Welcome to Fistral!

Our Class:

Fistral is one of two Key Stage 3 classes at Curnow Upper School. Teacher Dee Dockery, is supported by a team of dedicated skilled Teaching Assistants. Fistral is home to learners with a range of learning, sensory and physical needs and we work 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 and we 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? sessions, where someone in class is in the bag with clues linking back to our letter sounds. We also exploring environmental sounds as part of our phonics learning focusing on fast and slow rhythms, listening or replicating loud and quiet sounds.  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. Our classroom is next to our SI therapy and reading rooms and leads directly onto our own outdoor learning space and the KS3 outdoor leisure area which is fitted with customised gym equipment, giraffe swing and trampoline along with a selection of musical instruments. 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 hope to have access to the school library, therapy room, hydro pool and newly developed school gym to further support our learning and development soon.