St Dominic’s School is a well-known and highly regarded special school in Surrey and stands in 56 acres of wooded grounds with ample space for recreational activities.
This section provides key information including how the school spends the funding it receives, its policies and procedures, how pupils and students perform in exams and assessment, inspection information and the school's self-evaluation.
The Discover Pathway places a greater emphasis on the Needs Led Curriculum (NLC) to support independence outcomes for pupils in Year 10 and 11 alongside the National Curriculum, supporting them to achieve greater skills for independence, communication, learning, self-development and enrichment. The Discover Pathway offers greater flexibility and can offer a more challenging academic route or a more Needs Led Curriculum approach, depending on the individual’s needs. Pupils typically work towards and achieve a range of portfolio-based qualifications and, in some cases, GCSE and BTEC qualifications.
We aim for all our pupils in Upper School to be challenged to gain achievable Entry Level and, where possible, Level 1 or Level 2 GCSE or BTEC qualifications. Pupils remain in their registration group for most of the working day and will learn English, Maths, Science and Humanities with a core team of teaching staff who use their knowledge of the pupils to make the learning bespoke to their needs.
Pupils will transition around different classrooms for some of their specialist subjects to ensure stretch and challenge. This also allows pupils to become more resilient with interactions with more staff. There are specialist learning opportunities for pupils in the Upper School with Home Cooking Skills, Design and Technology, Art, Performing Arts, Computing Skills and PE lessons. Here they will learn skills that are used in their lives more frequently as they get older.
The Endeavour Pathway
The Endeavour Pathway offers a more challenging academic route that gives pupils access to a maximum of 9 GCSEs.
This pathway places a greater emphasis on the National Curriculum to support academic outcomes in preparation for further education. In Year 10, pupils work towards and typically achieve a broad range of GCSE and some BTEC qualifications by Year 11.
We aim for all our pupils in Upper School to be challenged to gain as many achievable accreditations as possible, from Entry Level all the way to Level 2 GCSE or BTEC qualifications. The options available are dependent on pupil uptake and are subject to change. Pupils will transition around different classrooms for all their specialist subjects to ensure they receive teaching from professionals.
The Innovate Pathway
The Innovate Pathway offers access to 3-5 GCSEs and allows space on the timetable to practice skills for employment. This pathway places greater emphasis on creative and vocational qualifications to support training and employment outcomes. Pupils typically achieve a broad range of qualifications including functional skills, BTEC, Laser and some GCSEs. Pupils will transition around different classrooms for all their specialist subjects to ensure stretch and challenge.
The main difference in the Innovate pathway is that it is focused on the needs and interests of the pupil and the employment they seek in their future. Every week they will have employment-based curriculum time. An example is that a pupil receives catering-based work experience to support their aspirations to go to catering college.
