Additional Learning Needs Provision at Ysgol Trefonnen
‘Supporting children to have the resilience, optimism and confidence to thrive’
At Ysgol Trefonnen we pride ourselves on striving to provide an inclusive education that enables all children to achieve their potential. We nurture every child’s progress by ensuring that additional learning needs are recognised, celebrated and supported.
If your child is identified as needing some additional help to support their learning progress, they may be offered a range of creative solutions to support them. This may include some additional 1:1/small group sessions or taking part in one of the learning programmes we offer. It may involve additional support in class, with one of the many additional provisions we have on offer depending on your child’s needs. This can sometimes be as simple as providing standing desks for those who struggle to sit in a seat for long periods or ear defenders for those who need support to focus and concentrate in a busy classroom. The additional support may involve a specific learning programme accessed via one of our support laptops, the options for this support are vast and varied but always specific to your child’s needs. This support arrangement will be shared with you and outlined in a document called a ULPP (Universal Learning Provision Plan). This support and your child’s progress will be regularly reviewed with you.
If your child is identified as needing some additional social, emotional or behavioural support they will access a specific programme of support. This is likely to be with our trained and qualified ‘Little Haven Team’. This support is sometimes delivered via small group work or sometimes with a series of 1:1 sessions. The Little Haven Team hold a range of recognised qualifications in mental health including ‘ELSA’ (Emotional Learning Support Assistants), TIS (Trauma Informed School Diploma) and Thrive (Mental Well-being Qualification). Support sessions will be structured through a range of creative avenues including Lego Therapy, craft sessions, circle time and forest school. We also have our own on-site trained and qualified play therapist, who works in school one day per week to support identified children.
We are proud to offer a range of well-being experiences to meet the needs of our pupils including off site visits to an alpaca farm in Brecon, annual well-being residentials at the Honeypot Centre and therapeutic work with animals with our visiting Pop Up Farm.
We take the mental health and well-being support of all our pupils very seriously and work hard to ensure that every class provides opportunities to help children feel heard and listened to. As you tour the school you will see clear and identified rules and routines in place, ‘Calming Corners’ in every class, creative provision to support emotional regulation and adults who are trained to support children’s social, emotional and behavioural needs.
If your child’s needs cannot be met with a ULPP and they are recognised as having ‘significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age or they have a disability that prevents them from making use of our facilities’, their need will be recognised as ALN and their support will be documented in an IDP (Individual Development Plan). Please see the attached Power Point for further information. We work closely with Powys Local Authority to ensure we gain the support of external agencies to meet the needs of all children who fit this category.
If you feel your child would benefit from receiving any additional support in school and/or you are concerned about their progress please always speak to the class teacher in the first instance. As school ALNCo (Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator), I will then ensure that your child gets the support that they need to achieve their potential.
We look forward to working with you,
Mrs Motton
ALNCo