Learning Development

THE LEARNING DEVELOPMENT CURRICULUM AREA

At Heston Community School, every child matters and this is reflected in the work of the Learning Development Team. We strive to remove barriers to learning and, with other agencies, aim to provide seamless support to the students in our care.

Some comments from OfSTED (Sept 2008):

• ‘Very caring and inclusive school, students' personal development and well-being are good.'
• ‘Students within the Specialist Provision for Hearing Impairment are appropriately supported and integrate well into mainstream lessons.'
• ‘Support staff work hard to support students' learning, thus ensuring that those with additional needs, including those students in the Specialist Resource Provision, progress as much as their peers.'
• ‘The school has developed highly effective systems to guide and support students' personal development.'
• ‘The school works well with parents and carers and a very wide range of outside agencies to support students' development.'
• ‘Excellent support is given to looked-after students so that this group makes significant gains in their learning.'

Structure
Learning Development is a large curriculum area which includes Special Educational Needs (SEN)), The Hearing Impaired Centre, English as an Additional Language (EAL) and our Learning Support Centre (LSC).

Staffing
The Learning Development Curriculum Area is led by a member of the School's Strategy and Leadership Team (Assistant Headteacher), who is also SENCO. Three Assistant Curriculum Leaders are in place for Special Educational Needs (Assistant SENCO), English as an Additional Language (Head of EAL) and Hearing Impaired (Head of HI Centre). In addition a Higher Level Teaching Assistant (SEN Manager) leads our large team of Teaching Assistants.

In addition to the staffing outlined above:

• 1.4 Teachers of SEN
• 4 Teachers of the Deaf
• 8 SEN Teaching Assistants
• 3 Hearing Impaired Teaching Assistants

Complementing this is our Learning Support Centre and both work very closely together, to aid Inclusion. The LSC is also home to medical and welfare. The current staffing is:

• Learning Support Centre Co-ordinator
• 1 Learning Mentor
• 1 Student Consellor
• 1 Connexions PA
• 2 Welfare Officers

Levels of Support
The Learning Development Team work with a range of students who may be experiencing difficulties with either their learning, behaviour or require additional advice and guidance because of their own personal circumstances. We also believe that some of the best support for young people can come from young people themselves and we therefore run a comprehensive system of older students mentoring younger ones.

This support is provided in many different ways depending on the circumstances of students but could be through:

• 1:1 mentoring or tutoring by a Specialist Teacher or Learning Mentor
• Small group mentoring or tutoring by a Specialist Teacher
• Alternative curriculum choices such as Successmaker or ASDAN courses
• Deployment of Teaching Assistants
• Specialist resources or learning aids
• Access Arrangements for examinations
• Reduced timetable to spend time in LSC
• Time Out cards
• Working with an outside agency
• Mentoring by a student advisor
• Following a specific program of workshops

Students are identified for additional support in a variety of ways. In Year 7 this is normally through liaison with Primary Schools, analysis of KS2 tests and then targeted baseline tests. Through the rest of the school referral systems are in place for all staff to ask for assistance and close attention to data records for attainment, behaviour, attendance and well being (including PASS testing) are used. Students can also refer themselves for advice and guidance and we always encourage parents to contact us should they believe their child needs additional assistance.