Effective Practice Archives - Page 25 of 66 - Estyn

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontardawe is situated in the town of Pontardawe in the Swansea valley and is maintained by Neath Port Talbot authority. The school has a wide catchment area. There are 340 pupils between 3 and 11 years old on roll, including 65 nursery age children. 

The percentage of pupils who are eligible for free school meals is 17.7%, which is similar to the national average for primary schools. Although most pupils come from English-speaking homes, around 42% of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes. 

Eleven per cent (11%) of pupils are on the additional learning needs register, which is below the national average.
The senior leadership team includes the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and four middle leaders.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The school has a clear vision for the Curriculum for Wales and was one of Welsh Government’s pioneer schools to re-design the curriculum. The school’s main aim to was ensure that the local area is an integral part of the school’s curriculum. A unique curriculum was designed, called ‘Trysorau Tawe’ (Tawe Treasures), which is based on the area’s history, geography and heritage, in addition to forging local links to the life and work of all pupils. By doing so, the school has planned the curriculum purposefully to provide valuable and cohesive learning experiences with the aim of developing independent, ambitious and principled learners.

Description of the nature of the strategy or activity

Curriculum Vision – How should the school’s curriculum look to the school’s pupils? 

Teachers have created a curriculum that gives full consideration to the local area and is rooted skilfully in the culture and local area of the valley. One element of this is the way they have succeeded in using the local area as a basis for the learning at the beginning of each theme. The school’s new vision for the curriculum focuses on improving pupils’ skills while taking pride in their local area, heritage and community culture. Teachers focus on the local elements to inform the pupil’s voice and the learning activities. Following research by staff and parents about the local area, classes have been named after local peaks and mountains. A cluster project was undertaken, entitled ‘Cynefin’, and new facts and historical information were discovered about the local area. This reinforces pupils’ self-respect and pride in their local area. 

Activities
A collection of themes was formed across the school that began with a local element – be that famous people, a particular landmark or a learning base in the town. An example of this is the Carn Llechart stone circle, which was a starting point to inspire the Celts theme for pupils, which included a walk and activities around the historic site. This ensures that pupils have strong ownership of their curriculum. ‘Cwm Cerddorol’ (Musical Valley), ‘Cariad@Gwm’ (Love of the Valley), ‘Croesi’r Bont’ (Crossing the Bridge) and ‘Trydanu Tawe’ (Electrifying the Swansea Valley) are further examples of themes that blend living elements of the local area into pupils’ activities and experiences. These experiences include an ambitious art project based on local dialect and original poems by the pupils. Visits to the town include workshops in the local arts centre, Riverside Park, Gwrhyd Mountain electricity project and the local Welsh language centre, ‘Tŷ’r Gwrhyd’. The consistency of these weekly visits strengthens pupils’ awareness of their local roots.

Professional learning
The school’s leaders conducted research into the areas of learning experience to implement the vision for ‘Trysorau Tawe’. As a result, training days were held where the vision for each area of learning and experience was presented to all staff, for example by giving each class a unique local name. Some were found by looking at old digital maps, for example Ynys-gelynen, Nant y Gaseg and Mynydd Marchywel.

The school is also part of the ‘Cynefin’ cluster project, which collates themes and online resources across the cluster to enrich the curriculum offer of local schools. The county’s Welsh language officer has also created rich oral programmes (Drilio Disglair, Sgleinio ein Sgwrsio and Blociau Bendigedig), which promote literacy skills through the ‘Trysorau Tawe’ curriculum.
 

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

The dedication of staff in this area has had a positive effect on professional learning as it provides opportunities to develop an understanding of all areas of learning and experience, work with colleagues from different areas by sharing good practice and present ideas with colleagues through in-service training and other meetings.

Learners have pride in their square mile, their local area and their heritage. Pupils now recognise names and areas in their local area confidently.
 

How have you shared your good practice?

