Implementing Personal Progress at Beacon Hill School

Beacon Hill is an all-age special school in Thurrock, Essex, for students with SLD and PMLD. It is a Specialist College for Sensory and Physical Needs. The school offers a range of ASDAN courses:

• New Horizons (Key Stage 3)
• Transition Challenge (Key Stage 4)
• Towards Independence (post-16)
• Personal and Social Development (PSD) - Entry level (Key Stage 4)

ASDAN co-ordinator Jane Shaw said: "Our students really enjoy working on their folders and receiving their certificates! We have been working on introducing Foundation Learning to our 14-19 students.

Planning for Foundation Learning:

1. We appointed a curriculum manager for 14-19 to oversee accreditation, Work Related Learning and Foundation Learning from September 2009.

2. We researched the Entry 1 Qualifications in Personal Progress as a new course to be followed, at first, by our post-16 students.

3. All staff in the post-16 department received training on the Personal Progress course - including details of the units, achievement continuum and unit transcripts.

4. We are continuing to use Towards Independence modules to support the curriculum and build up evidence for Personal Progress.

Next steps?

• Post-16 students to gain credits for Personal Progress (Award and Certificate sized qualifications) and certification for Towards Independence.
• Key Stage 4 students to work towards achieving Transition Challenge, generating evidence for Personal Progress at the same time.
• To replace the Life Skills qualification with Personal and Social Development for some Key Stage 4 students and for them to gain accreditation.

We are looking forward to evaluating our progress at the end of the school year."