Pupil Support
The Learning Support Pathway
St Teilo's believes that we are all children of God, personally called by our Father in Heaven. God knows fully who we are and claims us as his own, even in our struggles. No one should be made to feel ashamed or excluded because of difficulty in learning; we are enough for God just as we are.
Our mission is to be fully the people God is calling us to be. When a child has greater difficulty in learning than their peers, the school will always seek to provide different or additional support to bring about positive change.
Learning Support Pathways are important in fulfilling the school’s mission of excellence, equity and faith. This is because the approach helps children to secure better outcomes, gives children what they need to experience success and helps them to develop as a whole person.
When young people experience barriers to learning and progress, it is essential that the adults in their life seek to support them. Often, parents and carers are best placed to help their children because they know them better than anyone. The school is also able to help children overcome barriers to learning and progress or to seek the support of other organisations who can help.
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
Barriers to learning
Barriers to learning prevent young people from doing as well as they can at school and can slow or stop them from making progress. Children can experience many different barriers to learning and progress. These might include:
- a medical condition
- low mood or poor emotional health
- a specific learning need
- difficulty in managing behaviour
- a physical disability
- poor attendance or punctuality
- childhood trauma
- abuse
- bullying
- family setbacks
- problems with friendships
- language difficulties
- and many more
Some children will have one barrier to learning and progress. Others will experience multiple barriers to learning and progress.
Assessment of Need
If anybody is worried that a child is experiencing barriers to learning, an initial Assessment of Need will be undertaken.
The starting point is the voice of the young person who is asked when and how they learn best and what they are currently struggling with in their learning.
Next, parents and carers are invited to tell us what is working well, what they are worried about and what might help their child’s learning.
Finally, the Assessment of Need provides an evaluation of a child’s strengths and difficulties in: communication and interaction; cognition and learning; and behaviour, emotional and social development. It also reports on adherence to the ‘non-negotiables’ (which are designed to keep learners safe) and provides a summary of the standardised outcomes available. These are ‘best fit’ judgements based on a range of first-hand evidence including: observations made by staff; attendance and punctuality data; attainment data; pastoral records; conversations with parents, carers or professionals; behaviour records; and discussions with the young person. The findings are not set in stone – they are merely a snapshot in time that help us to understand barriers to learning and progress.
Upon the completion of the initial Assessment of Need, a multi-disciplinary panel review the information and ask, “Does the learner require targeted support?” The answer to this questions determines the next steps.
Learning is a complex and messy process. All children require support with their learning at different times and in different ways. No child requires a label, a diagnosis or a piece of paper to receive the support they need – we seek to respond to every child as an individual by using a range of strategies and techniques which strengthen learning.
The type of support that is universally available includes:
- trauma-sensitive approaches
- special seating arrangements
- careful partnering with other learners
- breaking down learning tasks into smaller steps
- visual aids
- offering ‘time out’
- a fresh start in a new class
- positive reinforcement and recognition
- daily ‘check in’
- planning for unstructured time
- within class support
- interventions for literacy and numeracy
- therapeutic support
- access to a student hub
- access to a quiet space
- spiritual guidance
- independent careers and education advice
- timetable modification
- and much more
When a child has greater difficulty in learning than their peers, targeted support may be required. Targeted support takes place over time (typically over a half term) so that impact can be measured.
The type of targeted support that is available includes interventions for emotional health and wellbeing, support for cognition, and curriculum modifications. Targeted support is carefully planned on a person-centred basis and in response to the primary needs of the child.
When a child has significantly greater difficulty in learning than their peers, Additional Learning Provision may be required.
Additional Learning Provision typically takes the form of Targeted Support, broadened and deepened in response to the developing needs of a child. Occasionally, Additional Learning Provision may include specialist education services which are brokered by the local authority.
A child in receipt of Additional Learning Provision who has significantly greater difficulty in learning than their peers (or has a disability that impacts on their access to education) may have Additional Learning Needs. In Wales, there is a legal framework to govern the way that learners with Additional Learning Needs are supported called the Additional Learning Needs Education Tribunal Act 2018.
What is the Learning Support Panel?
The Learning Support Panel is a group of senior school staff (and sometimes our professional partners) who will consider the needs of children and match support to help address barriers to learning and progress. The panel will consider:
- What support has been offered so far?
- What has worked well?
- What are we still worried about?
- What needs to happen next?
The Learning Support Panel make decisions about the resources that need to be directed to support children and young people. The panel will pay particular attention to the views of children and their parents or carers. They will hear about these views from the Achievement Leader who is the primary point of contact for children and their parents or carers. Parents and carers are always kept updated about the support their child is receiving.