The school is currently working closely with the cluster to share good practice. The headteacher and members of the senior management team have established professional learning networks that contribute to embedding the school’s curriculum more widely. This includes holding events, visits and conferences.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the local authority

The City and County of Swansea has a total population of around 250,000. The local authority maintains 77 primary schools, including 10 that provide Welsh-medium education. In addition, there are 14 secondary schools, two of which are Welsh-medium. There are two special schools and one pupil referral unit. The City and County of Swansea is one of three local authorities that formed a new partnership, ‘Partneriaeth’, replacing the ERW consortium which disbanded in 2021. 

  • Over a three-year average, 22% of pupils aged 5 to 15 are eligible for free school meals, higher than the Wales average of 20% 
  • 16% of pupils aged 5 or over are from ethnic minorities, higher than the Wales average of 12% 
  • 24% of pupils have special educational needs (SEN), above the Wales average of 20% 
  • 117 children per 10,000 were looked after by the local authority in 2021, being ranked 12th highest amongst the other local authorities. 

The local authority’s education directorate is organised into three service areas –  Education Planning and Resources, Achievement and Partnership, Vulnerable Learners. The authority’s vison for “an excellent education for all by working together” is a corporate aim making good use of all teams within the three service areas. The School Improvement Team combines school improvement advisors, performance specialists and team managers within the Achievement and Partnership Service. The school improvement team is led by an experienced head teacher and employs a range of local authority-employed officers and school-based commissioned practitioners. This provides a balance that enables a broad view of the current support requirements across all sectors.
 

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The development of future school leaders has been a focus of the school improvement team’s work for a sustained period. The local authority takes a strategic view regarding succession planning for school leaders and through analysis, identified a requirement to support schools in succession planning. This included the identification of specific shortfalls in some sectors, e.g. Roman Catholic. In partnership with schools, the School Improvement Team developed innovative plans to support collaboration, professional learning and recruitment.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

In collaboration with the Diocesan Director, the school improvement advisor (SIA) for Catholic primary schools identified that there was a recruitment deficiency in the Catholic sector leadership pool.

Using both the Diocesan Director’s knowledge and intelligence from the local authority’s support visits, effective practitioners were identified and targeted as future leaders. Specific professional learning programmes were devised. This ensured that those identified were able to demonstrate sustained effective practice. These practitioners are utilised effectively and contribute as models of best practice across the Diocese. As a result, a pan-Wales network supports the professional learning through the modelling of best practice.

Additionally, this leadership pool is utilised to support schools where leadership vacancies exist. Aspiring head teachers have been deployed to schools where the head teacher is absent. In the best examples, these individuals have successfully led schools through Estyn monitoring visits and local authority intervention/support programmes. In addition, leadership secondments are used cross-authorities. This enables leaders to share best practice.

The impact of leadership takes high priority for school improvement advisors and features prominently in the agreed agenda for school visits. As a result, the School Improvement Team are able to evaluate the leadership capacity for all schools. Each SIA contributes to a professional discussion which highlights, by exception, schools whose performance falls short of the local authority’s expectations. 

The local authority is proactive in the identification of schools that may require additional support and uses an innovate system (School Profiler) to evaluate school performance with contributions from across the council’s services. Swift multi-stakeholder action is taken through a well-planned, democratic process with clear priorities for improvement, under agreed terms of reference. School governors lead these groups who feel empowered to make rapid improvements. This helps to ensure the local authority avoid formal processes for schools causing concern wherever possible. 

The local authority commissions and supports additional work to develop aspiring, new and experienced leaders at all levels. For example, the authority has supported a project that enables aspiring deputy headteachers to swap schools for a year and gain valuable experience in a school in a notably different context. Peer mentoring and coaching strategies are used effectively with new and experienced senior leaders in schools.  
 

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

As a result, all the very few schools in Swansea that have caused concern in the last five years have made strong and rapid progress.

The performance of pupils at the end of key stage 4 between 2017 and 2019 were above or well above standards in similar schools. 

Between 2017 and 2019, attendance in most Swansea secondary schools was above or well above national averages.
 
Various school networks provide a rich source of support for practitioners to enable them to share innovative and effective practice.
 

How have you shared your good practice?

