Orchard Pathway

Mr Doxford

I am Mr Doxford and I am the Orchard Pathway Lead, and also Religious Education and Computing Lead at Dame Ellen.

I first became a teacher back in 2017 where I taught at a mainstream school in Key Stage 1 for 4 years. During my time at the school, I predominantly taught in Year 1 and was responsible for Year 1 Phonics Screening and led Science and Computing across the school. I was also a staff governor helping me to achieve a greater understanding of the wider vision of the school. The school I taught in was a faith-based school which has driven my interest to leading RE here at DEP.

After that, I was lucky enough to be the lead teacher in a Resource Provision for children with Cognition and Interaction needs based in a mainstream infant school. Our main focus was to support the children with their communication and sensory needs, while following a bespoke curriculum allowing children to access a range of learning activities and mainstream classroom time at a suitable level. During my time at the school, I took part in training delivered by the ‘Autism Education Trust’, PDA training, sensory processing and regulation. I then had the opportunity to support other schools and children across the academy with sensory regulation strategies.

In January 2024, I moved to Dame Ellen where I took on the role as Crickets class teacher in the Orchard Pathway. During this time, I worked closely with other teachers across the pathway to build a strong understanding of our 5 areas of learning. These include Learning and Problem Solving, Social Communication, Interests and Play, Independence and Community and Sensory Processing and Emotional Regulation. Following this, in April 2025 I became Orchard Pathway lead overseeing our 5 classes (Chipmunks, Deers, Woodpeckers, Otters and Crickets).

The Orchard Pathway at Dame Ellen is for our children with more complex needs. We follow a flexible learning style which is very adaptive and individualised to the children in each class. We aim to offer our children an ambitious play based curriculum whilst inspiring the curiosity and meeting the children’s sensory needs. Our intent is for children to become confident, engaged, happy and resourceful lifelong learners through receiving high quality teaching and learning across the range of National Curriculum subjects. Communication is key to our curriculum here at Dame Ellen and this is reflected in our low arousal, communication rich Orchard classrooms supporting our non, pre and semi verbal leaners. The majority of children in the Orchard Pathway are currently working academically at an Engagement and EYFS level. We have recently introduced a hybrid class which I have been lucky enough to lead for our children who can access elements of the KS1 curriculum but still need support with emotional regulation and sensory needs. We also aim to enrich our curriculum with hands on experiences and a variety of extra-curricular opportunities such as educational visits, school/pathway events, sports events, curriculum WOW events, and an overnight residential stay at Dodford Farm.