In Years 7 and 8 learners benefit from an engaging curriculum, which is competency based. It’s deliberately not too big a change from primary school teaching, so that children can use methods that they already understand to start tackling new subjects. There is a particular emphasis on literacy, numeracy and digital literacy - the foundations for highly effective learning in future years.

We place a lot of emphasis on Collaborative learning. Learners will usually be seated in groups rather than rows, and ideas, thoughts and opinions will be discussed in a structured way followed across all lessons. This ensures that learning is active and thought-provoking. It also ensures that all learners are engaged in the learning process and not just a few who might be asked questions by the teacher.

The Resilience programme is designed for those learners who join us having achieved a scaled score of 100 or below in their Key Stage 2 SATS. We want every child to achieve their full potential at secondary school, and Resilience plays a key part in making that happen.

The Resilience Department has its own bespoke classrooms, individualised ICT provision and dedicated teachers. Learners on the Resilience programme spend ten hours a week studying interesting themes from geography and history in a way that improves their reading, comprehension, writing, spelling, grammar and communication skills. We use an artificial intelligence programme called ‘Lexia’ to give learners have their own personalised learning paths that accelerate their progress. This approach enables them to make a big leap forward, catching up with the children in their age group and acquiring the skills that they will need throughout their time in school and college.

Lastly, we want to ensure that our learners gain a range of personal attributes that make them more independent, confident and ready to join the main school; in Resilience they learn leadership, organisation, initiative and communication skills that will make them ‘resilient’ in the future.

Year 7 Resilience

The Resilience curriculum pathway is designed specifically for those learners who join The Link having achieved a scaled score of 100 or below in their Key Stage 2 SATS. The Resilience curriculum involves 10 hours of ‘primary-style’ delivery within a nurturing environment. The curriculum is designed around 6 key themes that encourage cross-curricular links and the application of skills across national curriculum subjects. Also integrated into the curriculum is a literacy driven AI programme ‘Lexia’, whereby learners have their own personalised learning paths to remedy weaknesses in spelling, punctuation, grammar and reading to accelerate our learners’ progress.

Y8 Resilience

Following on from the Year 7 Resilience Curriculum, Resilience in Year 8 retains many of the same ideologies including themed approaches taught in a nurturing environment in smaller groups. There is a 3 part rolling programme which changes termly and is based on a Real Book text beginning with “War Horse” by Michael Morpurgo. Students are given the opportunity to build on the cross curricular skills developed in Year 7 as well as the use of the AI program, Lexia. Opportunities to showcase their learning and extend their own knowledge and understanding is done through a variety of Home Learning tasks.