Good practice is regularly shared via:

  • the work of the School Improvement Team
  • a weekly newsletter sent to all school staff
  • a range of networks/working groups
  • SharePoint sites and groups established in Hwb
  • Headteacher conferences/meetings
     

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

In Merthyr Tydfil, we evaluated the education service’s work on reducing the impact of poverty and disadvantage on pupils’ learning. We found that officers have forged valuable partnerships through a network of services provided by both the local authority and third sector organisations. The local authority established a corporate Tackling Poverty Strategic Group to provide leadership and governance for this work. The group includes heads of service from across the local authority and considered how resources could be used in a purposeful way to address disadvantage through cross-directorate and partnership working.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Across services, local authority officers had a comprehensive overview of the needs of vulnerable learners and their families. At operational level, service leaders from across directorates worked together well. They have a clear understanding of how their provision is part of a multi-service response to tackle the impact of poverty on education. The Early Help Hub provides a useful central point of contact for families to access support and facilitates effective multi-agency working. This approach avoids unnecessary duplication of services and is helping children and their families receive the right support for their needs in a timely way. During the last year referrals from schools to the Early Help Hub doubled.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

Parc Lewis Primary School opened in 1908 in Treforest, Pontypridd. 258 pupils on roll, 35% of children live within a Community First Area. PLASC data three year average for free school meals is 26%. Within RCT, Parc Lewis had and continues to have the highest percentage of pupils with ethnicity other than British/Welsh (School 26% previous LA 4.6%) and the highest percentage of pupils with EAL Stage A-C (School 16% previous LA 1.4% and high levels of whole school mobility with frequent arrivals and departures throughout the year, across all year groups. Very few pupils attending Parc Lewis start Nursery and remain in school until Year 6.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

High levels of pupils with English as an additional language (EAL) entering throughout the year across the school, with no capacity for identification or intervention to meet language needs, leading to low self esteem, confidence and impacting pupil progress.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

  • SIG working to identify best practice for pupils with EAL.
  • Implementation of EAL pupil pre-entry protocol with parent/guardian to gather specific family, language and cultural information.
  • Entry and Exit Mobility tracker created to support pupil progress transition information sharing.
  • All staff trained to follow EAL Assessment pathway for pupils on entry, using WG 5 Stage Model, Baseline or Incerts, Salford and ELSA package of school based assessments to identify need and intervention. 
  • All EAL pupils to attend LSA led ‘ESL Kidstuff Programme’ group sessions weekly to build vocabulary and confidence.
  • EAL pupils Stage A-B to have a Young Interpreter/Buddy; Stages C-E to participate in lunchtime Peer Mentors ‘Friendship Group’ activities. 

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

Implementing a clear and structured process for EAL pupils on entry into school has been invaluable to raising whole school standards of oracy. This, along with a professional learning programme for all staff, focused on language acquisition and development, has impacted positively on the learning of all pupils across the school.

Meeting with parents prior to their child’s start date has ensured that school and home work together to identify pupils’ language, social, emotional and cultural needs, for example identifying children who have arrived in the country with a relative, not their parent; understanding the needs of refugee pupils; and identifying pupils who do not have a secure first language. 

Pupils engaging in the ‘Young Interpreters’ scheme have developed a greater understanding  around inclusion and improved their knowledge and understanding of the needs of EAL pupils amongst their peers. Delivering the scheme through play-based activities, in the Foundation Phase environment and through Peer Mentor sessions at Key Stage 2 built new relationships friendships and cultural understanding. The school’s pupil well-being survey has shown an increase in the self-esteem of all pupils with EAL. This has evolved initially from non-verbal play to pupils gaining confidence to trial and use incidental language in reciprocal play. The implementation of the ESL Programme as an intervention has provided a framework for supporting staff in enabling effective progress.

Processes for understanding the needs of EAL learners from entry have been invaluable in helping children to settle quickly into the new learning environment. Due to the school’s strong culture of well-being and family ethos, all staff have taken ownership of their roles in developing pupils’ confidence to create an environment that encourages new language to flow. 
 

How have you shared your good practice?

