staff

• Mrs L Shearing and Rev. R Hill-Brown (Joint Heads of Learning Support)

Facilities

In the Senior School, the department supports pupils in a suite of rooms located in The Mark Hopton Building. The rooms are equipped with interactive whiteboards, and have a wealth of resources to facilitate learning. In the Prep School, Learning Support is delivered in The Acorns Room, which also equipped with a variety of resources suited to younger children. You can find out more about our 3 - 11 provision in our Prep School Learning Support section. 

Support

The Learning Support Department provides a service which aims to enable all pupils to achieve their full academic potential and to ensure that no child is held back by any kind of learning difficulty. Central to the policy is the recognition that very able individuals may suffer from weaknesses or difficulties in particular areas: we aim to help such pupils realise their true potential. The service provided is an integral part of the curriculum: it supports learning and the acquisition of skills in all subject areas. There is no charge for Learning Support at Solihull.

In the Senior School, pupils usually attend weekly small group support sessions, which concentrate on an individual's specific learning difficulties. These may include comprehension and reading, writing or study skills including note-taking, revision and examination techniques, essay writing and proofreading. Advice is also given about how best to use access arrangements such as extra time and the use of laptops. Pupils' progress is reviewed on a termly basis and formal and informal consultations regularly take place with parents.

For students in the Sixth Form, support is provided and is tailored to individual needs and subject choices.

 In summary, the aims of the Learning Support Department are as follows:

• To ensure all pupils who have any kind of learning difficulty, or who need revision of particular skills, are identified at the earliest possible stage.
• To provide extra tuition and support for pupils who have been identified as having a learning difficulty.
• To monitor the progress of all pupils receiving extra tuition.
• To ensure that Form Tutors, teachers and parents are aware of the pupil's progress.
• To ensure that all members of staff are fully aware of the learning difficulties of the pupils they teach.
• To provide advice to staff through INSET and meetings about appropriate teaching strategies across the curriculum in respect of pupils with difficulties.
• To encourage staff to participate in the monitoring of individual pupil's progress.
• To communicate with outside agencies, such as Educational Psychologists, and to provide information for such agencies to assess pupils as appropriate.
• To monitor and arrange requests to Examination Boards for special consideration or extra time to be made available.