Our Curriculum at Henry David Learning
At Henry David Learning, we believe that every pupil deserves a curriculum that is meaningful, accessible and ambitious. Our learners often arrive with disrupted educational experiences, so our curriculum is carefully designed to rebuild confidence, re-ignite a love of learning and prepare pupils for life beyond school.
Our curriculum is underpinned by a tree model, which helps us ensure that learning is balanced, purposeful and joined up across all subjects.
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Our Curriculum Model
Roots – Learning dispositions and attitudes
The roots of our curriculum focus on developing the personal qualities and attitudes our pupils need to succeed in learning and in life. These include resilience, curiosity, imagination, flexibility, creativity and empathy.
Through carefully chosen curriculum content and purposeful teaching, every lesson contributes to strengthening these dispositions. Our PSHE curriculum, delivered through the Jigsaw programme, provides structured opportunities for pupils to develop emotional literacy, self-regulation and positive relationships. Our careers curriculum also explicitly highlights the importance of these skills, helping pupils understand how they are valued in further education, training and employment.
Trunk – Cross-curricular learning skills
The trunk represents the key skills that run through all subjects. Pupils are supported to develop and apply skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, reasoning, explaining, applying learning and making connections.
These skills are taught explicitly and revisited regularly so that pupils can build secure understanding over time. This helps learners develop strong mental frameworks (schema), enabling them to transfer skills across lessons, subjects and real-life contexts, including off-site learning and community experiences.
Branches – Subject-specific skills
The branches represent the subject-specific skills pupils develop in each area of learning. Where appropriate, subjects are aligned with the National Curriculum, adapted carefully to meet the needs of our learners.
In Upper School, English, Maths and Science are taught by subject specialists, with a focus on preparing pupils for Functional Skills qualifications. Alongside this, pupils develop practical and technical skills through a broad range of subjects including Creative Arts, Design and Technology, Digital Skills, Geography, History and Physical Education.
Pupils study towards eternally validated qualifications at Entry to Level 2; Step into Employment, training and personal development and Preparation for Employment. They also complete a day a week on work experience placements.
Leaves – Subject knowledge and content
The leaves represent the subject knowledge pupils learn – the facts, vocabulary and concepts that form the substance of education.
Our teaching and learning principles ensure that knowledge is broken down into small, manageable steps, clearly explained and revisited regularly so that pupils genuinely remember what they have learned. Literacy is a strong focus across the curriculum, with key vocabulary taught explicitly and supported through visuals, repetition and practical application.
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Our ASK Principles: Ambition, Support and Kindness
Our curriculum is underpinned by the ASK principles: Ambition, Support and Kindness. These values shape how we teach, how pupils learn and how we work together as a school community.
Ambition means having high expectations for every pupil, regardless of starting point. Our curriculum is designed to be ambitious but achievable, ensuring that pupils are challenged appropriately and supported to make meaningful progress. We celebrate success, encourage perseverance and help pupils to believe in their own potential.
Support is embedded through carefully scaffolded teaching, small-step learning and strong relationships between pupils and staff. Lessons are structured to reduce barriers to learning, with clear explanations, modelling and opportunities to practise and revisit key knowledge and skills. This ensures pupils feel safe to take risks, ask questions and learn from mistakes.
Kindness underpins everything we do. Our curriculum promotes empathy, respect and positive relationships, helping pupils to understand themselves and others. Through PSHE, daily interactions and restorative approaches, pupils learn how to communicate effectively, manage emotions and contribute positively to the school community.
Together, the ASK principles are woven through our curriculum model: nurturing learning dispositions in the Roots, supporting skill development through the Trunk and Branches, and enabling pupils to access and retain essential knowledge in the Leaves. This creates a calm, inclusive learning environment where pupils feel valued, supported and motivated to succeed.
A curriculum that prepares pupils for the future
Our curriculum is carefully sequenced to ensure progression over time and to prepare pupils for their next steps, whether this is further education, training or employment. We place strong emphasis on personal development, independence and real-world learning so that pupils leave us with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to succeed.
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Typically, pupils would experience the following daily routine:
Mornings
Arrive at 8.45am for tutor time meet and greet and plans for the day
2 lessons before break
Break time with snacks
2 further lessons
Lunch in the kitchen between 12 – 1pm (split between Upper and Lower School) with a range of hot and cold meals prepared on site, followed by access to our outdoor area
Afternoons
2 further lessons, and including PSHE, Creative Arts, Mindfulness, trips to the gym and vocational qualification learning
