These include:

• BTEC in vocational studies with bespoke units in a wide range of areas
• Child Development
• Home Cooking
• Sports Studies
• Outdoor education
• Land based studies

Students can opt to study a variety of qualifications which allow them to delve into subjects that are more vocationally focussed at a range of levels, these suit our practical, hands on learners. Some offer just a little taster of vocational options and others are more focussed in certain areas.

Tutorial sessions provide an opportunity for students at the Henslow School to explore current affairs, considering social, historical and cultural events. Content ranges from weekly quizzes revolving around the news, role play and exploration of real-life stories from the media and the celebration of key events, including charity activities.

Tutorial sessions also offer a safe and fun place where students can improve their attitude towards learning and enhance their overall performance by focusing on their own specific learning styles. They allow students to examine the current barriers they have towards learning and then provides them with opportunities to explore strategies needed to overcome these obstacles. It provides them with the chance to monitor their work and study habits by examining their student planners and helps prepare our students to successfully achieve their academic and personal goals, both within and outside of school.

Tutorial is vital for our students in allowing them to realise their own personal growth, so that they can in the future assume more responsibility for their learning and are better able to focus on their educational and social pathways. Moreover, these sessions enable our students to better understand the qualities needed to become a positive citizen and a good role-model in society.

At the Henslow School students are encouraged to develop real-life skills that will support them as they move towards adulthood. Within our personal skills curriculum, we offer students the opportunities to develop a range of life skills, such as self-awareness, effective communication, critical thinking and the ability to take on challenges. These personal skills support our students to improve their social and emotional literacy and underpin effective learning, positive behaviour and emotional well-being.

Students participate in both large and small group activities, promoting teamwork and social interaction. They are involved in face-to-face exchanges of thoughts, ideas, feelings and emotions. This includes exploring both verbal and non-verbal elements of personal interaction. We complete work and activities to support the development of a student’s growth mind-set, metacognition and executive functioning, allowing them to become aware of their own identity and personal opinions about the wider world and themselves as individuals.

By developing a personal skills programme at the school, we aim to support our students to become positive individuals, who can recognise and celebrate their strengths and also identify areas of themselves which would benefit from further development.

Project Sessions provide key stage three students with an opportunity to explore subjects in an integrated and holistic manner. Sessions require students to use and apply the skills and knowledge they have gained across their academic subjects to solve a range of problems.

It aims to develop a range of Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills which have been identified as ‘valuable’ and ‘required’ in the work environment. These include: creative thinking, independent inquiry, reflective learning, teamwork, effective participation and self-management.

Project sessions aim to reflect a range of experiences and are planned and designed to meet the needs of the group at any one time. It gives the students the opportunity to work on challenges, solve problems, establish links with the community and understand the dynamics of the social world.

STEM disciplines are utilised and incorporated within the sessions giving students ideas about careers and qualifications in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. By working together, thinking about and using their skills, students can work towards being active members of society and make positive contributions as potential leaders of tomorrow.