Student Support

Student Support Team

Team Overview

The team comprises the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator, the Parent Partnership Co-ordinator, Student Support Administration, 2 Higher Level Teaching Assistants and a team of Teaching Assistants who are committed to supporting the learning of students in Key Stage 3, 4 and 5 with Special Educational Needs. We are proud that the support we offer is highly flexible and personalised to suit the needs of each learner.

We offer a range of support:

  • The ‘Nurture’ group is a small group of students who are taught a highly differentiated curriculum with full-time Teaching Assistant Support. In Year 7 this includes a topic based curriculum which spans all curriculum subjects.  This differentiated approach can follow students throughout their path at Boston Spa School and we are proud that our curriculum is tailored to meet the needs of our students increasingly at Key Stage 4 and 5.
        

 

  • Other students have targeted interventions in groups or individually to target their specific needs. At present our groups include numeracy, literacy, spelling, problems associated with dyslexia, working memory and short term memory groups, speech and language support and paired reading. Some students receive Teaching Assistant support in their mainstream lessons to help them access the curriculum. We have a number of students on the Autism Spectrum who receive weekly 1:1 mentoring with a designated member of staff and coursework catch up sessions with Teaching Assistants.
      

 

  • Many of our students have Pathways, which are Individual Education Plans, written in consultation with parents and carers, to ensure that students with complex learning needs are given the best chance to make progress. These are monitored and updated at least termly. Our Parent Partnership Co-ordinator ensures effective and supportive communication with parents and carers of students with SEN.

 

  • We also offer a staffed break time and lunchtime ‘safe haven’, where students are encouraged to relax and interact with one another in a safe and calm environment.
     

 

  • Transition from year 6 is an important part of the work we do in identifying those students who may need help from the Student Support team. This year we invited a group of students from a number of primary schools in the area to have a ‘taster day’ in the summer term. The students enjoyed meeting staff, making new friends and taking part in new activities including a ‘Play in a Day’ with the Drama department.