and re- mapped).

Independence – this is our students doing everything they can possibly do for themselves – from making choices to using public transport independently! Everything is valid and at Wilson Stuart we are best placed to, not only, support our students in their independence journey but to help their families understand the significance of this too.Good health – physical and mental health are both integral to this area. Our daily Physical 45 sessions further support this area.

Good health – physical and mental health are both integral to this area. Our daily Physical 45 sessions further support this area.

Assessment at Wilson Stuart

Student progress will be assessed across three data entry points throughout the year and will be recorded on Evidence for Learning (EFL) and analysed through Insights.
Due to the different cohorts of students that we have within our pathways we vary the way in which student learning and progress is measured.
✓ INSPIRE Pathway – These learners are assessed using PLGs (MAPP) / Engagement Model and Routes for learning
✓ EXPLORE Pathway – These learners are assessed using PLGs (MAPP)
✓ CHALLENGE Pathway – These learners are assessed using Subject specific frameworks in English, Maths and Science using the WS scale Intro 1-7, Basic 1-4 and Apply 1-10 as well as using PLGs (MAPP)
✓ BELIEVE Pathway – These learners are assessed against accredited course frameworks (Where appropriate) as well as PLGs (MAPP)
✓ EYFS Pathway – These learners are assessed against the EYFS framework 0-5 Matters (Bands) along with PLGs (MAPP)


The assessment process is used to report student progress and inform future planning and next steps for the learners. The assessment cycle / process is quality assured by the Quality of Education team and SLT with internal and external moderation taking place following each data entry point.

Subject specific levels will be reported along with a letter that demonstrates the progress within that level: (Challenge Pathway only)
• E = Emerging
• E+ = Emerging +
• D = Developing
• D+ = Developing
• S = Secure
By using these additional level indicators it will demonstrate smaller steps of progress within each level.
PLGs are assessed using MAPP WS along with the additional grading outlined above. There are 4 strands within MAPP.
✓ Independence
✓ Fluency
✓ Maintenance
✓ Generalisation

Based on the evidence provided / submitted teachers then make a judgement in each of the 4 strands. The assessment process is an ongoing process with data being pulled across at each of the 3 data entry points.
Our curriculum assessment acknowledges that measuring progress is not a one size fits all approach, therefore we use a combination of assessment methods across our different pathways to meet the specific needs of our student cohorts. We also accept that the progress of our learners does not always follow a single linear flightpath and therefore our expected outcomes are based on our extensive knowledge of students

Get Real Curriculum Overview Download
Teaching and Learning PolicyDownload