Learning Support

Staff: Mrs H K E Burns, BEd (Hons) Adv Dip Psych and SEN

The easiest way to contact her is via email – hkeb@cranleigh.org

or on the direct line number: 01483 542043.

Peripatetic teachers also come in from time to time to teach individual pupils. For example: a foreign pupil for whom English is a second language may need specialist help; a pupil with handwriting difficulties (speed or legibility) may need to learn to touch-type.

The Learning Support Coordinator is available for consultation at all Parents’ Meetings throughout the academic year.
Room: There is a specially designated room that is centrally located in the quad area (next to Q5) where pupils have access to a networked computer and the Internet.
Lessons: Weekly lessons can be provided consisting of either one 35-minute (to fit into a single period) session or one 30-minute session (to enable two pupils to be taught during activity time). This can be adjusted as necessary: in exceptional circumstances, pupils can have two weekly sessions or, providing that the pupils’ educational needs are the same, have a shared lesson. Every effort is made to avoid academic lessons, sport, music or drama.

Unless the pupil has study periods, sessions usually take place outside normal lesson times. They will often take place first thing in the morning at 8.00 am, with permission from the Housemaster/mistress to miss Chapel or Call-over, after lunch, during designated activity times, at 4.30 pm on a Monday or after sport at 4.45 pm. If a pupil does have study periods, we try to fit the lesson into one of those periods in the first instance.
Pupils Receiving Support: Typically, it involves pupils who suffer from mild specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia and dyspraxia, but there may be a whole range of other reasons. Some pupils need help with revision and study skills; some need help with personal organisation; others may be having difficulties with extended essay writing or maths.
Referral: Most pupils with dyslexia will have been identified when they were much younger, so we know before they come whether they need extra help.

All IVth Form pupils are screened on entry to the School during Weeks 1 and 2 of the Michaelmas Term. This takes place during a timetabled English lesson by arrangement with the Head of English. The screening consists of a standardised spelling test (WRAT 4, 2006) and a standardised reading test (Revised Kirklees version of the Vernon-Warden Reading Test, 1995). Pupils also do a piece of free writing in controlled conditions. The scripts are marked by the individual teachers and are screened for dyslexia using a checklist of indicators provided by the Learning Support Coordinator.

Some pupils start to experience difficulties when the work gets more difficult. They will normally be referred by their Tutor or Housemaster/mistress.

Parents are sometimes worried about their son/daughter and request extra help.
Charges: Fees are set by the Governors and are charged at an hourly rate. Parents are sent a letter at the outset outlining the likely charges per term. There are no charges if the teacher has to cancel a lesson, if the pupil is ill and the teacher has 24 hours’ notice or if the pupil is out on an official School trip or match. Parents are charged if pupils forget to attend or if they do not excuse themselves from the lesson.
Reports: Reports are written three times a year (as with the peripatetic music teachers) and go out to parents with the Tutors’ and Housemasters’/mistressxes' reports at the end of each term. There are no effort and progress grades, just a detailed comment on the work covered and the progress made with literacy scores where applicable.
Examination Arrangements: Some pupils with diagnosed difficulties may have had extra time or other access arrangements, such as the use of word-processing, in their Common Entrance. This does not automatically mean that they will get it for GCSE, which has to be administered according to Joint Council rules which are nationally agreed.

No one in the IVth Form is given extra time in the end-of-year examinations as the time allocation for each subject is quite generous. In the LVth, likely candidates are identified and assessed so that appropriate arrangements are in place in time for the first GCSE, which is always Religious Studies, taken a year early at the end of the LVth. Contrary to popular belief, it is now a school-based decision, not a decision taken by a psychologist, although obviously the psychological evidence is considered along with clear, school-based evidence of need. The new rules clearly state that extra time should be granted on a sliding scale of up to 25% for the worst cases and it would not necessarily apply to all subjects: for example, a pupil with difficulties generating written English would be unlikely to need it for Mathematics. It is not enough to have a diagnosis of mild dyslexia and weak spelling: we have to prove that the candidate has slow speeds of reading and writing.

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