Dearne Academy Aspiration Ambition Achievement
Dearne Academy Aspiration Ambition Achievement
Athena
Primary approach, Secondary expectation
Established in September 2018, Athena is our SEND Resource Base for students on the SEND register (but more specifically with an EHCP). Half of our places are commissioned by BMBC welcoming young people from the Barnsley area to our popular provision. The remaining places are allocated to students from our feeder primary schools. This provision primarily supports students with learning and cognition needs though some may also have communication and interaction needs. Subjects are taught in a base classroom extending the transition from primary school. We have three classes: Year 7/ Year 8/9/ Year 10/11 each one is led by a teacher and supported by at least 1 HLTA. The full broad and balanced curriculum is offered at KS3 but allocations to English and maths are significantly increased to aide accelerated progress in these fundamental areas. Running alongside the academic curriculum, we offer a Therapeutic Curriculum to offer additional support using a Thrive approach. In addition, personalised interventions are provided to students based on their individual needs these could include: Fresh Start Phonics, Lego Therapy, ELSA, Social Stories, Thrive to name a few. Students enter the provision in year 7 and have the opportunity to graduate back into the mainstream school once they are working in line with their peers in English and maths. However, if a student is not ready to graduate by the end of year 9, they will remain with Athena until the end of KS4 where they embark on a comprehensive and bespoke set of qualifications that prepare students for life beyond school. We currently support 51 students across year 7 to 11.