Learning Support

Learning Support is integral to our teaching.  Our Head of Learning Support, Mrs Natalie Atkins, is an experienced teacher and practitioner in this area, and leads a dedicated team who provide support for pupils, enabling them to work with confidence, succeed and maximise their full potential.

Our Learning Support team work across all classes to provide support where necessary, including in-class support, small group work, pre-learning groups, booster groups and 1:1 lessons.  Lessons have a focus on creativity, collaboration and fun.  Using a variety of interactive techniques and state of the art technology, girls learn through practical, multi-sensory activities that convey concepts in an innovative way.  Further up the school, two part-time teachers work alongside the specialist English and Mathematics teachers to plan and deliver the curriculum in Form V and Form VI.

Our approach is always pupil centred.  The specialist teachers will find the right strategy and teaching method for each pupil, understanding how they learn best as individuals.

We work with outside agencies such as speech therapists, occupational therapists, educational psychologists and paediatricians for guidance and advice to make sure we fully understand the unique aspects of each pupil’s development and can provide the appropriate support for them.

Individual Education Plans are used for pupils whose progress needs monitoring or does not correlate with their identified potential.  Meetings are held termly with parents and pupils, where targets are reviewed and set.  We believe hearing both the parents’ and pupil’s voice is vital to each child fulfilling their potential and believe that open communication is vital to achieving this aim for all children at our school.

The emotional health and well-being of our pupils is a top priority.  We offer a mentoring system to girls in Form VI and those younger girls who may require additional emotional support.  The school strives to ensure early intervention and offers clubs such as Brick Club, Art Club and Craft Club to aid this.  We are happy to work closely with parents who have concerns around their child’s well-being to ensure the child is happy and relaxed and, therefore, confident and eager to learn.