Parents Resources
Support for Additional Needs
The school is very keen to encourage close contact between it and home. We feel it is vital that parents are involved in the education of their children. The Support for Learning Department wishes to work with parents in supporting their child’s educational needs.
Pupils of any age may have difficulties in learning at some time or other in their school life. This can happen to all pupils, no matter how clever they are. Difficulties may occur in one particular subject area or one part of learning, such as spelling or number work.
The main aim of the Support for Learning Department is to help each pupil overcome their difficulties.
This can be through working with each pupil either directly on a one to one basis or in small groups through cooperative teaching within the Support for Learning classrooms. Where necessary, external specialists may be recruited to deal with specific problems such as: – speech and language therapy; visual or hearing impairment or physiotherapy. The Department also maintains links with the Educational and Clinical psychological services.
Where problems are specific to a particular subject, the Support for Learning Department works closely with that department to provide suitable alternative resource materials for the pupil to use.
The Department also works closely with the school’s Guidance Staff and Behaviour Support Staff because of the joint concerns regarding each pupil’s personal and educational welfare.
What services do we offer:
- pupil support staff meet with parents and pupils to discuss the transition to the secondary school
- Individual support is given to pupils identified as having additional support needs. This may result in a changed timetable, with pupils receiving extra help in basic language or number skills instead of doing all the usual subjects. It may also be an opportunity to work on extra classwork with individual support. If this is the case a support plan would be created
- support in subject classes working alongside the classroom teacher to provide extra teaching support
- a member of the Department is given responsibility for reporting on a pupil’s progress to Support Plan Review meetings. This member of staff keeps a ‘watchful eye’ over the progress of their nominated pupils
- support in practical classes, in moving around the building, providing alternative means of recording their work e.g. scribing
- sixth year pupil volunteers are organised to help individual pupils in various activities such as reading and social skills
- advice to Parents and Pupils is offered to help improve the educational development of the pupil.