This practice was shared initially with schools attending the 2018 EAL Conference at Cardiff City Stadium as part of the Cathays Cluster Project.

The school has shared its SIG 32 EAL Project work with the Hawthorn Cluster and RCT EAL Service. Parc Lewis continues to be a source of advice and support to other schools new to meeting the needs of pupils with EAL Stage A-E.
 

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the setting

Cylch Meithrin Hill Street is situated in a mobile building on the grounds of Ysgol Plas Coch. It has 16 children at present and two full-time members and one part-time member of staff. It has predominantly English-speaking parents with a small selection of Welsh-speaking families. Most children that attend the Cylch move on to the Nursery class in the school.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The Cylch tries to ensure that it is meeting the needs of the individual children whilst making them a part of the Cylch. Its goal is for children to play happily alongside others, and all children are given the same opportunities to explore, grow and develop in the newly developing natural environment. Practitioners believe strongly in giving every child in the Cylch the best possible start in life, and seek to support children with individual needs developing their full potential.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

During the recent joint Estyn/CIW inspection the setting was recognised for good practice in creating an inclusive environment for the children with additional individual needs. There are regular team meetings to discuss the children in order to adapt practice and provision according to their needs. 

The setting has recently developed the following: routine, areas of interest, and invitations to learn, based on children’s interests. It established a dinosaur small-world area out of reels, in order for a child to be able to play near to where self-registration and story time are held. Practitioners also adapted welcome time to be shorter, and used large photographs, meaning that the activity of selecting photographs can be completed independently and quickly.

The setting has also extended free play during the session to give the children time to explore and play independently in the areas without interrupting their play. This works well, and children with additional needs are more settled and happier in their play. Practitioners have also adapted an element of its daily yoga sessions for one child to be given the opportunity to explore movements outside, allowing the other children to enjoy the experience. Small boxes of loose parts were also added to the environment to stimulate the children’s interests.
 
The setting has worked closely with parents and carers, completing one page profiles to develop specific plans for individual children. Equally, things that upset a child or that they do not like are made known to all members of staff in order to make every child’s experience a happy one.
 

What impact has this work had on provision and children’s standards?

Working towards the new curriculum, the setting has introduced a natural environment with emphasis on loose parts. This has had a big impact on the children’s learning. Practitioners feel that it has allowed the environment to be child centred and for them to experience play experiences at their own level and pace. This has benefited the children’s well-being and given them opportunity to succeed, which is a very important part of a young child’s early education. All practitioners interact sensitively alongside the children, being careful to support them if and when they need it while not intervening too soon. In staff meetings, practitioners discuss each child’s development and progress with different skills and talk about what can be done to best encourage and support them.

How have you shared your good practice?

Practitioners have in the past shared good practice with other settings through visits and also out of county with settings visiting with their advisory teacher. They also share daily practice with parents and carers through a closed social media page, and good practice with fellow practitioners through photographs on a Wrexham County Funded Early Education closed Facebook page.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the setting

Cylch Meithrin Coed Duon is a Welsh-medium setting based in the grounds of Blackwood Comprehensive School. It is registered to take up to 19 Children ranging from two to four years of age. The majority of the children come from English speaking homes and are immersed in the Welsh language while attending. The setting currently has seven members of staff, and is open term time only, Monday – Friday 9.15 – 11.45.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Despite the outdoor area being of a reasonable size, it felt crowded with undefined areas and large plastic play equipment. Outdoor play was unstructured and practitioners did not feel that the children were getting quality learning and development opportunities outdoors. In preparation for the new curriculum, they wanted to embed gardening to provide quality stimulating provision outdoors, where the children could learn and develop to their full potential.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Practitioners observed the children in the area and how they were using the space. Some children did not appear to be engaging in high quality and purposeful play, and therefore practitioners wanted to improve the area to engage all children. They completed a monitoring form highlighting what was working well and what they wanted to change. They fed this information into the setting’s self-evaluation and improvement plan to ensure that any actions highlighted were completed.

