Baston House Lower School includes pupils from Year 1 to 8.

We acknowledge that the transition from Primary to Secondary School may be a challenge to most pupils. We make the progression from Primary to Secondary as structured and predictable as possible. The school has embedded opportunities for primary and secondary phase interaction within the Lower School setting. This interaction reduces the anxieties of learners as they progress to secondary as primary children move into an environment where they will be interacting with familiar faces and often, good friends.

Key Skills

To improve learning and performance in education, six skills areas are embedded in the subjects of the National Curriculum. These are described as key skills:

• Communication
• Application of number
• Information technology
• Working with others
• Improving own learning and performance
• Problem solving

Thinking Skills

Our students need to be taught the skills that are needed for learning. Thinking skills complement the six key skills and are embedded in the National Curriculum. The National Curriculum stresses that when pupils use thinking skills they focus on “knowing how” to learn as well as “knowing what” to learn. For pupils with learning difficulties, the development of thinking skills also involves:

• Sensory awareness and perception
• Early cognitive skills

Additional priorities:

In addition to key skills and thinking skills, pupils will need to develop a range of skills which may form priority areas of learning in a range of contexts. Some of these skills are cross-curricular but others might be specific to individual pupils in a particular age group.