How to attend a Spaghetti Bridge School 

The children and young people that we work with at Spaghetti Bridge are between the ages of 6-19, they have Special Educational Needs and/or a Disability (SEND) and have an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP).

Spaghetti Bridge schools support children and young people with a variety of needs such as, but not exclusively:

  • Children and young people with neurodiversity such as Autism and ADHD.
  • Speech language and communication needs.
  • Social and emotional, mental health needs.
  • Trauma and attachment needs.
  • Mild/moderate learning difficulties.

We understand that children and young people’s needs are often complex and do not neatly fall into primary and secondary areas of needs, so we consider each and every referral to ensure that we are the right group for the child or young person and that we are sure our schools will be able to meet their needs.

The children and young people that are placed with Spaghetti Bridge are supported by the Local Authority to attend. If you feel that a Spaghetti Bridge School in your area is the right place for your child or young person to attend a School, communicate with your Local Authority about the possibility of placement at Spaghetti Bridge and contact the school to learn more about the Spaghetti Bridge approach and whether we feel that we can meet the needs of your child or young person.

To attend a Spaghetti Bridge school, your Local Authority would need to agree to a legal consultation with the school about whether and how the school could meet the needs of your child or young person. The Local Authority will often consult with multiple schools to see who can best meet the needs of your child as outlined in their EHCP.

This would need to be communicated at the end of a 20-week EHCP assessment or following an Annual Review in which you are asking for an amendment of the EHCP as the school your child or young person is attending is no longer meeting their needs and there is a significant change to their needs.

If you have a Final EHCP in place:
If you are in the EHCP 20 week process:

You can also ask for a consultation with our schools through parental preference so that you can see if the school can meet your child or young person’s needs.

In order to ensure that we can meet the needs of all of our students, Spaghetti Bridge schools assess each consultation thoroughly to ensure that we can meet the needs of the children and young people to whom we offer placement and that potential placements at our schools are compatible with our other students.

If you are in dispute about the right placement (Section I of the EHCP) for your child, then you can liaise with your Local Authority and there are legal avenues for this through mediation and appeals to the Tribunal.

Every Local Authority has an Independent Advice and Support Service (IASS) for SEND, and they will be able to support you with information about working with EHCPs and any other worries or concerns you may have. If you google your area IASS services for SEND, you will find their information.

Alternatively, you can find information and support through IPSEA.

https://www.ipsea.org.uk/news/mediation-for-placement-appeals

Parents and carers can call any of our schools for further information and to arrange tours and we hold many open days which are a great way of seeing what we do, with or without your young people. This can be a really important step in getting a sense of what we offer and a feel for our school environment and approach.

A visit to our school and a conversation with our team will also help you to understand our offer so that you can be explicit about how our school could uniquely meet your child or young person’s needs.

There are a number of reasons why we may not be able to support a young person: 
 
  • The age of the learner is not in our designation (6-19)
  • Children and young people who have Severe and Profound and Multiple Learning difficulties (SLD or PMLD) or Global Developmental Delay which relates to a delay of 2 years by age 5 or 4 Years by age 10.
  • Children and young people with profound physical needs which cannot be met by adaptations of the environment. 
  • Children and young people for whom the current assessed risk (to themselves or to others) would implicate the other students in the school 

For more information, check out our Frequently Asked Questions

Accredited Learning

In addition to GCSEs and Functional Skills exams, Spaghetti Bridge students are offered a number of accredited occupational qualifications. These include NCFE Enterprise Skills, Business and Enterprise, and Occupational Studies for the Workplace qualifications and AQA Project Qualifications

Preparation for and Pathways to Adulthood

The unique nature of Enterprise Learning, with its focus on real-world learning through a project-oriented curriculum that includes community activities, Industry Experts, and experience of work-environments, means that students are prepared for life beyond school throughout their time at a Spaghetti Bridge school. All students are also provided with Independent Advice and Guidance throughout their Spaghetti Bridge journey.

However, as they approach the time of their transition to a post school destination, it is important that our students’ curriculum begins to focus more on deciding and preparation for a specific post-school destination through our “Pathways to Adulthood” programme. While each student’s wider curriculum continues, an interwoven Pathways to Adulthood programme focuses on students’ development of specific skills and knowledge in the areas of Continuing Education and Employment and Independent Living. At this stage, each student also has a transition plan that details the steps needed to successfully transition to their life after leaving school.

PSHE, SMSC, RSE and FBV

The Spaghetti Bridge Three Phase curriculum and our Relational Approach ensures that PSHE, SMSC, RSE, and FBV are integrated throughout each student’s curriculum in an individualised and student-centred manner. In addition, we have developed a yearly PSHE and RSE curriculum, consisting of termly and weekly themes, a bespoke target cache, and group and individual sessions.

In order to ensure that our students develop their cultural capital, each school has a cultural calendar which links PSHE and SMSC themes to events and activities in their community.

Mathematics

Mathematics is about so much more than simply getting the answer right. Instead, we believe that mathematics can facilitate a new perspective on the world and foster creative and analytical thinking, a growth mindset, and confidence in one’s ability to learn. Therefore, our mathematics curriculum contains three areas: mathematical content, mathematical thinking, and mathematical mindset.

Mathematical content consists of the twelve areas of learning that form the conceptual structure of a mathematics curriculum.

Mathematical mindset is about how students relate to mathematics, are resilient in the face of mathematical challenges, view themselves as capable of mathematics, and see mathematics in a positive light.

Mathematical thinking is the way in which students use logic, reason, and divergent thinking to solve mathematical problems and how they apply their mathematical learning across the wider curriculum.