Practitioners thought carefully about what items they wanted to include in the area and used money from the EYDG grant to purchase gardening items, large play equipment and authentic resources. They also set up clear areas of provision to include a shop and mud kitchen, an outdoor shed where children could access den building equipment, and woodworking. Also set out was an area for physical play, where children could ride their bikes and access climbing and balancing equipment. Practitioners improved the log circle area by cutting back the overgrown trees, and provided new benches and a book rack, making the area more attractive for the children and providing a calmer area where the children could practise storytelling. Practitioners also added a den, with provision for two children at a time, that provides a quiet area where children can relax and play peacefully. A dedicated gardening area as also added, with raised beds, planters, potting table a mini greenhouse and gardening tools where flowers and vegetables could be planted. ,A table and bench were added, where children could sit to rest. The outdoor spaces created offer a range of stimulating opportunities for children to explore, investigate and engage in high quality play, helping to create a sense of awe and wonder.

What impact has this work had on provision and children’s standards?

The changes have had a positive impact on the children’s learning and development, The children can choose which areas they want to play in and are more engaged in their play. Play is more purposeful; the outdoor area is much calmer and the children have more opportunity to develop and embed their skills. The outdoor area provides a holistic approach to learning where children have the opportunity to develop all skills through a range of activities and equipment.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

St Joseph’s Cathedral Primary School is a Catholic inner-city primary school serving a diverse and multi-cultural catchment area.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Following requests by several parents for the school to support asylum seekers’ applications, the headteacher established a support group for parents identified as asylum seekers or refugees. The focus of this group was to identify the needs of the families, to liaise with services such as ‘City of Sanctuary’ in Swansea, and to enable parents to have access to peer support from families in a similar situation

Description of nature of strategy or activity

Following a successful application to the British Council, staff from the school visited Berlin to share good practice between the UK and Germany in integrating refugees and asylum seekers into the education system. Developing an understanding of the needs of families and working in partnership with outside agencies became a focus of work following the visit.

In conjunction with the local college, the school developed EAL (English as an additional language) classes for parents and offered opportunities for them to work as volunteers in school. It worked with refugee and asylum-seeking families and children to develop creative learning opportunities about journeys and migration involving all pupils in the school to enable them to develop an understanding of the implications of leaving the home country for a range of reasons. This helped pupils to understand what it means to be an asylum seeker and the reasons why migration happens. They have developed skills of empathy and can discuss with maturity what they can do to support others.
 

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

The work in this area means that all staff and pupils developed an understanding of the challenges faced by refugees and asylum seekers. Working with families to learn English, and to access help through friendships and mutual support, has reinforced the school being at the centre of the community. It has strengthened aspiration for families and children. Pupils’ standards have risen because the skills of parents have improved, allowing them to support their children more effectively. 

Throughout the pandemic, parents attended live lessons alongside their children every day, and co-learning was a strong feature of the continuity of learning policy. 

The school invited pupils to become young interpreters so that they could offer practical support to children entering the school with little or no English. Pupils were trained to use body language and gestures as a means of communication and to take the lead with supporting new pupils socially and academically. 

The curriculum reflects this inclusive practice wherever relevant; it is fully integrated into religious education and humanities topics, and celebrated through specific events such as ‘Refugee Week’ 
 

How have you shared your good practice?

Working with the Local Authority EAL network, the school has shared the approaches taken with vulnerable families and pupils with other schools and supported them to develop their work as schools of sanctuary. It has linked with Swansea University Centre of Migration, presented at conferences for the British Council and in the ‘Towards a City of Sanctuary Conference’ in Belfast. The school’s ‘Journeys’ project, funded by the Arts Council of Wales, has been installed in the Senedd in Cardiff and the Tate Modern in London.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Information about the school

St Joseph’s Cathedral Primary School is an inner-city primary school in the centre of Swansea. It serves a wide catchment area.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Using funding from Welsh Government grants, the school has invested in a laptop for almost all pupils. This allowed staff to develop opportunities for blended learning quickly and effectively across the school. As part of action research work undertaken by staff during the pandemic, they developed ways of integrating digital technology to enhance learning. As staff and pupils were unable to undertake visits to museums or local attractions, the school used virtual reality headsets to make learning real and relevant to pupils. For instance, when learning about the refugee crisis in Syria as part of refugee week, children used the headsets to ‘visit’ Aleppo to see the devastation left by war.
As part of a study on rivers, as well as conducting a local river study in the outdoors, pupils were also able to see a range of geographical features through the virtual reality headsets. Teachers integrated this fully into planning, allowing pupils to gain experiences that would not have been available otherwise.
 

