In line with our whole school aims and drivers, the Daily Living Skills curriculum block aims to look to the future for our pupils and how to best prepare individuals for adulthood. We aim to equip our pupils with the skills to live as independently as possible whilst recognising that these skills can pose a huge challenge to many of our young people. Pupils should develop practical skills to enable them to meet their own care needs and live a healthy and productive life.
The implementation of Daily Living Skills is split into four key areas and is covered across all curriculum pathways.
· Careers and Employment
· Personal Care
· Health and Wellbeing
· Travel Training and Safety
Within the pre-formal curriculum pathway, pupils are encouraged to become aware of their own bodies using interventions such as intensive interaction, MOVE and Rebound therapy. They are encouraged to develop communication systems to be able to make choices about their own personal care, health and wellbeing.
Our pupils on a semi-formal pathway primarily cover these areas within Equals My Independence and My Physical Wellbeing. Within these frameworks they cover specific travel training sessions, cookery and are encouraged to take an active role in their own personal care. Teachers build in opportunities for pupils to master skills by applying them to real-life situations including in the local community. Trips to supermarkets and community facilities are commonplace as well as experiencing different people and how their role affects their own lives. Our life skills flat provides pupils the opportunity to replicate a home environment and demonstrate how they might use their classroom learning in their daily lives.
Formal pupils cover these key areas within PSHE, PE, Geography and Technology. They will learn how the knowledge gained in these subjects can have an impact on their own lives and what skills can be gained to make their adulthood successful and productive.
We have an extensive Career Education, Information, Advice and Guidance provision which offers opportunities for work experience, college taster sessions, and links to local employers and local projects such as Skills Blox. Our World of Work day is a hugely popular event in the school calendar alongside our works vehicle day and visits by local employers. The CEIAG offer includes all pupils from EYFS to sixth form and grows and adapts as our pupils move towards leaving school.
The key areas within the Daily Living Skills curriculum block has strong cross-curricular links especially to PSER and also within the Independence school driver. This means that Daily Living Skills learning is embedded into the heart of the school and learning is promoted and encouraged not only in the classroom but in the wider school day.
Ultimately Mayfield School hopes to equip our pupils with the skills and knowledge that will serve them well into adulthood. Daily Living Skills is an essential building block for that success. The impact
of an outstanding and comprehensive Daily Living Skills curriculum block should ensure that pupils have the skills to care for themselves as adult and be able to make positive choices about their lives in the four key areas. Leavers should have an informed choice about activities, further education and careers that they would like to complete. The destination of our leavers reflects the skills that our pupils leave school with and the skills they have gained from our Daily Living curriculum block.