Freshfield Primary School
Resource Unit — Pre-Formal Pathway
Curriculum Overview and Areas of Learning
About the Pre-Formal Pathway
The Pre-Formal curriculum pathway reflects the diverse and complex range of needs that some of our learners in Freshfield’s Resource Unit present with. It enables teaching staff to develop highly specific teaching strategies and carefully designed learning environments that meet those needs with precision and warmth.
Pupils on the Pre-Formal Pathway are working at the most foundational stages of learning. The focus is not on subject content but on the essential building blocks that underpin all future development:
Progress on the Pre-Formal Pathway is about connection, awareness and the very first steps towards intentional communication. Every response, every moment of shared attention, every new sensory experience is meaningful and celebrated.
At Freshfield |
The Pre-Formal Pathway connects with Freshfield’s whole-school values to Be Kind, to Work Hard, to Work Together, to Be Proud — and to Make a Difference. Pupils in the Resource Unit are part of the Freshfield community — sharing in school life and events — while receiving specialist, individually-tailored support that precisely meets their EHCP targets. |
Sensory First | Relationship-Led | Regulation Before Learning |
All learning begins with the senses. Pupils explore the world through touch, taste, smell, sound and sight. Sensory tolerance and curiosity are the gateway to everything else. | Learning happens through safe, trusting relationships with familiar adults. Intensive Interaction, responsive communication and following the pupil’s lead are core to every session. | A pupil must feel safe and regulated before they can attend and connect. The environment, routine and adult approach are all designed to support a calm, ready state. |
Who is this Pathway for?
Pupils on the Pre-Formal Pathway at Freshfield are likely to demonstrate some or all of the following characteristics:
Pathway placement is not determined by age or year group. Pupils are on the Pre-Formal Pathway because it is the right curriculum for them right now. Progress is always measured against their own starting point using ipsative assessment principles.
The Engagement Model on the Pre-Formal Pathway
All learning on the Pre-Formal Pathway is framed through Freshfield’s five areas of Engagement. For Pre-Formal learners, these areas describe the earliest and most foundational forms of engagement — responses that may be fleeting, subtle and hard to read, but are always meaningful.
Persistence | Anticipation | Initiation | Exploration | Realisation |
Sustaining focus and returning to an activity over time | Showing awareness that something familiar is about to happen | Beginning an activity without adult prompting | Actively investigating people, objects or environments | Recognising that their action has produced a response |
On the Pre-Formal Pathway, pupils are typically developing across Anticipation and Exploration — showing the very first signs of awareness that something is about to happen, and beginning to actively investigate the world around them. Even the briefest moment of Persistence — returning attention to a stimulus — or a first instance of Realisation — recognising that their action caused a response — represents profound and meaningful progress.
My Communication
Communication is at the heart of the Pre-Formal Pathway. At this stage, all communication is body-based and context-dependent. Learners communicate through responses rather than initiations, and through the body rather than words. Every signal — a glance, a change in breathing, a movement towards or away — is treated as a communicative act and responded to accordingly.
Communication on the Pre-Formal Pathway is delivered through Intensive Interaction, Sensory Stories and Attention Autism.
Strand | Key Detail | Engagement Focus |
Responding and Interacting | Showing they can work co-actively with familiar people; showing anticipation or rejection of familiar social activities and events; showing preference for particular people, objects and activities; responding with interest in the actions of others close by | Early social connection and the first foundations of intentional communication (Anticipation, Exploration) |
Sensory Awareness | Reacting, responding and making differentiated responses to and attending to different senses and stimuli; building tolerance of sensory input across all functional senses | Developing the sensory foundation for all future learning (Exploration) |
Language Comprehension | Responding to a familiar voice; tolerating others talking; responding to name being called; following adult pointing, gaze or action; beginning to respond to different tones of voice; demonstrating understanding of words used to label routine events; responding to simple instructions with gesture at a one-word level | Building the earliest receptive language understanding (Anticipation, Realisation) |
Anticipation | Showing brief anticipatory behaviour in response to a familiar stimulus or routine — e.g. eye widening to familiar cue music; body stilling before a known activity begins | The first evidence of memory, prediction and cause-and-effect understanding (Anticipation) |
Vocalisation | Beginning to experiment with a range of vocal sounds; anticipating and sometimes vocalising their turn during a greeting session; attempting to imitate sounds; using vocalisation intentionally to prompt an adult response | Early intentional communication and turn-taking (Initiation, Realisation) |
Choice Making | Some pupils will begin to make meaningful choices through use of symbol, gesture or vocalisation; making simple meaningful gestures; using their voice or attempting simple words and phrases in imitation | The first steps towards self-determination and expressive communication (Initiation) |
My Independence
Independence on the Pre-Formal Pathway is about the most fundamental experiences of self and daily life. The goal is not compliance but awareness — pupils beginning to notice, tolerate and gradually participate in the routines that make up their day.
Strand | Key Detail | Engagement Focus |
Sensory Exploration | Exploring a sample of ingredients used in cooking — smelling, touching, tasting; exploring how textures change when ingredients are mixed | Building sensory tolerance through food-based experiences (Exploration) |
Using Tools | Cutting and peeling skills with full adult support and as independently as possible; experiencing the purpose of simple kitchen tools | Early cause and effect through purposeful action (Realisation) |
Cause and Effect ICT | Using blenders and mixers with switches; experiencing the effect of a simple action on a real outcome | Understanding that actions produce results (Realisation, Initiation) |
My Creative
Creative experiences on the Pre-Formal Pathway are entirely about exploration, not outcome. Every creative session is an opportunity to experience new sensory stimuli, to respond to an adult’s actions, and to begin to make a mark — however fleeting — on the world.