Description of nature of strategy or activity

At St Joseph’s, teachers focus on integrating digital approaches to enhance teaching and learning as part of a drive towards realising the purpose of our curriculum from nursery to Year 6.For example, pupils use control technology to write their own morse code when studying World War Two in Swansea. When learning about Sherlock Holmes, pupils use green screen technology to undertake their oracy presentations in a setting from Baker Street.

Pupils in reception class create QR codes to record their learning in different areas of continuous provision. Considering how to explain their learning means that pupils practise and improve their oracy skills as they work.
 

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

Pupils describe confidently how they use digital learning to enhance their own learning. They use a range of devices to show their work and describe how it informed their learning.

Teachers use digital methods to support learning where it is difficult to provide experiences through a visit or visitor across a range of curriculum areas. 

Pupils apply to join the ‘tech team’ whose role it is to support teaching and learning by creating their own self help videos, responding to repair or advice requests from staff and even leading staff meetings on using new technologies.
 

How have you shared your good practice?

During the pandemic, the school developed the use of virtual reality headsets through the National Professional Enquiry Project. A case study of the project was shared across all schools involved in the project. Staff from the school also participated in an online webinar to describe the impact of using virtual reality headsets to engage pupils and extend the curriculum beyond the classroom.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Powys County Council was judged to be in need of significant improvement in 2019 and was removed from follow up activity in 2021.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The council restructured its ALN services and appointed a new head of service. Support for pupils with SEN and ALN is a high priority for the education service and the head of service has works closely with the chief executive and the director of education to bring about improvements in the support provided to schools and pupils. The council brokered external support from experienced consultants and advisers to support this work. Officers are mindful of the need to sustain and build upon this work and strengthened performance management processes and improved professional learning opportunities to upskill and develop permanent members of the ALN team. Improved self-evaluation processes are helping officers to identify strengths and areas for improvement in the work of the ALN team and senior officers have high expectations of the team’s work. The ALN team has brought about these swift improvements in its work at the same time as supporting schools with the ALN transformation agenda.  

Officers have developed good working relationships with schools. They have responded well to the views of headteachers and ALNCos as they put in place new systems and processes. Officers provide effective support and advice, for example through helpful weekly bulletins, meetings and valuable online resources. School leaders appreciate the authority’s single point of access for referrals into the Schools Service through the Powys Inclusion Panel (PIP) and the Early Years Inclusion Panel, as well as the bilingual ‘Tyfu’ platform and gateway. This platform is a very useful and easily accessible resource that ensures that SEN documentation and referrals are all available in one convenient access point. 

The local authority offers valuable professional learning for schools and settings. For example, the service has funded a few teachers in special schools and specialist centres to study post-graduate diplomas in SEN provision. This expertise is shared beneficially with other providers. Other staff in special schools have undertaken professional learning to ensure a high-level of understanding of need. A county-wide training programme has also been established, so that teaching and support staff in all schools are able to develop skills in relation to a broad range of SEN, including autistic spectrum condition; speech, language and communication difficulties; specific learning difficulties and social, emotional and behaviour difficulties. 

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

Overall senior leaders within schools and settings feel well supported by local authority additional learning needs officers and central service staff. The local authority makes effective use of a range of data and information as part of its evaluation of services. Officers reflect on strategies that have worked well and those that have been less successful in terms of their impact on learners. For example, following a recent positive behaviour training event, nearly all delegates have made changes to their practice as a direct result of the professional learning. Many schools and settings report that they have already started to see a positive impact on practice including an improved consistency of approach from staff as well as a reduction in challenging behaviours and exclusions.
 

