Strategies for Supporting Learning
Currently we work with a range of Special Educational Needs (Learning) and have appropriate strategies in place according to the needs of the students. Support is provided by an experienced team of Teaching Assistants (TA’s) who have a wide skill and knowledge base. Their aim is to enable each student to access the curriculum and fulfil the lesson objectives but also allow the students to become independent learners both for in school and for later life.
Students experiencing difficulty completing Seminar Study are able to access support in the Seminar Study clubs based in the LRC and the Learning Zone .
Break and Lunchtime support
The Learning Support and ASC teams also offer safe spaces in the Learning Zone and the ASC Harbour provision for students who might find break and lunchtime hard or those who find the social side of school difficult for example. These areas serve many purposes and allows the students quiet time, sensory downtime, informal support from adults, help with Seminar Study, the opportunity to discuss issues, and to receive informal social skills support and development through guided play e.g. board games etc.
Support
The TAC team offer a range of ways to support students depending on their needs. For example managing behaviour, learning life skills, learning skills to cooperate with others, improving social skills, accessing the curriculum with word processors, laptops etc. Also pupils with physical illness or disability, either long term or short term, can be supported in order that they can still access a full education. For example, wheelchair access, liaising with other professional colleagues (e.g. Health). We believe our approach to all Special Educational Needs should be both flexible and innovative and include the Team Around the Child approach.
Intervention
When students start in Year 7 they undergo some additional assessments – Cognitive Ability tests. The results of these in addition to the KS2 assessments are analysed and then, if necessary, interventions are put in place if we believe the students would benefit from more than an appropriately differentiated curriculum. At KS3, the school uses The Lexia literacy programme for students who need literacy support. Mathematics is supported by the Maths Whizz programme. All students engage in the whole school reader programme – Guided Reading. In addition to this there are targeted literacy and numeracy interventions to support the students as well as Speech and Language support.
The school also offers a wide range of programmes to support Social Emotional and Mental Health including, Pastoral and safeguarding support, Emotional literacy support , Talking Therapies, Art Therapy, Thrive, external counselling and CBT and LEGO Therapy.
