Skip to content

Preparation for Adulthood

At The Gateway School, preparing our pupils for the world they will enter as young adults is a thread which runs through our academic, vocational, pastoral and therapeutic curricula.

We use the main curriculum offer, our interventions and enrichment activities to pepper pupils' experiences with real-life scenarios.

We use our six core values to highlight key characteristics and skills required to cope in the world of work and in their social lives.

These core values are:

  • Resilience
  • Going beyond borders
  • Communication
  • Balance
  • Independence
  • Reflection

We use our teaching acceptable behaviour activities to enhance this.

White coffee mug with "life is good" written on it

 We prepare our pupils for adulthood by:

  • Developing life skills and giving chances to practice them.

We focus on practical everyday skills that promote independence. For example, in cooking and nutrition, our pupils meal plan and learn to cook healthily. In PSHE they learn about personal hygiene and health.

  • Focusing on emotional and social development.

We support pupils in managing emotions and building relationships . For example , we give our pupils access to play therapy and we employ emotional literacy support assistants.

  • Focussing on vocational and career preparation.

We want to help our pupils explore and prepare for future employment. For example, we provide two-week work experience placements for our year 11 pupils. We offer a broad range of vocational qualifications such as BTECs, ASDAN or Entry Level certificates.

  • Developing independent living skills

We want to encourage autonomy and confidence in daily life. For example, we discuss household management with our pupils. At Key Stage 4 our Citizenship programme explores rights and responsibilities such as tenancy and voting.

  • Engaging with their communities

We want to promote inclusion and a sense of belonging. For example, we encourage our pupils to have cultural awareness and to celebrate diversity and inclusion.

  • Engaging them with tailored support plans

We think that each pupil should have a clear understanding of their EHCP or an individualised plan. For example, we use our EHCP tracker to provide real clarity about how pupils are progressing through small step targets. We use our pastoral team to focus on parental involvement.