Individual Student Needs (ISN)
At Jersey College for Girls, we have high expectations of all students and we aim to promote achievement through the removal of barriers to learning and participation. Our aim is to ensure the full integration and inclusion of all students in the life of the college and to maximise their learning potential.
Special Educational Needs (SEN) is a legal term used to describe the needs of a child who has a difficulty or disability which makes learning harder for them than for other children their age. Around one in five children has SEN at some point during their school years. Some children and young people have SEN right through their time at school and beyond into higher education. At Jersey College for Girls we refer to SEN as ISN (Individual Student Needs).
Although we are a selective school, we recognise that some students might have difficulties accessing the curriculum: in these cases effective and personalised support is provided within the classroom by the subject teacher. Students with ISN, however, may require additional structured learning support which is different from the more general classroom support given to other students of the same age.
Students who need specialist support with their learning include those with the following types of learning difficulty:
- Specific Learning Difficulties, eg dyslexia, dyspraxia
- Emotional, behavioural or social difficulties, eg ASD, ADHD
- Speech and language difficulties
- Sensory and physical difficulties
- English as an Additional Language
How do we identify students with learning needs?
To ensure early identification and assessment of a student’s learning difficulties, we work with the student and parents to provide appropriate support. To help us identify students with learning needs we make use of the following:
- Information from parents about existing learning difficulties
- Teacher observations
- Entrance examination
- Year 6 SATs
- End of Key Stage 2 teacher assessment
- Year 7 baseline assessments
- LUCID Exact screening test (Year 7 and 9)
- Psychological tests for Examination Access Arrangements (Year 9 onwards)
Intervention
Many students with learning difficulties make adequate progress within a supportive environment and high quality teaching, without any additional intervention other than personalised work provided by the teacher.
If, however, adequate progress is not being made, then intervention will follow a graduated approach as set out in the Jersey SEND Code of Practice (2017). The first stage is when a member of staff raises concerns about a student with the Educational Needs Coordinator who will consider if further intervention is needed which may mean some or all of the following:
- Individual screening test for Specific Learning Difficulties carried out by a qualified assessor.
- Recommendation for a full Educational Psychology assessment
- Referrals to outside agencies for further investigation and identification of specific learning needs/disorders.
- Advice about the student’s learning needs given to subject staff
- The offer of small group learning support with TAs and/or other teachers
What support is offered?
- Support involves weekly small group support classes which are designed to improve emotional literacy and study skills.
- Some ISN students in Key Stage 4 will follow a modified timetable: the student may not take the full quota of subjects to allow for private study time and small group learning support.
- Individual or small group mentoring during private study periods Years 11, 12 and 13.
- The ENCo maintains an up to date register of students with individual learning needs which is available to all teaching staff.
Student participation
We encourage students at JCG to take responsibility and to make decisions; this is part of the culture of our college. Students are invited to make judgements about their own performance, to set their own targets and to evaluate their work and progress constructively.