Strand | Key Detail | Engagement Focus |
Sensory Exploration and Messy Marks | Exploring textures and media including 3D modelling where appropriate; using senses to respond to stimuli; exploring mark-making using hands, feet and tools; making art for themselves rather than for a product | Sensory tolerance, curiosity and the very first expressive agency (Exploration, Initiation) |
Music and Communication | Music through communication such as call and response and Sensory Stories; exploring instruments; responding to sound and rhythm; sharing musical experiences with a familiar adult | Shared attention, turn-taking and anticipation through sound (Anticipation, Realisation) |
Movement and Expression | Responding to music and rhythm through body movement; experiencing the connection between action and sound; tolerating and beginning to enjoy shared physical creative experiences | Body awareness, regulation and the beginnings of expressive communication (Exploration, Persistence) |
My Cognition
Cognitive development on the Pre-Formal Pathway is delivered through ICT, sensory room exploration and sensory play. The focus is on the earliest cognitive skills: awareness, exploration, control and the very beginning of sequencing and pattern.
Strand | Key Detail | Engagement Focus |
Awareness | Awareness of stimuli — people, objects and activities; all functional senses should be used; noticing and orienting towards new stimuli in the environment | The foundation of all cognition: noticing the world (Exploration) |
Exploration | Exploration of objects, materials and substances using all parts of the body; especially those parts the pupil can move independently, however little | Active investigation and early problem-solving (Exploration, Persistence) |
Control and Cause and Effect | Control of objects and materials; anticipating change; causing an effect both accidentally and then intentionally; repeating an action to achieve a repeated outcome | The pivotal step from passive to active learner (Realisation, Initiation) |
Sequencing and Pattern | Taking turns in repetitive games; anticipating routine events; recognising familiar places; exploring objects used in familiar routines; choosing between two or more motivating toys | Early memory, prediction and the foundations of mathematical thinking (Anticipation, Realisation) |
My Outdoor School
The outdoor environment offers powerful and naturally motivating sensory experiences that can unlock awareness and engagement in pupils who find structured indoor sessions more challenging. Outdoor learning is an integral part of the Pre-Formal curriculum, not an add-on.
Strand | Key Detail | Engagement Focus |
Sensory Awareness Outdoors | Showing emerging awareness of stimuli, objects or the outdoors; responding to wind, rain, sunlight, natural sounds and textures; noticing living things — plants, birds, minibeasts | Broadening sensory experience in a rich, natural context (Exploration) |
Responding in Different Contexts | Responding to familiar stimuli in new outdoor environments; generalising early responses from indoor to outdoor settings; tolerating new sensory contexts with adult support | Generalisation of skills and growing environmental confidence (Persistence, Exploration) |
Community and Routine | Experiencing outdoor transitions as part of the school day; beginning to show anticipatory awareness of outdoor routines; community visits to familiar Formby environments | Routine, anticipation and connection to the wider world (Anticipation) |
My Physical Wellbeing
Physical development on the Pre-Formal Pathway focuses on sensory awareness and the earliest gross motor skills. For many pupils, physical experience is the primary way they engage with and understand the world.
Strand | Key Detail | Engagement Focus |
Mobility | Rolling towards something of interest; beginning to orient the body towards a preferred stimulus; supported movement between positions | Body awareness and the first self-directed movement (Initiation, Exploration) |
Striking | Sliding and pushing items; experiencing the effect of their movement on an object; cause and effect through physical action | Physical cause and effect — the body as an agent in the world (Realisation) |
Kicking and Large Apparatus | Experiencing large apparatus — soft play, trampolines, ball pools; vestibular and proprioceptive input; kicking and lower limb movement | Sensory regulation and physical confidence (Exploration, Persistence) |
Dexterity | Maintenance of grasp; grasp and release; reaching towards preferred objects; beginning to use both hands in simple co-active tasks | Fine motor development and the physical foundation for communication and independence (Initiation, Realisation) |
Therapeutic Links |
Physical Wellbeing on the Explore Pathway is planned where possible in close consultation with Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy. Sensory circuits and movement activities are incorporated into EHCP targets for relevant pupils and reviewed regularly. |
Assessment and Progress
Progress on the Pre-Formal Pathway is measured using ipsative assessment — every pupil’s progress is measured against their own starting point, not against national age-related expectations. This reflects the principle that all progress is deeply meaningful and that learning must be relevant to the individual.
We look at progress through the five Engagement areas — Persistence, Anticipation, Initiation, Exploration and Realisation — as well as through the specific curriculum strands in each area of learning. We assess progress using Engagement steps, looking specifically at: Cognition and Learning, Communication and Interaction, Social, Emotional and Mental Health and Physical and Sensory development. We measure this through:
EHCP targets are embedded into daily learning and reviewed regularly. Progress is shared with families through Annual Reviews, parent consultations and Freshfield’s Evidence for Learning app.
Therapeutic Support |
Pupils on the Pre-Formal Pathway receive appropriate therapeutic input as part of their holistic provision. At Freshfield, this includes Speech and Language Therapy and specialist SEND support delivered by the Resource Unit team under the leadership of the SENCO. |
The Pre-Formal Pathway, delivered within Freshfield’s Resource Unit, ensures that pupils with the most profound and complex needs access a curriculum that is ambitious, purposeful and deeply respectful of who they are.
Freshfield Primary School | Resource Unit | EQUALS Pre-Formal Pathway