Cherry Tree Room 

At Parkfield Primary School, we are committed to creating a positive and supportive learning environment for all. We adapt National Curriculum lessons to enable all pupils to access learning. The Sensory Curriculum is used as a tool to support these adaptations within our Cherry Tree Class.  This ensures that all learners, including those who cannot fully access the National Curriculum, are supported to thrive. It provides a highly personalised, developmental approach that focuses on communication, interaction, and engagement through sensory experiences. By using multi-sensory activities—such as tactile exploration, movement, sound, and visual stimulation—pupils are given meaningful opportunities to develop core learning skills at their own pace. Where possible, staff plan sensory curriculum topics that align with topics being taught in other year groups. 

Through this approach, all subjects within the National Curriculum are made accessible: 

• English is experienced through sensory storytelling, rhythm, rhyme, mark making, writing, reading and interactive communication activities. Children also access daily Core Word Curriculum sessions. This involves children being taught a word a week including the signs and symbols associated with the words to aid communication, reading and writing.  

• Mathematics is taught using concrete, tactile resources, songs, and movement activities to support early number concepts, shape recognition, and problem solving. 

• Science is explored through hands-on investigations, sensory experiments, and opportunities to experience cause and effect in the natural world. 

• Physical Education is accessed through movement, dance, yoga, and sensory circuits that build gross and fine motor skills while supporting regulation. 

• History is brought to life through objects of reference, role play, artefact handling, and sensory timelines. 

• Geography is taught through exploration of environments, sensory maps, and real-world experiences such as water play, natural materials, and journeys around the school grounds. 

• Art and Design and Technology are accessed through creative, tactile, and exploratory activities that encourage expression and experimentation with different materials. 

• PSHE is delivered through sensory-based interactions, social stories, role play, and experiential activities that build self-awareness, emotional regulation, and relationships. 

To assess progress, we use Cherry Garden Branch Mapping which allows us to capture small but significant steps of development for our learners with complex needs. The branch maps cover six areas of learning which are communication, language and literacy, mathematical development, physical development, understanding of the world, personal, social and emotional development and expressive art and design. This assessment framework is used to support those learners who are working below year 1 expectations.  By using this approach, teachers can plan next steps to ensure learning opportunities are personalised and purposeful.  

This combination of the Sensory Curriculum and Cherry Garden Branch Mapping ensures that every learner can engage meaningfully with each subject, and that their progress—no matter how small—is recognised, valued, and used to inform future learning. It enables children to engage in learning opportunities, make progress, and build independence, confidence, and a positive relationship with learning.