Dear Parent/s,

Thank you for choosing to send your child to the Giles Academy. We hope this booklet helps you understand a bit more about the Learning Support Centre.

We are here to help your child settle in to our school, offering help and support where needed. We are always here to help with any problem, no matter how large or how small. We want your child to get the best out of his or her time here. We want all of you to feel comfortable within our school.

In this booklet you will find a list of all the staff that work within the Learning Support Centre and will explain briefly what we do. This is to help you recognise our names so you know who to come to or refer to should you need us.

You will also find a guide advising what your child should have in his or her bag at all times everyday to help the days here run as smoothly as possible.

We hope your child enjoys the next five years at the Giles Academy. We all work hard to ensure that this will happen.

Thank you,

The Learning Support Team

Head of Department: SENCO

This is Mrs Castley. As head of department Mrs Castley ensures that everyone gets the help and encouragement that they need, whether it is support in the classroom, one-to-one sessions, or group work with other pupils in the same year.

Now, thinking of how big the school is and how many pupils there are, there is no way Mrs Castley will manage this alone! In order for all this to be successful, she has a team creating the Learning Support Department.

Mrs Davison deals with Mrs Castley’s paperwork and will be the person you will first talk to when contacting the Learning Support Department.

Mrs Cowdell is our lead teaching assistant who ensures support is in the classroom where needed and delivers lessons to our personalised learners.

Mrs Davison and Mrs Cowdell will work with Mrs Castley in identifying where support is necessary and in organising intervention for your son/daughter. This will be discussed with you before any intervention starts.

There are also a group of Learning Support Assistants who may be in the classroom to help your child. They are there to help and support your child when in a regular classroom setting.

Here are the names of the LSAs for you to get familiar with:

Mrs Cowdell

Miss Barnicoat

Miss Miller

Mrs Ara

Mr Abraham

Miss Heasley

Mrs Abraham

Miss Vaughan

Mrs Wesley

Miss Richardson

Miss Tingle

Miss Lyons

All of these LSAs are here for your child to help them work to the best of their ability. They are also there to listen and help with anything that may bother your child.

Mr Cowdell, the Learning Support Centre Manager, supervises timetabled Study Support sessions for some pupils in Y9, Y10 and Y11 when it has been agreed for them to take one less option in KS4.

During the school day there is a variety of extra learning that the Learning Support Department provide.

Personalised Learning

Some of our pupils at Giles Academy are given lessons in much smaller groups (around five to six) and it is called “personalised learning”. In these lessons, extra literacy and numeracy is taught. The literacy programme used is called Read, Write, Inc. Fresh Start and includes reading, writing and spelling. Numeracy sessions will cover basic skills, such as times tables, money, time, etc. There will also be the opportunity to play reading, spelling and number games. Pupils are identified for this support during the first term of Y7 and start after the October half-term. They do Personalised Learning instead of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL). Later on during Y7 or Y8, they may also be taken out of Music lessons. These lessons take place in the SEN classroom.

Reading Clubs

Some pupils in Year 7 and 8 are given extra reading lessons in smaller groups using the Read, Write, Inc. Reading Comprehension programme. This has proved to be very beneficial for improving literacy skills and enjoyed by many. These sessions usually take place twice a week during afternoon registrations in small groups of one to three pupils with an LSA.

Sometimes a small group of pupils will get together once or twice a week to read books and plays together. This helps the pupils to improve their reading skills and also encourages the pupils to interact with others. This is supervised by an LSA or 6th Form volunteers.

Spelling Club

A small group of pupils (usually five to seven) get together with an LSA to learn spellings using the Read, Write, Inc. Spelling programme. They come out of one of their timetabled lessons (this will not be English, Maths or Science lessons) once a week. There is also time during these sessions to play literacy games and to read plays together.

Education City

This is a computer-based programme which aims to improve literacy and numeracy. A group of pupils meet twice a week during afternoon registrations and complete the activities set. There is also homework which is set once a week. All pupils who have been involved in this programme have really enjoyed it.

Precision Teaching

This is a quick and effective approach to learning high frequency words and takes place during morning registrations (8.40-8.50).

Memory Games

This is an opportunity for pupils to exercise their memory in a fun way. The sessions take place once a week during afternoon registrations.

One-to-One sessions

Some pupils at the Giles Academy receive individual study support. This usually takes place in the LSC with a suitable LSA. There are a variety of reasons why pupils receive one-to-one support; it has proved to be successful for many of our students.

During lunch time we offer activities to keep some pupils of the Giles Academy occupied for the hour, providing them with a safe, fun place to enjoy their lunch break.

Lunch Club

At 12:30 (first lunch) a group of pupils meet in the canteen with an LSA. It is here that they will all eat their lunches together either from the canteen or a pack up from home. At 13:00 (second lunch), the group moves on to a classroom where the pupils have the opportunity to play games, colour, read, or have an opportunity to complete homework with the help of an LSA. It is a calm relaxed atmosphere and everyone is made to feel welcome.

Art Therapy

From 13:00 (second lunch) a group of selected pupils will have the opportunity to attend ‘art therapy’. They will attend once a week for one school term. Here they will have the opportunity to create different artistic items whilst learning how to share and communicate effectively with one another. This has been very well-received and the pupils love to attend.

Thank you for taking the time to read about our department. We hope this information will help you better understand how we will support your child at the Giles Academy.

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us at any time.

Thank you,

The Learning Support Team

Tel: 01205 870693

Email: sdavison@gilesacademy.co.uk