Spaghetti Bridge schools deliver mathematics both as part of Enterprise Projects and through discrete mathematics sessions. We believe in teaching mathematics across the curriculum as a key part of all subjects.

Spaghetti Bridge schools do not follow the National Curriculum in literacy, but instead have adapted this curriculum into our Mathematics Pillar, which allows us to assess, plan, scaffold and sequence each student’s individualised curriculum.

All students have the opportunity to pursue accredited mathematics outcomes, including GCSE and Functional Skills exams.

Spaghetti Bridge has developed our approach to mathematics through collaboration with the Jurassic Maths Hub.

Literacy

At Spaghetti Bridge, we want our students to have a love of reading, the ability to understand and manage information, and communicate effectively. Our literacy curriculum contains content in five distinct areas: comprehension, word recognition, speaking and listening, spelling, punctuation and grammar, and writing. These content areas are supported by a vibrant reading culture and the fostering of a learning mindset.  Literacy is delivered throughout the curriculum, is embedded in Enterprise Projects and is integrated into all subject areas.

Each student has an individualised Reading Plan linked to their relationship to reading.

Our literacy programme is supported by a comprehensive phonics programme based on the Ruth Miskin Trust Fresh Start programme. For students on a phonics programme, their phonics is delivered through a bespoke curriculum, which may consist of 1:1 sessions or be integrated into their wider learning.

Each school has a termly reading curriculum that is linked to the wider curriculum map with links to the PSHE curriculum and the Driving Question for the term.

The Spaghetti Bridge literacy curriculum provides opportunities for accredited learning, including GCSE and Functional Skills exams.

Spaghetti Bridge schools do not follow the National Curriculum in literacy, but instead have adapted this curriculum into our Literacy Pillar, which allows us to assess, plan, scaffold and sequence each student’s individualised curriculum.

Spaghetti Bridge has developed our literacy curriculum in collaboration with the Cornerstones English Hub and the Right to Read Programme.

EHCP Outcomes

Every student at Spaghetti Bridge Schools has an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP) and this forms an integral part of their curriculum. Our schools take a student’s EHCP outcomes and break these down into achievable termly targets as part of each student’s Individual Learning Plan. These targets are then integrated into the student’s projects and wider curriculum and assessed on a termly basis.

A Knowledge Rich Curriculum

Children and young people today have inherited a world in which they have access to more knowledge than ever before; however, the knowledge curriculum is often delivered without context or sense of purpose. We have instead designed our knowledge-rich curriculum using Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy to support students to not just gain but apply and create knowledge. Our curriculum map covers the subjects of science, human and social, creative and aesthetic, physical, and technology and design education, with termly topics in each area. The curriculum spirals every three years, ensuring that students revisit and build on prior learning through a sequence of three progressive tiers of knowledge for each topic.

This curriculum structure allows us to build individualised pathways for each student that support ambitious progress across the curriculum in line with their individual strengths and needs.

Skills and Understandings

In addition to our knowledge curriculum, our pillars also focus on skills and understandings. Skills are specific abilities that are linked to a particular subject and understandings concern the role that a specific subject plays in our world. Our skills and understandings are sequenced vertically and horizontally as part of our curriculum map and built into Enterprise Projects.

Enterprise Projects

As much as possible, our curriculum is delivered in the form of Enterprise Projects.  In these projects, each student creates a piece of Beautiful Work of which they are proud.  The projects are oriented around a shared Driving Question, which makes them meaningful, and will have a real-world meaning, skill or focus. Project Steps, (such as brainstorming, making a draft, field work, and presentation) form the backbone for completion of projects, and provide the structure of enquiry for the students to progress and gain both the Subject Pillars and transferable life skills (timekeeping, budgeting, communication of ideas etc).  Projects are supported through collaboration with Industry Experts, who are professionals within a particular field and support our students to complete their Beautiful Work according to industry standards.

It is helpful to look at Enterprise Projects as the vehicle through which learning is delivered.  For example, in designing and building a garden, students can learn any number of topics, such as botany, engineering, mathematics, etc. Where possible, Reading and Maths are woven into projects through interconnected sessions that work towards the Driving Question and completion of the Beautiful Work. Projects also enable students to work toward their EHCP outcomes by enabling any number of areas of learning, such as teamwork and cooperation, emotional resilience, executive functioning, and creative thinking.

Enterprise Projects give students a sense of purpose in their learning and build strong connections with their community, both within and outside the school.

The Three Phase Process

Our curriculum is structured by the Three Phase Process, which allows us to adapt each student’s programme to their current level of need and sequence all future learning.

Overcoming Barriers – students develop their sense of trust, belonging, self-image as a student, and sense of their own potential.  

21st Century Skills – each student’s curriculum broadens to focus more on the skills, knowledge and understandings that will enable them to thrive in the 21st century. 

Becoming Community Ready – the student’s curriculum prioritises more the steps that need to be taken in order to successfully transition to their life beyond school.

The Three Phases Process ensures that each student’s curriculum is individualised and ambitious and that they are supported and challenged at the appropriate level on the way to becoming themselves and changing the world.

The Three Phase Process

Our curriculum is structured by the Three Phase Process, which allows us to adapt each student’s programme to their current level of need and sequence all future learning.

Overcoming Barriers – students develop their sense of trust, belonging, self-image as a student, and sense of their own potential.  

21st Century Skills – each student’s curriculum broadens to focus more on the skills, knowledge and understandings that will enable them to thrive in the 21st century. 

Becoming Community Ready – the student’s curriculum prioritises more the steps that need to be taken in order to successfully transition to their life beyond school.

The Three Phases Process ensures that each student’s curriculum is individualised and ambitious and that they are supported and challenged at the appropriate level on the way to becoming themselves and changing the world.