Learning support is integral to our provision.
At Tring Park School we offer an exciting, challenging and diverse learning experience. We recognise that each pupil has their own individual strengths, talents and needs and we are dedicated to providing a supportive environment which actively helps and encourages every pupil to achieve their full potential.
Support is available from the Learning Support Department for pupils for whom English is an additional language. We also recognise that many of our pupils are able, gifted and talented, and the school aims to address their needs. We provide support for curriculum planning, teaching and assessment and ensure teachers take account of a pupil’s individual needs.
Who receives Learning Support?
A pupil at Tring Park School may require additional learning support if he or she has a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made. Learning difficulties may result from a number of circumstances. For example, a pupil may have a specific learning difficulty (SPLD) resulting from dyslexia or dyspraxia. There may be social, emotional or behavioural difficulties which prevent the pupil from achieving their potential, or which hinder successful integration into the life of the school.
Pupils may have learning difficulties either throughout or at a specific time during their school career, such as a physical or medical condition (either temporary or permanent) which makes it difficult to access facilities or to participate in school activities.
How is Learning Support delivered?
The Learning Support Department aims to provide support for pupils with special educational needs, to enable them to develop as independent learners and to enhance their self-esteem. We aim to provide support for curriculum planning, teaching and assessment and ensure teachers take account of a pupil’s individual needs.
Individual or small group tuition may be offered to those pupils where a special educational need has been identified by the Learning Support Department, by an educational psychologist or by a medical professional. There is no additional charge for support lessons, which are normally an hour or half an hour per week. The Learning Support staff are all experienced and well-qualified professionals and includes Learning Support Assistants who provide in-class support in academic lessons.
Special Educational Needs
Every opportunity is provided to enable pupils to develop their skills and aptitudes, as set out in the schemes of work for each curriculum area. Our curriculum provision enables all pupils to have the opportunity to learn and make progress, including those with Special Educational Needs (SEN), who may require additional support. A pupil has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability, which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. High-quality teaching, differentiated for individual pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who have or may have SEN.
Those pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (formerly a Statement of Special Educational Needs) will have an annual review.
Able, Gifted and Talented
Each curriculum area will make provision for Able, Gifted and Talented (A,G&T) pupils through schemes of work and lesson plans (incorporating, for example, AFL, high order questioning, thinking skills, hypothesis, discussion, etc.) Subjects will provide extension and differentiated opportunities for A,G&T students through the use of more complex resources and materials, tackling more challenging questions and tasks, demonstrating higher levels of thinking and presenting increasingly sophisticated responses.
Occasionally, pupils may be fast-tracked in a particular subject area, for example if a student is fluent in a language, having lived abroad, or is a native speaker.
English as an Additional Language (EAL)
Pupils whose first language is not English are assessed upon arrival to establish their English language capabilities and needs. Extra support is provided through timetabled EAL lessons. These lessons aim to develop the pupil’s English language skills and communicative ability and to build the pupil’s confidence to succeed in an English-speaking environment and enable them to successfully access the curriculum. Pupils are generally taught in one-to-one lessons or, in some cases, pairs or small groups of three or four. The lessons are tailored to the individual needs of the pupil and his or her ability and level. Most pupils will receive one to two hours of EAL per week unless their language needs are very great, in which case they will receive more.
Pupils have the opportunity to follow the IGCSE English as a Second Language in the Fourth and Fifth form if it is felt that they will not cope with the First Language paper. Pupils also have the opportunity to follow the appropriate Cambridge English course and take an exam at an external centre. Pupils are encouraged to do so at all levels from PET to Cambridge Advanced. Pupils whose English is at an appropriate level, study for and take IELTS in the Sixth Form.
Find Out More
Katie Buckhaven | Head of Learning Support
If you have any queries about learning support please get in contact.