Welcome to Fistral!

Our Class:

Fistral is one of two Key Stage 3 classes at Curnow Upper School is home to a range of learners including those with sensory and physical needs. We pride ourselves on our whole team approach working closely with parents and professionals to develop support plans such as Sensory Passports to ensure our health and well-being is balanced so we can learn throughout the day.

Our Curriculum:

Our teaching is supported by a bespoke Key Stage 3 Curnow Curriculum that mirrors National Curriculum requirements. We use a termly topic based approach which incorporates lots of practical and hands-on sensory based tasks to allow our learners to become fully immersed in the topic across all areas of their learning. We also enjoy learning through weekly dance and music therapy sessions which are tailored to meet our sensory and physical needs. Supporting our curriculum, we use our own bespoke assessment methods such as Individual Education Plans underpinned by EHCP outcomes to ensure progress encompasses all areas of development. Independence and effective communication skills are key areas we focus upon to prepare our learners as they transition through and beyond school.

Our Reading, Communication and Phonics:

We work on our reading skills in a range of ways in Fistral class.  We use photographs, symbols and signs to support our reading and communication skills to choose our lunch and snack. We are very musical in class and really enjoy songs and rhymes and playing with the letter sounds of our names. To support this, we engage with Who’s in the Bag? Where we explore the sounds found in the names of people in Fistral class. We also explore environmental sounds as part of our phonics learning focusing on fast and slow rhythms, listening or replicating loud and quiet sounds or guessing what is happening from the sounds we hear.  All of this comes into Letters and Sounds Phase 1 Phonics, and all of the skills we are practicing will support us to learn to ‘read’ our environment.

Learning Environment:

We are very lucky here at Curnow to have a variety of learning environments that provide quality spaces for children to undertake learning activities. Fistral Class is next to our SI therapy and reading rooms and leads directly onto our own outdoor learning space. The KS3 outdoor leisure area that is fitted with customised gym equipment, giraffe swing and trampoline along with a selection of musical instruments and a sensory room.  We use the outdoor learning areas as much as possible as we recognise the positive effects that being outside can have on the children’s wellbeing and engagement. We also have access to the hall, school library, therapy room, hydro pool and newly developed school gym to further support our learning and development.