Helping children with additional learning needs reach their potential
Information about the school
St Helen’s Primary School is in the centre of the city of Swansea. There are 228 pupils aged between 3 and 11 years at the school. There are eight mainstream classes including part-time nursery provision.
The school serves a diverse ethnic community and there are currently 22 different languages spoken by pupils at the school. Eighty-eight per cent of pupils have English as an additional language. Thirteen per cent of pupils are white – British ethnicity. Approximately 16% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. This is lower than the national average (20%). A very few pupils are looked after by the local authority.
The school has identified 32% of pupils as having additional learning needs. This is above the average for Wales (25%). Very few pupils have a statement of special educational needs.
Context and background to sector-leading practice
The practice began in response to the introducing the Flying Start Setting in April 2013. The setting led to increased numbers of children entering school with additional learning needs. A smooth transition from the Flying Start setting into the nursery was important to ensure continuity for both pupils and parents. There had also been a reduction in training courses and outside agency time within the school. The school responded by providing in-house training and creating a range of provision for pupils including developing their fine motor skills, dyslexia, nurture and social communication groups.
Description of nature of strategy or activity identified as sector-leading practice
Identification in Flying Start – Once they have identified a need (this can happen as early as the home visit, just prior to the child’s second birthday) the Flying Start team access appropriate intervention strategies (language groups and play activities) for the children. They have access to their own educational psychologist and speech and language therapist. The intervention ranges from providing support in the setting to external support and parental support (parenting classes). As that child transfers into the nursery class, staff hold an admission meeting, to which they invite all stakeholders to provide their views in respect of the support each child needs. Once leaders have established that the needs can be met in the school, an individual education plan (IEP) is put in place, based on the Flying Starts individual programme plan (IPP). Staff then monitor the child for three months.
Identification in mainstream school – If staff suspect a new or initial need, they submit a Record of Concern (ROC) to the additional learning needs co-ordinator (ALNCo). The ROC identifies areas of concern and notes the strategies already in place.
The ALNCo reviews the ROCs monthly, who decides to monitor or action support (usually in the first instance an IEP). The support takes a number of forms:
- Nurture support from the Family Engagement Team. They regularly discuss children and their families, and look at targets and action support. Members of the family engagement team meet with parents and offer them guidance to support their children.
- In-class support, where class teachers use specific strategies to support the pupils. Teachers are trained in general special educational needs (SEN) strategies but, where needs are more specific, specialists give them specific strategies to use.
- ALN support – Fine Motor Skills groups, Dyslexia groups, Speech and Language groups or Social communication groups.
Staff continue to monitor the pupils. If they do not make progress then the school actions another stage in the graduated response process, which is often a referral to an outside agency.
Monitoring of pupils takes a variety of forms.
- ROC reviews
- Professional Dialogue
- IEP reviews
- SEN survey data tracking
- Specific Pupil monitoring discussions
- End of year literacy data
- Assessments in published language schemes
- Rainbow room monitoring grids
- Person-centred Reviews
What impact has this work had on provision and pupils’ standards?
- The transition between Flying Start and the main school is smooth and children settle quickly
- Parents are confident and comfortable with the school’s provision for their child
- In all cases, the school provides varying levels of support for every child
- IEP monitoring shows that pupils achieve their targets
- Person-centred reviews show that pupils and parents are confident and happy with the support they receive in school
How have you shared your good practice?
The school has shared this good practice informally at cluster level and hosted visits by staff from other schools.
Useful links
Other resources from this provider
Engagement work: Primary sector update – Spring Term 2021
Engaging with parents to improve pupil attendance
Effective practice in improving attendance in primary schools - June 2015
pdf, 985.06 KB Added 12/06/2015