High needs and Learning Support Base
Additional Learner Support
Deputy Senco - Miss Jessica Mayo - Ward
High Needs Lead SEND Teacher - Miss Nancy Gosling
Learning Support Base:
The Learning Support Base is a hub for specific academic, communication and social intervention.
All Learning Support Assistants are skilled in a wide range of interventions to support academic gaps and misconceptions, scaffold the development of communication skills and enable social skills to flourish.
High Needs Provision:
High Needs Provision supports those students who display a demand avoidant profile.
This provision is for students who are supported by a one to one/ high adult ratio for needs identified in their EHCP in order to build relationships, develop social skills and learning skills. The model is based on the TEACCH framework building on pupils’ strengths to support educational, communication, social and therapeutic goals.
The structured approach of the High Needs Provision implements:
- External organisational support to address challenges with attention and organisation.
- Visual and /or written information to supplement verbal communication.
- Structured support for social communication.
The aspiration for this provision is to equip more complex students with the skills to successfully engage in social and academic group situations working towards a ‘safe independent life’. By teaching using the TEACCH priorities, we endeavour to focus on the individual pupil’s skills, interests and needs, incorporating these into everyday learning.
High Needs is set up with individual learning pods, which pupils can personalise so that they are in an environment which enables them to access their learning. Adults working with the pupils will also develop visual structures to organise this environment and learning tasks, again making them accessible for the children.
Here are some pictures of the systems we use in High Needs and the Learning Support Base:
Jake’s individual work station. Jake knows where to find his work and resources and then where to put his completed work. Jake enjoys using this TEACCH approach.
Here is Rory’s visual schedule. Rory enjoys this system because it uses visual cues to enable his independence and organisation of learning.
Here is an example of a pod in the learning support base. This space has been personalised to meet the needs of the pupil. The student accesses some lessons in the classroom but uses the pod as a safe place. This supports the student in managing anxieties and self-regulation.
We have had a very busy term so far. Students are settling well into the Learning Support Base and High Need. We have been developing life skills and social skills through regular intervention and students are positively engaging in their individualised curriculums. A particular highlight of the term has been the therapeutic interventions. Students have responded positively to ELSA and it has been lovely to see students discussing their emotions. We use pupil voice to inform all of our planning and activities. From this discussion it became apparent that the students in the Learning Support Base wanted a breakfast club. As a result, the students organised a shopping list, bought the ingredients from Sainsbury’s and make their own healthy snacks in the morning. This is a very sociable experience and children enjoy the opportunity to engage in discussion with their peers.