Mission and Vision

At Springboard Project, our mission is "Creating Meaningful Futures" for young people aged 14–19 with complex SEMH needs. We are committed to a trauma-embedded approach, where principles of Protect, Relate, Regulate, and Reflect are woven into every aspect of school life from policies and curriculum to physical environments and daily interactions. This aligns with our SEMH Strategy (2024–2027), emphasising constructivism, Trauma-Informed Practice, and "Maslow before Bloom" to address trauma, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and barriers to learning, ensuring no young person can engage in education until their physiological, safety, and emotional needs are met. 

Our curriculum is caring, trusting, and innovative, underpinned by our SPRING values:

Support: Fostering emotional resilience and wellbeing.

Positive: Promoting optimism and constructive relationships.

Resilience: Building coping skills for life's challenges.

Integrity: Encouraging honesty and ethical decision-making.

Nurture: Providing relational, safe spaces for growth.

Growth: Empowering personal, academic, and vocational development.

The Springboard Project delivers a flexible and inclusive curriculum designed to meet the diverse needs and aspirations of our learners. Our provision is structured around three pathways, each tailored to support personal growth, academic achievement, and future employability. Our curriculum is designed to support the destination matrix in which all students are building towards being independent , this empowers every learner to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally, equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead successful, independent lives.

Our ambition is to equip every student with a minimum of 4 Level 2 qualifications (including Maths and English) and the opportunity to pursue at least one Level 3 qualification before leaving at 19, preparing them for further/higher education, employment, or independent living.

SEMH Pathways and Categorisation

Drawing from the Trust's SEMH Strategy, we categorise needs into three pathways to ensure tailored support:

Pathway 1 SEMH: For students with identified mental health needs or emotional regulation needs, requiring small class sizes and high staff ratios but able to access the full curriculum with support. -

Pathway 2 SEMH: For those with significant barriers due to trauma, ACEs, or multi-agency involvement, often not "ready to learn" initially. This pathway focuses on reintegration, operating below age-expected levels but with potential for rapid progress.

Pathway 3 SEMH: For students with additional SEND (e.g., cognition, communication, or physical needs) masked by SEMH presentations, with signposting to more suitable settings as and where appropriate.

Students are placed in one of three discrete delivery programmes. All programmes prioritise Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to create inclusive, psychologically safe environments, and incorporate the Adapted Curriculum Programme (ACP) for highly vulnerable students with personalised timetables, one-to-one mentoring, and six-weekly reviews.

1. Springboard Main-Site Programme (SPT): Predominantly classroom-based (Pathway 1–2). Balances academic and vocational learning, with mornings focused on core subjects and afternoons on vocational options. Suitable for KS4 & 5, promoting autonomy and employability skills (Working at ‘playing a part in my community’ through to ‘being independent’ destination pathways).

2. Nurture Programme: Integrates SPT elements with additional enrichment and interventions for emotional support (primarily Pathway 3 students). Features calming, adaptable environments (e.g., green, leafy themes with safe spaces) and familiarity in groupings to build resilience. Includes access to vocational options and nurture-focused PM sessions for regulation.

3. Adapted Curriculum Programme (ACP): Highly personalised for Pathway 2 & 3 students with complex needs, school refusal, or anxiety. Combines 1:1 sessions, off-site groups, and community learning to re-engage learners. Includes weekly group sessions in Maths/English, gym, and Duke of Edinburgh (DofE), with blended online opportunities for hybrid access.

Curriculum Promises

Our curriculum delivers four core promises, ensuring a broad, balanced, and holistic experience:

1. Opportunity to gain a minimum of 4 Level 2 qualifications (including Maths and English), with progression to Level 3 options.

2. Access to vocational and employability education, including living skills, work experience/placements, and careers mentoring.

3. Support through a trauma-embedded and holistic approach, embedding the four pillars of our Trauma-Embedded Project:

- Culture and Values: Trauma-appropriate language, restorative practices, and advocacy for relational support.

- Staff Training (CPD): Ongoing sessions for all staff, including non-teaching roles, in trauma-informed methods, UDL, and action research.

- Physical Environment: Sensory-sensitive designs (e.g., calm-down spaces, structured routines, access to green spaces) to promote regulation, with audits and adaptations informed by SEMH estates principles.

- Teaching and Learning (UDL): Inclusive pedagogy that connects to prior knowledge, fosters collaboration, and documents journeys via before-and-after evidence.

4. Adaptive and personalised curriculum design, co-produced with students and families, aligning with EHCP targets and the Destinations Matrix (from "involved and taking part" to "independent in my community").

Timetable and Delivery Structure

Key Stage 4 students follow a common timetable of a 25 hour curriculum delivery a week. The day is broken into 6 periods, commencing with a form time (9:00am – 9:15am), followed by 4 x 45 minute periods to lunch. In the afternoon, there is 1 x 1hr 35minute period (which can be sub-divided, depending on the day)

Key Stage 5 students follow an FE-model, and are all allocated a minimum of 16 hours a week (although the majority of Key Stage 5 student are timetabled for 20+ hours per week) curriculum delivery. Key Stage 5 also commences with a form time (9:00am – 9:15am) each day, followed by 3 x 1 hour periods to lunch, with the afternoon offer being 1 x 1hr 35 minute period.

Key subject allocations:

- English & Maths: KS4: 5 periods/week each; KS5: 3 periods/week each. Both subjects taught at Level 1, Level 2 & GCSE

- PSHE: 2 periods/week. - Tutorial Time: 2 period/week (EHCP progress, target setting).

- Learning for Life/Employability/Kings Trust: KS4: 2 periods/week; KS5: 3 periods/week. (Kings Trust is a nationally recognised Level 2 qualification)

- Reading Plus/Literacy (KS4): 2 periods/week.

- Cultural Capital/Healthy Living (KS4): 4 periods/week. (This provides, through the Extended Project route, a qualification at Level 1, 2 or 3).

- Vocational: Afternoons (KS4: Monday–Thursday; KS5: 4 periods/week). All vocational offers are delivered at either Level1, 2 or 3).

- Extended Support: Daily breakfast club, pastoral & intervention support, extended day activities, and ACP hybrids for regulation. This also offers Science (through our online school partner, Gaia, delivered to GCSE) and Art (to GCSE)