Learning Development
Support for our New Intake
Through their first half term, our New Year 8 intake tutor groups receive full 
time support from a designated Learning Assistant. The aim is to make the transition to high school as smooth as possible, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of new students in order to best support their progress through the school.
Reading Intervention Programme
Year 8 students assessed as weak readers are allocated time on our reading intervention programme. This is a short course, 20 minutes a day over four weeks, which aims to rapidly progress a child's reading age. As well as giving students a newly discovered confidence in their ability to understand what they read, the aim is to equip children with the reading skills necessary to access the wider curriculum.
In-class Support
Wherever possible, students identified as in need of additional support are helped by a Learning Assistant or Support Teacher within their lessons. Occasionally students may be withdrawn from a lesson in order that they can receive additional one-to-one teaching.
Bilingual Support
Students are assessed on arrival for their level of English, and those in need of additional support are referred to our Ethnic Minorities Achievement teacher for further assessment and specialised teaching.
Option Support and Life Skills
In Years 10 and 11, students assessed as in need of additional support, have the option to receive extra help with their literacy and/or numeracy by taking study plus, in place of one of their GCSE options.
Student Support Centre
Where students are experiencing difficulty in managing their behaviour or in their relationships with their peers, we may refer them to the Student Support Centre. Here students work either one-to-one or in small groups with a member of the Behaviour Support Team or with a Learning Development Department Teacher. The aim is to quickly address problems with behaviour and social relations by providing strategies to enable students to modify their own behaviour - the ultimate objective being to ensure that learning can take place in lessons without disruption or distraction.