The information in this section is for the academic year 2024/2025.

If you would like to know more about our curriculum please contact our main reception on 0161 509 2368 to speak to Ruth Sheard-Pearson.

Core purpose

The core purpose of our school is to enable pupils to access their entitlement to be educated in line with Article 28 of the UN Convention on the rights of the child.

Context

Manchester Hospital School provides education across 7 provisions across the city. From Early Years to early years to key stage 4, we provide education for pupils from schools within Manchester, nationally and internationally. We also provide education for pupils who have not attended a school setting for long periods of time.

Our sites consist of:

Leo Kelly School

Following a referral from school and a health practitioner, secondary pupils are admitted to the Leo Kelly School once a multi-agency admission panel consisting of health and education professionals have decided that the placement is suitable. The Leo Kelly School is for Manchester residents who experience significant anxiety or associated mental health issues and/ or are unable to attend school because of ongoing medical issues. Other LAs can commission places for individual pupils.

Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital

RMCH offers medical care for young people from birth to 18. They offer general paediatric care, specialised and highly specialist medical services for children and young people across the North West, across the UK and internationally.

Galaxy House

Galaxy House is a 12 bed Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in-patient unit treating children and young people with severe eating disorders, pervasive arousal withdrawal syndrome (PAWS) or severe psychosomatic conditions. Galaxy House also treats young people with neurodevelopmental difficulties and/or any mental health problems severe enough to require specialist in-patient assessment and treatment (e.g. early onset psychosis, obsessive – compulsive disorder, depression).

Wythenshawe Hospital

Wythenshawe Hospital offers medical and surgical care for children aged 0 to 16 years. Services are managed and supported by Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital (RMCH).

The Christie

The site specialises in the 6 week high- energy proton beam therapy of children under 16 years old. All children are under the joint care of RMCH and patients can be treated from anywhere around the world. Children and parents/ carers are often accommodated in Manchester housing for the duration of their therapy.

North Manchester General Hospital

NMGH offers medical care for young people from birth to 18. They offer general paediatric care, for children and young people across the North West, across the UK and internationally.

Curriculum Design

Our curriculum has been designed to ensure our pupils have the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge relevant to them as individuals whilst maintaining an enthusiasm for learning.

We have used research conducted by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to inform our choices around intervention, curriculum and assessment. We review the impact of chosen strategies through our quality assurance and monitoring process.

We have used research around cognitive science to inform our teaching approach and have developed a teaching model based on the theory of Rosenshine’s principle of instruction.

Curriculum Principles

Vision

To be a beacon of excellence, providing high quality education which enables children and young people with medical and mental health needs to achieve and experience success.

Principles

The curriculum principles underpin the pupils’ academic and personal learning journey enabling them to succeed despite their medical condition and SEND.

Aspiration: We encourage our pupils to aspire to achieve their potential.

Resilience: We develop pupils’ ability to overcome challenges.

Equality and diversity: We build a culture of empathy and respect.

Feeling safe: We create an environment where pupils feel able to talk to adults and share worries or concerns.

Intent

Manchester Hospital School offers a broad and balanced curriculum which prioritises teaching the relevant knowledge and skills within the statutory frameworks for Early Years to post 16. Our curriculum is tailored to the individual, taking into consideration pupils’ SEND and medical needs while also maintaining aspiration and ambition for all learners.

Implementation

We work with medical professionals and home schools to ensure the implementation of the curriculum is reflective of the needs of the pupil. The outcomes of baseline assessments on admission inform teaching to develop pupils’ understanding of key concepts by building knowledge and skills. Using our teaching model, based on Rosenshine’s principles, we enable pupils to transfer key knowledge to long term memory while identifying pupil misconceptions and gaps in knowledge.

Impact

The progress that pupils make progress enables them to prepare for future learning and employment whilst developing their confidence, resilience and independence.

Teaching at different sites:

The information below explains how we teach pupils at each of our sites

The School at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital

Teaching at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital

Teaching takes place one to one at the pupil’s bedside on a hospital ward.
Our teaching offer is for patients that have been in hospital for 19 days or more.
We support patients with a range of independent learning tasks from day 5-18.
Each ward has a key teacher who is responsible for ensuring all pupils on that ward have timetabled lessons and information is shared regarding the pupil’s medical conditions with relevant members of staff.
The key teacher completes an ‘About Me profile‘ to gain an understanding of the pupil’s needs and interests. For longer stay pupils the key teacher can also contact the pupil’s home school to gather any additional information.
We teach pupils a broad range of National Curriculum subjects.
The curriculum offer each pupil receives is dependent on their length of stay in hospital and the pupil’s medical condition.
At the start of a pupil’s learning journey we complete a baseline assessment. This gives a clearly defined starting point to enable the teacher to build on prior learning and work towards a defined end point.

Some RMCH pupils are taught through our HIVE provision following discharge from hospital.

HIVE (Home and Innovative Virtual Education)

HIVE provides education for young people who are unable to attend their normal place of education due to mental ill health or medical illness. HIVE also provides support for pupils re-integrating into school after a period of illness. Education can be through virtual teaching, teaching in the home or community or through technology such as AV1 robots.

