Intervention Strategies and activities
At times your child may need extra support with learning. It may be for physical reasons such as hearing or sight problems, or it may be for difficulties with speech and language, behaviour, or understanding lesson content. Some students may also need particular support in the lead up to exams.
In some circumstances, students will benefit from additional support through extra help in the classroom or through a specialist programme concentrating on certain skills or areas to develop. Where this is the case, the school runs a range of intervention programmes designed to help meet students’ individual needs and enable them to fulfil their potential.
What kind of programmes does the school run?
General intervention programmes include social skills, anger management, literacy, numeracy, oracy (speaking and listening and the mental processing of language). There are also emotional support groups for students who may have suffered a bereavement or be a Young Carer. These are usually run through our Special Educational Needs (SEND) department.
Departments also run specialised academic intervention. For example, the English department runs sessions focusing different writing skills and will run "one-off" sessions for students who have weaknesses in, for example, analytical writing, evaluation or other key skills. There are also interventions or activities focusing on stretching the most able. Interventions may take place during the school day, at lunchtimes or after school.
Peer mentoring
Peer mentoring is also very effective for some students. Trained Sixth Form mentors support younger students during lunchtimes or at other times as arranged. Mentors offer advice and support to students in areas such as self-organisation, work or friendship difficulties and are trained to recognise when students’ problems should be referred to a member of staff.
The Sixth Form also take part in a range of activities in the main school; this includes supporting in lower school lessons across a range of subjects.
Who receives intervention?
Students of all abilities receive intervention. The key question for the school is whether this additional input will resolve a difficulty or help a student overcome a barrier to further progress or well-being. Taking part in an intervention activity does not imply that a student has special educational needs. However, for some students where extra support is required to support ongoing progress, placement on the SEND register will be appropriate. More information on Special Educational Needs can be found on the website under the Curriculum area.
As well as students with SEND (Special Educational Needs) and EAL (English as an Additional Language), students in receipt of Pupil Premium will also be subject to especial scrutiny and additional support. This is because, nationally, such students can underperform; the school thus needs to monitor, check on progress and support learning so that our students are able to make similar progress to their peers.
Finally, all students are subject to scrutiny after reports are sent home each term. Students will be placed on report and advised what they need to do to improve where there are concerns about learning attitudes or performance.
We also encourage parents/carers to support their children in their learning, and there are various advice booklets or information evenings to help with this process; information under Your Child on the website also gives support and advice.