Teaching and Learning at Longridge

At Longridge School we value the significance of effective teaching and learning i.e. teaching and learning that robustly focuses on promoting the greatest outcomes for our children and young people both in terms of education, personal and social development and readiness for life beyond school.

We follow a primary model as the basis for our class structure with students grouped according to their developmental stage rather than age groups and learners working from a base classroom with their key (class) teacher. Some lessons, such as Science, Food Technology, PSHE and Careers may be taught by subject leads in our specialist rooms. 

During our school day, we aim to provide lots of opportunities for experiential learning, utilising outdoor space whenever possible both within the school grounds and in the wider community to create concrete memories that students can recall and apply to their classroom based learning. We strive to provide joyful yet meaningful learning across all the key stages.

Our programmes of learning are created to meet the diverse aptitudes and abilities of the learners that attend our school. Pupils are grouped into learning pathways and follow a curriculum which is bespoke to their stage, age and future aspirations. Teachers are highly skilled in using a multi modal and multi-sensory approach to engage learners and employ highly differentiated, bespoke activities throughout the school day.

Our Schemes of learning are devised so that teachers can utilise lower age related materials to meet developmental stages or provide stretch and challenge for learners who are working further towards their expected targets.

At Longridge we follow a rolling four year well structured and engaging thematic curriculum, which enables learners to develop deeper knowledge and skills by making connection across different subjects. Repeated exposure to key vocabulary across a range of subjects, also supports word recognition, word meaning and spelling. Through our cross curricular theme which runs across an entire term, we aim to promote fluency, independence, maintenance and generalisation of knowledge and skills in our learners. Our curriculum for KS2 and 3 covers Maths, English, ICT and Computing, The world Around Us (Science, Humanities and R.E) Independence (Life skills and Home Cooking) and Healthy Living (P.E., PSHE, Food Technology)

At Key Stage 4, our learners continue with Maths, English, Science, PSHE and PE. They also follow two pathway options subjects chosen in year 9. Students work towards achieving accredited qualifications by the end of Key Stage 4/5.