Sherwood Hill School Development Plan

1.  Key Priority 1 - Amplify both our pupil and staff voices in line with EDI  
2.  Key Priority 2 - Rejuvenate curriculum and its delivery 
3.  Key Priority 3 - Enhancing robust assessment tools to support quality of teaching 

Enhance further the presence of pupil voice within annual reviews in order to embody ‘no decision about us without us’. (B, P, Cu, EDI, Ach) 

Each child to be seen as part of the delivery of the ‘my voice’ presentation (e.g. physically presenting, video of them watching etc.) (B, P, Cu, EDI, Ach) 

SENCO’s 

April 2026  

Develop opportunities for pupils to meaningfully understand their rights to begin to enable greater self-advocacy.  
(B, P, L, Cu, Ac, EDI) 

Renew our rights respecting assessment (B, P, L, Cu, Ac, EDI) 

Driver - Assistant head  

Implementers - Teachers and therapists  

July 2026 

Pupils to explore an article a week linked with the UN convention on Rights of a Child. Announced in briefing each week and added into the assembly rota. (B, P, L, Cu, Ac, EDI) 

Develop our pupils’ opportunities to make meaningful choices about school life so that all stakeholders are considered in the shaping of the school provision.  

(B, EDI, S, Cu) 

Termly sessions on ‘what I like’ and ‘what I don’t like’ at school for leadership to consider potential changes. 

(B, EDI, S, Cu)  

Driver - Assistant head  

Implementers -  

Teachers and therapists  

January 2026 

Develop our Post 16 offer to enable our children to be able to meaningfully identify what avenues they would like to explore post-19.  

(P16, P, Cu, Ach, EDI) 

Ensure each pupil age 16 + has an interview within school (P16, P, Cu, Ach, EDI) 

Assistant Headteacher and Head of Upper School 

Wider Leadership steering group to formulate then individual class teachers 

July 2026 

Ensure each pupil 16 + engages in at least 3 meaningful work experiences/ work tasters (P16, P, Cu, Ach, EDI) 

Ensure all pupils have a meaningful vocational profile from year 10 and above (P16, P, Cu, Ach, EDI) 

Develop ability for our children’s voices to be heard across settings in order to access equitable services 

(P, B, DT, EDI, S) 

Create hospital passport with the support of playwise to facilitate effective access to health services (P, B, EDI, S) 

Wellbeing team (alongside playwise) 

July 2026 

Facilitate debriefing with pupils and utilize pupil experience in change of practice. (B, P, DT, S) 

Wellbeing team 

July 2026 

Workshops with the police to develop positive relationships with pupils who may have experienced previous trauma. (B, P, EDI, S) 

Assistant head  

July 2026 

Develop our staff's voice to understand more about equality, diversity and inclusion within the school to make an inclusive environment where everyone can feel a sense of ‘belonging’.  

(B, P, L, Cu, EDI) 

Set of Tuesday night trainings to gather feedback and understanding of a range of topics covering the protected factors. (B, P, L, Cu, EDI) 

Drivers: SLT and HR 

July 2026 

Review feedback given from staff and begin to answer a set of questions which can help inform our practice, ethos and development plans:  

-How has our strategy for belonging been designed and how is it evolving? 

-How do we know our staff feel seen, heard and valued?  

-How do we show up, stand up and speak up for our community? (B, P, L, Cu, EDI) 

Drivers: SLT and HR 

July 2026 

Anti-racism training for all staff.  (B, P, L, Cu, EDI) 

All staff - programme provided by Diverse Educators and Every Future Foundation 

July 2026 

1. Review and reshape / restructure our curriculum in order to provide wider transdisciplinary opportunities for aspirational outcomes offering stretch, breadth and creativity. (Cu, L, DT, Ach) 

Review current curriculums including gaps and areas lacking depth (Cu, L, DT, Ach) 

All

January 2026 

Running and evaluating the new curriculum expectations of coverage for each pathway (Cu, L, DT, Ach)  

All

July 2026 

Review progress towards the subject overviews for priority areas  (Cu, L, DT, Ach) 

SLT

November 2025 

Ensure each priority subjects has a robust curriculum overview  (Cu, L, DT, Ach) 

All

January 2026 

Develop areas of expertise in curriculum areas and autism specific teaching strategies though the effective use of training to enhance the curriculum delivery 

(Cu, DT, EYFS, P16) 

Delivery of Attention Autism to 25 staff in Autumn 25 

(Cu, DT, EYFS, P16) 

Driver: Beth Brookes

Dec 2025 

Send teaching staff on training linked to their curriculum team area to develop expertise and enhance schoolwide subject delivery (Cu, DT, EYFS, P16) 

Driver: Beth Brookes

April 2026 

Sending teachers, therapists and/ or wellbeing practitioners on training linked to targeted skills training to impart to a wider audience afterwards e.g. social stories and TEACCH 

Driver: Beth Brookes

April 2026 

Enhancing quality teaching for all staff, namely Senior Teaching Assistants  

(Cu, DT, L, Ach EYFS, P16) 

Driver: Assistant Headteacher

Implementers -  

Teachers and therapists

July 2026  

Staff to utilise the new pathways to understand where and how specific cohorts of pupils may learn. (Cu, DT, L, Ach EYFS, P16)  

Driver: Beth Brookes 

Implementers -  

Teachers and therapists  

Driver: Assistant Headteacher 

Implementers -  

Teachers and therapists  

Create checklists/ assessments for 6 chosen priority curriculum areas ensuring combined input across disciplines (Cu, L, DT, Ach, EDI) 

Assess checklists made to understand where each subject area is at and to think about moderating the ranges. (L, Cu, DT, Ach, EDI) 

SLT 

November 2025 

Consolidate checklists which sequence learning for literacy, numeracy, physical development, humanities, science and technology and play and leisure (L, Cu, Dt, Ach, EDI) 

All teachers and therapists  

January 2026 

Create links with other schools to support EYFS moderation across settings (L, Cu, Dt, Ach, EDI) 

SLT 

November 2025 

Exploring the Transdisciplinary team assessments to ensure an understanding of breadth assessment tools to inform learners next steps (DT, Ach) 

Sessions to explore what each assessment does and how to use it (DT, Ach) 

WLT  

April 2026 

Specific TOMs assessments to be explored for pupils’ main learning barriers. (DT, Ach) 

SLT/WLT - joint  

April 2026 

Assessment links to be placed in one place for ease of locating (DT, Ach) 

SLT  

January 2026 

Develop staff’s ability to target set utilising assessment to ensure our children have stretch and challenge in their learning (Cu, DT, Ach) 

Training on how to set targets to prevent gaps in learning (Cu, DT, Ach) 

Drivers: WLT 

July 2026 

Training staff on how to set targets which stretch and challenge our pupils (Cu, DT, Ach) 

Drivers: WLT 

July 2026