St David's Church in Wales Primary
Colwinston
Cowbridge
Vale of Glamorgan
CF71 7NL
Acting Head Teacher Pennaeth: Mr Marc Sinnett
Call us Ffioniwch ni: 01656 656447
Hand in hand together we can Law yn llaw fe allwn gyda'n gilydd
Welcome to St David's Church in Wales Primary School
Croeso i Ysgol Gynradd yr Eglwys yng Nghymru Dewi Sant
Additional Learning Needs
St. David’s takes great pride in helping all children reach their full potential. From those who need extra support for everyday learning, to those who are gifted in one or more areas and need this to be fostered or developed.
Our staff are trained to provide high quality, differentiated teaching and learning provision to meet the needs of all ability ranges. Where appropriate and reasonable, they make adjustments to enable all children to access our normal school environment and curriculum.
Most children will make expected progress in their learning from their varying starting points. While the learning continuum is the same for each learner, the pace of progress through it may differ. As a result, the progression steps only broadly relate to age. They broadly correspond to expectations at ages 5, 8, 11, 14 and 16.
At all stages, children’s progress is monitored to ensure they are being provided with the right level of challenge. Records are kept of attainments and targets set so that pupils making good progress can be stretched further and those experiencing difficulties can be given more help.
Progress is not always linear, but is measured at points throughout a school year as well as throughout a child's entire school history. Some pupils will move through the levels faster than others and achievements will vary according to particular strengths and weaknesses.
Assessments are ongoing against the success criteria of each lesson and involve learners to review their own work and that of their peers. Weekly big Maths CLIC & SAFE tests, half termly Write Stuff tasks and termly Salford Reading and RWI Spelling tests also support progress measurement.
From Year 2 onwards, statutory online personalised assessments are designed to help the teachers and learner s understand how a learner’s reading and numeracy skills are developing and what the next steps should be. The results of these are shared with parents in a way that compares their child’s performance to others nationally and identifies their next steps.
All of these procedures assist pupils to know where they are in terms of strengths and weaknesses and to know what action needs to be taken to progress further.
Our school provision has been mapped into:
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universal provision - differentiated and perhaps scaffolded teaching for low to high achieving children; which may include school-based booster provision of individual and small group interventions, both within and outside the normal class. This may include following general guidance from external specialists;
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ALN provision- very specialist individualised interventions and programmes where school-based universal provision fails to support progression
Mrs. C. Davies is the Additional Learning Needs Coordinator and Mrs W Gordon is the Governor with responsibility for Additional Learning Needs. Booster support strategies are led by Mrs S Potter, Mrs M Evans, Mrs M Godfrey and Mrs S Owen, the school’s intervention trained Learning Support Assistants.
A child not moving forward in their learning is characterised by progress which:
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is significantly slower than that of their peers starting from the same baseline,
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does not match or better previous rate of progress,
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does not close, (or widens), the attainment gap between the child and their peers, despite the provision of support aimed at closing that gap.
If a child is not progressing, we will gather observations, use assessment data and seek to work in collaboration with outside agencies / outreach support professionals to identify any additional learning needs. A wide range of evidence will be gathered over time, including:
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assessment tools, frameworks and questionnaires
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standardised assessments
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observational data
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formative assessments of day to day learning
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monitoring progress over time
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assessments from other agencies
Identification of Additional Learning Needs (ALN)
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When pupils do not make the expected progress with Universal Provision or school-based booster provision, following thorough investigation and evidence gathering, a child may be identified as having ALN.
Children who have additional learning needs are given extra support according to their individual requirements. These additional needs may require support for long or short periods of time. The staff at the school work closely with parents to identify and meet the needs of these children.
What are Additional Learning Needs (ALN)?
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A child has additional learning needs if he or she has a learning difficulty or disability (whether the learning difficulty or disability arises from a medical condition or otherwise) which calls for additional learning provision, beyond the Universal Provision provided for all learners.
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A child of compulsory school age that has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she
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has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
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has a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities for education of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream-maintained schools.
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A person does not have a learning difficulty or disability solely because of the language (or form of language) in which he or she is or will be taught is different from a language (or form of language) which is or has been used at home.
The same considerations apply with regard to children with healthcare needs. It will be necessary to establish whether a child has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for Additional Learning Needs Provision (ALP).
There will be many circumstances where an individual with healthcare needs or a specific diagnosis does not have a learning difficulty or learning disability or where this is the case, the learning difficulty or disability does not require ALP.
OUTREACH CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE
Outreach services offer additional specialist support to enable children to access learning and make progress in their own schools.
Physical &
Medical
Palmerston Primary
This team work with children who have a physical or medical need.
Autistic Spectrum
Specific Learning Support
This team work with children who have a specific learning difficulty such as Dyslexia. Parent leaflet.
Cognition & Learning
Jenner Park Primary
This team work with children whose main need is a learning difficulty.
Parent leaflet.
Speech, Language & Communication
Llandough Primary
This team work with children whose main need is communication difficulties. Parent leaflet.
Hearing
Support
Welsh Government
A link to Guidance and Services for a range of additional learning needs.
A Voluntary Register
The Index is the Vale of Glamorgan's voluntary register of children and young people with disabilities or additional needs. Checkout their video which explains The Index and the benefits to you.
Advocacy for Parents
Snap provides independent advice and support for parents.
Getting support:
1. Speak to your child’s teacher - If you think that your child has Additional Learning Needs (ALN) talk to your child’s teacher first or our ALN Coordinator (ALNCo)
2. Create an Individual Development Plan (IDP) together - If we agree with you that your child has ALN, we will work with you and your child to create an IDP.
3. Discuss any concerns with the us or the local authority - If we do not agree that your child has ALN, or you are dissatisfied with your child’s IDP, discuss it with us or the local authority.
4. You can have access to an advocate - If the local authority agrees with us but you are still unhappy, they can point you to independent advocacy services.
5. You have a right to appeal - All children and young people and their parents or carers have the right to appeal against decisions to the Education Tribunal of Wales (ETW).