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Vision

At College Central our core principles are that every day is a new day and that we always have unconditional positive regard for our students. We want our students to understand that school can be a positive and fun place to be with the acceptance that learning should be at the centre of their experiences, set within expectations for behaviour and engagement.

Key Stage 3

Within our Key Stage 3 provision we provide a stable, caring and child centred environment in order to achieve our aim of successfully reintegrating our students either back into their mainstream school or onto another suitable setting.

Students typically arrive to us at a low point in their school life and are often completely disengaged with education as a whole. Many have been or are at risk of permanent exclusion

We aim to increase our students’ engagement with academic learning and develop their physical, social and emotional strengths too. Social and emotional resilience is a cornerstone to personal and academic success for all our students. As a cohesive and caring staff team we will assess and plan holistic support with the student and their caregivers to give them the best chance of successfully moving onto their next educational setting.

Our student centred curriculum focuses on building confidence and self-esteem and encourages students to take risks and make mistakes within a safe environment. We offer students new experiences and recognise and build on their strengths. We encourage our students with positive reinforcement and praise.

Our intention is for any behaviour issues to be dealt with and resolved on the same day so that the following day can be a fresh start. We aim to get the student to a place where they feel confident in returning to their home school or in transitioning to a new school.

We structure in short movement breaks between each lesson so the students have time to recharge their batteries and in this time we engage the students in a range of social and physical activities to develop skills such as team work, patience, turn-taking, communication, decision making and problem solving.

We strike a balance of learning in and outside a classroom throughout the week so that alongside English, Maths, Science and Humanities the students also take part in PE, OAA and bushcraft. This helps to keep our students engaged in their learning.

Staff model the values and benefits of education to the students and maintain high expectations in a calm and supportive manner. As our students are with us for a short time only, staff focus on quickly building and maintaining strong relationships. Successes big and small are celebrated daily both in school and also shared with home and family.

Each student is timetabled to receive a 1:1 literacy/numeracy support session every week. Students also receive one mentoring session per week where they can talk over any issues, set and review targets and be supported to explore the root causes of behaviour at a time when the student has a clear and productive mindset.

It is very important that our students attend with us as much as they can, and can manage our expectations for standards of behaviour and engagement.

Key Stage 4

At Key Stage 4 College Central, we provide an education for students who have disengaged and/or excluded from mainstream education.  At KS4 we focus on the skills, strengths and resilience our students will be required to demonstrate on leaving College Central. Achievement is built on purposeful and genuine positive regard for, and appreciation of, each student’s strengths. We consistently pursue the witnessing of these core skills by multiple-means through compassion, innovation and resilience.

We believe that each day presents a new opportunity. We work with our students to develop the confidence to accept responsibility, seek and a maximise support and actively own their decision making.

Students will be provided with educational experiences through which they can develop transferable skills for self-sustaining learning continuity.

Year 11

At Year 11 we have a specific focus on preparing students for successful active participation in Post-16 learning in line with RPA. In addition to an enhanced CEIAG offer through a range of partners, we focus on developing positive behaviours for a College, or Apprenticeship opportunity.

At year 11, we encourage students to self-manage mobile phones rather than handing them to a member of staff. This reflects a Post-16, Apprenticeship and work ethos of expectations of appropriate behaviour. Whist seen as a ‘privilege’, this is perhaps one of the greatest tests for Y11 given the draw of social media. This provides Y11 students with a new set of social conditions/norms to self-manage and add to their Post-16 readiness ‘toolkit’.

Year 10

The transition from KS3 to KS4 is at the forefront of Y10 development. With new non-uniform freedoms of expression, we work with our Y10’s to build more adult-adult communication with teachers (again reflecting Post-16), become more independent in their learning and more accountable for their decision making.

 We use the successes and opportunities at Y11 as visual mile-stones and encourage our Y11’s to act as peer mentors. Y10 is a year of exploration through learning experiences can be tried, test