Learning Support
‘Pupils with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) make good progress from their individual starting points and achieve well because they receive very effective support in class and during lessons in the learning support department, The Crane’
SIS Inspection Report
The main aim of the Learning Support Department (Crane) at Peponi School is to ensure that all pupils, including those who have additional learning needs, are able to access a broad and balanced curriculum. This is achieved by working closely with the pupil, parent and class teachers to ensure that the student has access to a differentiated and personalised curriculum in order to meet their individual learning needs.
At Peponi we are able to support a wide variety of Special Educational Needs including Dyslexia, ASD, ADHD, Dyspraxia, Speech and Language Difficulties.
There is also excellent provision for pupils who are exceptional and gifted academically. They are supported not only by the Crane Department but also by senior academics in the classroom.
The first step to any effective support structure is the identification of the pupils’ needs.
This is done through several ways:
- Information shared by the parent
- Referral made by the subject teachers
- Pupil self-referral for learning needs assessments
- In-school learning needs assessment conducted by the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENDCo) or an external Educational Psychologist.
Support Interventions
Once a pupil is recognised as needing support, a strategy is agreed upon between the parent, the pupil and the SENDCo and outlined on the pupil’s Individual Education Plan (IEP).
At Peponi School, all our learning support staff are qualified teachers with subject specialism. This guarantees support with the subject content and any individual special educational needs that the pupil may require.
Support interventions include
A personalised Timetable offering a combination of in-class and/or withdrawal support. Depending on the individual’s needs, recommendations can be made by the SENDCo with agreement from the parent/guardian for the pupil to drop a foreign language in place of additional support in English, Mathematics and/or Science
In-class Support in Target Subjects – This involves having an additional subject specialist support teacher in class working closely with the main class teacher to support pupils who may need additional intervention
Exam Access Arrangements – Different exam boards allow access arrangements for pupils who require them. At Peponi School, we offer in-house access arrangements.
These may include
- Extra time in examinations
- Use of a word processor to present answers to exam questions
- Use of a Reader or a Scribe
- Provision of modified papers.
Transition Support – transition points include
- Year 8 into Year 9
- Transition from an education system other than the British Curriculum
- Transfers from a different educational institution.
At Peponi School we support pupils who are in these transition points by
- Working closely with the feeder schools for pupils joining Year 9. We arrange and encourage prospective pupils to visit our school and if need be have a ‘taster’ day
- Monitoring pupils transitioning from a different education system in their first term at Peponi School Learning Support department
- House Masters and Mistresses working closely with the Learning Support department to ensure a smooth transition of all pupils who are new to Peponi School.
in school. Peponi School follows an identification process for pupils of exceptional academic calibre and shares support strategies with all the teachers who have such pupils in their classes.
independent learning for all.
Fred Matu - Head of Learning Support
