Horticulture

At the Ridgeway School, Horticulture is provided as a complimentary therapy across all age phases, taking account of pupils’ levels of understanding and how old they are.  Referrals to Horticulture are prioritised for those children who will benefit from a therapeutic offer that boosts confidence, independence and children’s self-esteem. We try to ensure that Horticulture is creative, motivating, engaging and relevant to the pupils. It has clear cross curricular links.

We realise the importance of engagement and we acknowledge that deeper learning can only occur when pupils are fully engaged and have resources matched to their personal learning styles.  Horticulture is used by teachers to provide an engaging approach across core subjects of English, Maths and Science.  It also provides an excellent learning environment to develop Thinking Skills, with a strong emphasis on planning, process and problem solving.

Those pupils that take part in Horticulture do so at appropriate levels which relate to their personalised targets.  Skills such as Speaking and Listening, Mathematics and PSHE witnessed in Horticulture are assessed through Linear Milestones, Thinking Skills and Engagement Steps which are recorded on COMPAS, our online assessment tool.  

Where students are able to gain further from access to Horticulture, they are able to participate in ‘mini-enterprise’ activities and for our older students, they have the opportunity to achieve accredited qualifications through City and Guilds qualifications.

Horticulture also provides opportunities to develop and promote Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural values.