The Beehive - Our Learning Support
The Learning Support Centre is a calm, nurturing and welcoming environment in the middle of the school. Kindness, ambition and resilience are key values shown to, and taught to the children from Early Years up to Year 8 who visit our centre. The staff are qualified teachers and Learning Support Assistants who are devoted to supporting our pupils in a mainstream educational environment.
At some point in their school life, pupils may require some heightened individual support in various areas of their learning. Our teachers at WHP work hard to plan and support each child’s needs within the classroom through differentiation and quality first teaching. However, sometimes, through regular testing and classroom observations, we may identify a child needing more specific additional support. This will lead to individual or group programmes being set up. These are tailored to the child’s needs. Heightened in-class support and diagnostic assessments are provided so as to pinpoint the specific needs and allow SMART targets to be set and regularly monitored. Learning support staff, parents, all teaching staff and possibly other professional services, will be working with our pupils in order to support their development and give them everything they need to thrive and reach their potential.
We provide support in many areas and a wide range of resources to help our pupils get the very best out of their West Hill Park educational journey, including;
- General Maths interventions
- General English interventions
- Phonics and spelling focus groups
- Fine Motor Control
- Gross Motor Control - ABC programme
- ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support)
- Speech and Language interventions - with a Speech and Language Therapist regularly visiting children within school
- Handwriting
- Touch-typing
- Comprehension skills
- Reading support
- English as an additional language (EAL) interventions
- Gifted and Talented extension work
- Exam Preparation
- Social Stories
- Now and Next boards
- In class support from an LSA
- Pre-teaching of vocabulary and skills
- Precision teaching
- Home School book for daily communication
- Writing slopes
- Weighted blankets
- iPads and Chromebooks
- Adaptations to environment and resources for children with Visual Impairments
We work closely with Educational Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, and Dyslexia Specialists to provide assessments and targeted support for children. We can support a referral to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) through a GP and are able to recommend Family Therapy Services. We also have access to a School Counsellor who works closely with our two qualified ELSAs in order to provide support to children who may need it. This includes help where needed in developing friendship skills, strategies for managing anger or anxieties, and nurturing a child’s mental health.
The Learning Support Centre is always open and available to parents and staff (in person, by email or phone call) who would like any further guidance, a discussion about their child’s learning or just friendly reassurance. It is also always open to any child who has concerns of their own or who requires emotional or academic support. We are proud to watch our pupils gaining in confidence as they use their skills to move on successfully to the next level in their education.
Click Here for our padlet with up-to-date resources and information.