Pupils are taught one to one, or small group lessons, online, in the home or in an agreed venue with five lessons in the school week.
Pupils have access to a broad range of National Curriculum subjects and our Preparation for Adulthood curriculum with an aim to ensure pupils have opportunities to continue with their learning.

Leo Kelly School

Teaching at Leo Kelly School

Pupils at Leo Kelly are taught in form groups depending on their age, ability and SEMH needs. There are five lessons in the school day with a planned break in the morning.
On admission, an ‘About Me profile‘ is completed to gain an understanding of the pupil’s needs and interests. We work closely with the home school, parents and medical professionals to gather information relevant to the individual to enable a successful transition into the Leo Kelly School. A mental health assessment is completed on admission to the school. The results of this assessment support intervention, teaching adaptations and approaches which will support pupil progress.
Pupils have access to an academic curriculum with an aim to ensure pupils have opportunities to continue with their learning whilst being supported to manage challenges around their mental health.
In addition to the academic curriculum offer we provide our pupils with opportunities to develop life skills through our trauma informed Preparation for Adulthood curriculum which supports development in the core skills outlined in the SEND code of practice for employment, independent living, health and society and community participation.
Additionally, pupils have access to therapies such as Music, Speech and Language and Art and we also work in collaboration with Manchester United who provide coaching and mentoring sessions to support pupils’ physical development and mental health.
A baseline assessment is completed at the start of a pupil’s learning journey. This gives a clearly defined starting point to enable the teacher to build on prior learning and work towards a defined end point.

For some Leo Kelly pupils, we teach them through our HIVE offer.

HIVE (Home and Innovative Virtual Education)

Pupils are taught one to one, or small group lessons, online, in the home or in an agreed venue with five lessons in the school week.
Depending on the identified curriculum pathway, Pupils have access to a broad range of National Curriculum subjects and our Preparation for Adulthood curriculum with an aim to ensure pupils have opportunities to continue with their learning whilst being supported to manage challenges around their mental health. For some of our pupils we use the AQA Awards to re-engage pupils with their learning.
A baseline assessment is completed at the start of a pupils learning journey. This gives a clearly defined starting point to enable the teacher to build on prior learning and work towards a defined end point.

The School at the Christie

Teaching takes place in our school room during the course of the 6 week treatment.
Pupils are generally taught one to one but on occasion can be taught with other pupils in small groups.
On admission, an ‘About Me profile‘ is completed to gain an understanding of the pupil’s needs and interests.
We work closely with the home school, parents and medical professionals to gather information relevant to the individual to enable a successful transition into The Christie School.
We facilitiate a pupils home school work across a broad range of National Curriculum subjects.
In addition to facilitating the home school curriculum we ensure our pupils have opportunities to engage in personal development and developing life skills through our Preparation for Adulthood curriculum. This is planned considering the core skills outlined in the SEND code of practice for employment, independent living, health and society and community participation.

The School at Galaxy House

Pupils at Galaxy House are taught in 2 groups depending on their age, ability and medical condition. There are five lessons in the school day with planned protected breaks and meal times.
On admission, an ‘About Me profile‘ is completed to gain an understanding of the pupil’s needs and interests. We work closely with the home school, parents and medical professionals to gather information relevant to the individual to enable a successful transition into Galaxy House. A mental health assessment is completed on admission to the school. The results of this assessment support intervention, teaching adaptations and approaches which will support pupil progress and inform the Care Programme Approach (CPA) meetings where a multi-disciplinary team meets to discuss the progress of individual pupils.
We teach pupils a broad range of National Curriculum subjects with an aim to ensure pupils have opportunities to continue with their learning whilst being supported to manage challenges around their mental health.
In addition to the National Curriculum subjects we provide our pupils with opportunities to develop life skills through our Preparation for Adulthood curriculum which supports development in the core skills outlined in the SEND code of practice for employment, independent living, health and society and community participation.
Where pupils’ health needs mean they are unable to access school full time within our classrooms, functional goals towards learning will be set alongside an occupational therapist. This phased approach begins on the ward, transitioning incrementally to the classroom.
A baseline assessment is completed at the start of a pupils learning journey. This gives a clearly defined starting point to enable the teacher to build on prior learning and work towards a defined end point.

Wythenshawe and North Manchester General Hospital

Teaching takes place one to one at the pupil’s bedside on a hospital ward.
Each pupil has a key teacher who is responsible for ensuring information is shared regarding the pupil’s medical conditions with relevant members of staff.
The key teacher completes an ‘About Me profile‘ to gain an understanding of the pupil’s needs and interests. For longer stay pupils the key teacher will contact the pupil’s home school to gather any additional information.
We teach pupils a broad range of National Curriculum subjects. The number of lessons a pupil receives is dependent on their length of stay in hospital and the pupil’s medical condition.
A baseline assessment is completed at the start of a pupil’s learning journey. This gives a clearly defined starting point to enable the teacher to build on prior learning and work towards a defined end point.

Curriculum 2024 – 2025

THRIVE stands for Thinking, Health, Relationships, Independence, Values and Expression and includes PSHE, RSHE, PE, Drama, Music & Art.

Global includes History, Geography, RE & Languages

Science includes Science, Computing & Animal Care

PREPARATION FOR ADULTHOOD