NEO by Nudge Education

NEO Curriculum Vault

NEO Curriculum

6 min read

A structured online curriculum, shaped around the young person.

Pearson Edexcel International GCSEs, Functional Skills and ASDAN courses — taught by qualified teachers, supported by a named practitioner, with the Cornerstones woven into every session. We meet the young person where they are and build from there.

Connection before curriculum. Always.

Most of our learners have experienced education as something that hurt them. So the first weeks are about trust, regulation, and re-learning that it’s safe to show up. The structured curriculum starts underneath that, not on top of it.

Every learner has a named Nudge practitioner who stays with them throughout. The practitioner is their mentor and single point of contact — co-ordinating with qualified subject teachers, pastoral support, and the relationship with family and commissioner. One consistent voice across everything.

Built on proven practice. Nudge Education has worked with young people who can’t access mainstream for a decade. Nudge Education Online is that practice made available in a structured online format. The pedagogy is trauma-informed. The posture is needs-led, not deficit-framed. The aim is always re-engagement — with learning, with self, with others.

Qualifications that fit the learner, not the other way around

Learners move between or combine these pathways. The aim isn’t “which box does this child fit into” — it’s “what does this young person need to make meaningful progress this term.”

Pearson Edexcel International GCSEs — core academic

For learners building towards recognised academic qualifications. At launch, subjects include English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, Human Biology, and Art & Design. Further subjects are added as each new cohort joins. Modular assessment so learners can build credit over time. Examination entry fees are charged separately. Online exam centre partnerships mean learners do not need to sit exams at their old school.

Browse the iGCSE library →

Functional Skills — essential skills

Nationally recognised qualifications in English and Maths. A practical, accessible route for learners working towards essential competencies alongside or instead of iGCSEs.

Browse the Functional Skills library →

ASDAN courses — personalised

Flexible, skills-based qualifications that recognise progress in learning, life skills, wellbeing, and personal effectiveness. Well-suited to learners re-entering education after a long absence.

ASDAN Programmes → · ASDAN Short Courses → · ASDAN Qualifications →

Discovery Phase — scaffold

For learners who aren’t yet ready for a full timetable or formal qualifications. Named goals, measured progress, and a clear route onto a qualification pathway when the time is right.

Structured timetable. Consistent practitioner.

Four days of live lessons Monday to Thursday, with Friday dedicated to the Cornerstones. The named practitioner stays the same throughout.

  • Four 45-minute live sessions, Monday–Thursday. Scheduled sessions via Google Meet, delivered by qualified teachers. Structured timetable with scheduled breaks — not a free-form day. The named practitioner stays alongside as mentor and point of contact.
  • Cornerstones Day, Friday. Relational Intelligence, Digital Skills, RSHE, SDG projects and creative work. The day where the Cornerstones framework comes alive in its own right — not squeezed into academic sessions.
  • Live small-group learning. Deliberately small groups so every learner is seen, heard and known. Peer connection becomes part of the learning, not a prerequisite to it.
  • Subject-specialist teaching. Live lessons are delivered by qualified, subject-specialist teachers. The named practitioner co-ordinates the timetable and stays alongside the learner as their consistent point of contact.
  • Pastoral and wellbeing. Not a bolt-on. Woven into every session via the Cornerstones. Escalation routes for clinical need are clear and agreed at referral.
  • Families kept close. Regular, structured conversations with parents and carers. Families are part of the team — not managed at arm’s length.

The Cornerstones

In every session, not in a separate one. Our named pedagogical framework: six elements, woven into how each session is designed — so wellbeing and learning are the same activity, not a sequence.

  • Connection — relationships, communication, understanding self and others
  • Movement — physical activity, embodied learning, energy regulation
  • Creativity — making, exploring, originality, play
  • Reflection — pausing to notice, metacognition, self-knowledge
  • Rest — recovery, pacing, sustainable engagement
  • Nutrition — fuelling the body and brain, food literacy

Progress made visible

Our platform gives the young person, their family, and the commissioner a live view of what’s happening. Attendance, engagement, session notes, safeguarding flags, and progress against agreed goals — updated after every session, not filed away for termly reports.

  • Attendance, engagement and progress, visible weekly
  • KCSIE 2025-aligned safeguarding log
  • Session-level notes written in plain language
  • Commissioner dashboard, parent-facing view, practitioner view — the same facts, appropriately framed

See it in action

Our open sessions walk through a week of real learning — what a typical timetable looks like, how the Cornerstones show up, and how progress is tracked in real time.

See open events · Request a pricing brief

Browse the full library

For educators, commissioners, and curriculum leads — this is where the canonical curriculum lives. The vault is structured around the NEO Curriculum Vault Tagging Schema v0.3 — Curriculum × Overlay architecture, with five primary tag families (Cornerstone × Mode × Curriculum × Overlay × Outcome), one Mastery scale, and one quality marker (Verse-ality Certified).

By Curriculum — what learning is

The canonical spine. Drawn from the National Curriculum where it exists, from synthesised consensus across awarding bodies where it doesn’t, and from NEO-original / statutory frames where neither apply.

  • Key Stage 3 — National Curriculum strands for Years 7–9
  • Key Stage 4 — synthetic NC defined by union of overlays
  • Key Stage 5 (Phase 2)
  • Life and Work — functional skills, employability, independent living, financial literacy, citizenship
  • Relational and Symbolic — Relating Intelligently, Girls in Green Futures, Cornerstones Electives (Verse-ality Certified Novacene IP + NEO-authored)
  • Statutory — RSHE statutory strand

By Overlay — how learning gets assessed

Awarding-body specifications mapped onto the canonical spine.

By Pathway

How learners progress, sit qualifications, and evidence outcomes.

By Need

The four broad areas of need from the SEND Code of Practice — used to indicate which delivery approaches have been designed with which learner profiles in mind.

Resources

  • bksb — Functional Skills revision and diagnostic platform
  • Revision guides — awarding-body-aligned, sourced via Amazon or publisher direct

Schema

Sister repos

Graph View