Support Offered by the Learning Support Department

How pupils with Special Educational Needs are supported at Ribblesdale:

Every child who comes to Ribblesdale will be given reading and spelling tests in the first weeks of term.

The tests will give us a reading “age” and a spelling “age” for your pupil. If these “ages” are two or more years behind a child’s actual age then the school will take School Action.

The School Action might be in-class support from one of our eleven Teaching Assistants (TAs) as well as additional teaching in basic reading and writing and spelling skills Mrs Pat Walker (Learning Support Teacher). This extra English lesson takes place during the private reading period in English.

If a pupil does not make the progress we would expect, then we will move to School Action Plus which will mean more specialist teaching time (withdrawing the pupils from French, Re or Music lessons with parents permission) and possibly asking for advice from the school’s Educational Psychologist, Mr Yakub Padia.

If a child is already statemented when he/she arrives at Ribblesdale, then teaching, for a minimum of one hour each week, will be provided by one of the three specialist teachers in the Learning Centre. In-class support will also be given.

If your child is receiving School Action/Plus, you will be sent two Individual Education Plans (IEPs) at the beginning of term.

One of the plans outlines the basic skills programme your child will be following and the other plan acts as an information sheet/IEP to let to let teachers know about your child’s learning difficulty and the ways they can help him/her to make progress. Short-term targets are set out in the plan for each child, which when reached will be an indication of the progress he/she has made and the School Action will then be reviewed and changed if appropriate.

Please contact the Learning Centre at school when you receive these Individual Education Plans, if there is anything you are not sure about or would like to talk through.

Mrs Fletcher (SENCO) is available on Year 7-11 Parents’ Consultation Evenings and after school.

At the end of the summer term, School Action and School Action Plans are reviewed in consultation with parents and pupils, and preparation made for the provision necessary in the following year.

The parents of statemented pupils have their annual review meeting and Parents’ Consultation Evenings to talk with their child’s specialist teacher, as well as being able to phone The Learning Centre at any time if there are problems.

Supporting Pupils in Years 10 and 11:

Pupils in Years 10 & 11 are taking their option choices, so taking a pupil off the timetable for extra support is no longer appropriate. For this reason we offer coursework support during the Self Supported Study (SSS) period.

This gives pupils a chance to catch up on coursework with help at hand if they need it.