Preparing for school years 12 and 13
The Girl, my daughter who is the first child with Down Syndrome to attend Cardiff High School, has just commenced Year 11. Like so many of her peers, she is already having to think about what and where she will be studying in Years 12 and 13. When her mother, The Boss, and I were The Girl’s age it was a straightforward choice; we would enter the sixth form and thereafter go on to sit ‘A’ levels and attend university. The Girl however, has additional learning requirements and a Statement of Special Educational Needs. A Statement of SEN does not mean that kids are any more special than kids without Statements, just that they need more designated support in certain identified areas. It may be that a child needs a leg up with literacy or numeracy; with speech and language development; with access to the curriculum; or with any other intellectual or physical challenge. Or perhaps one-on-one support would allow the student to achieve their potential. There is an Annual Review at which reports are prepared on the capabilities and achievements of the statemented child. The school staff will meet with the family, and of course with the child, and professionals from the education authority will attend. Together they will decide what inputs are required to help deliver the very best education given that child’s needs. In this way, deciding where The Girl will be for years twelve and thirteen begins with an Annual Review meeting in the October of Year 11.
byWyn Evans
Cardiff High School only offers ‘A’ Levels as a post16 option. Although The Girl looks likely to achieve well enough in her subjects next Summer, at the end of Year 11, we’ve always known that ‘A’ Levels would be a step too far for her. There are three main options, two of which involve Colleges and the third necessitating a change of school. Let me start with the two College options. Cardiff and Vale College (Dunballs Road) and Coleg y Cymoedd (Nantgarw) would both offer training for employment, including work placements. She would expect to spend a couple of years at College and then, hopefully, find work. The Careers Advisor at Cardiff High, liaising with the two Colleges has spent a lot of time with our daughter (and us parents) establishing what sort of job she’d like to do; what her skills and interests are; etc. If both Colleges would take her the big choice facing us would be to decide which College can best help her achieve her hopes and desires. The third option is very different and would involve transferring to Whitchurch High School, which has a Specialist Resource Base (SRB) that specifically caters for the development of kids with additional learning needs; they would continue their studies as Sixth Formers; and they would build upon the subjects they were examined/assessed on in Year 11. We are visiting the two Colleges next week and we visited Whitchurch High last week where, as