Information about the local authority

Powys County Council is a large, rural county in mid-Wales with a population of 132,515. It covers a quarter of the area of Wales and is one of the largest yet least populated counties in England and Wales. The local authority maintains 95 schools. The authority has one all-through school for pupils aged 3 to 16. There are 80 primary schools, including 21 that provide Welsh-medium education. There are 11 secondary schools, none of which are categorised as Welsh-medium schools. Six of these secondary schools are dual stream language schools. In addition, there are three special schools and a pupil referral unit.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

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Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

The purpose and rationale of the bilingual Learning Support screening process is to promote a culture and ethos of inclusivity, which informs teaching and learning practices, support provision and identifies staff training needs. The process helps to facilitate person centred practice, in line with the Additional Learning Needs Education Tribunal Wales Act 2018 (ALNET) and the Equality Act 2010.

Following research, in 2019, the college ALNCo and the Learning Support management team developed an electronic platform for all learners to complete based on their individual profiles. The rationale for the administration of the electronic screening process is to provide an opportunity for learners without a formal diagnosis, or who have not previously disclosed an additional learning need and/or disability (ALN), to self-reflect and record the learner’s profile and neurodiversity. Neurodiversity is the concept where neurological differences are to be recognised and respected by others like all other human variation.

The learning support screening questionnaire informs staff on how best to support the learner and facilitates the compilation of the one-page profile. The process provides immediate feedback at the start of the academic year to curriculum teaching staff via a dedicated the management information system. It promotes self-awareness of individual learner profiles to facilitate reasonable adjustments and in-class differentiation.  
 

Description of nature of strategy or activity

The screening process is administered as part of the learning support induction across all campuses. Within the first two weeks of the autumn term all new and returning further, higher and work-based learning learners complete the electronic questionnaire. This in-person process enables learners to meet key members of learning support staff and to be supported throughout the process to capture a rich profile of each individual learner.  

In terms of accessibility,  learners can use assistive technology (e.g. reading software) to access the easy read format.  The screener has been written using positive language to empower and encourage learners to share valuable information about their learning needs.

All learners complete a questionnaire across a range of areas including:

  • Time management
  • Reading and written work Memory, concentration and organisation  
  • Social and communication needs, sensory sensitivities and dealing with unexpected changes
  • Learning differences, medical and health conditions
  • Previous exam adjustments

Learners have an opportunity to disclose any previous diagnoses and conditions, and to comment on their perceptions of barriers to learning. They can also report on person-centred strategies they are currently employing, and which work for them. Once learners provide a consent to share and submit their responses, the learners are emailed with contact details for key learning support and wellbeing staff, on how to access support which encourages independence and responsibility for their learning, as well as signposting services that are accessible to them throughout the year. Learners and staff can access and view submitted responses via the dedicated management information system. 
 

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

Over 2,500 learners completed the screening questionnaire in 2021-2022. The information generated from the learning support screening process supports a person-centred learning experience and promotes an inclusive culture within the college for all learners. The screener acts as a strategy for raising student motivation for learning as they can reflect and interpret their own unique strengths and barriers to learning.

Teachers can view all questionnaires via the dedicated management information system on an individual or class basis. Teaching staff consistently utilise the information to create rich class profiles and to provide an inclusive teaching and learning environment. Teaching staff have reported that the bilingual screening information is vital: the learner’s perspective is insightful and often provides the basis of conversations about personalised learning early in the academic year.  Teachers receive an in-depth understanding of the range and diversity of learning needs within the classroom. The information is embedded in the planning and delivery of teaching and learning sessions. Learning support assistants also access the screener information to plan activities appropriate to learner need and individual support requirements.The learning support team, in conjunction with the teaching and learning team, continue to support teaching staff in utilising the information in the screener and sharing the ethos that ‘ALN is everybody’s responsibility’ at the college. 
 

How have you shared your good practice?

Whole college staff training has been delivered to disseminate the rationale of the Learning Support screening process, along with the compilation of a toolkit to support teaching staff in providing an inclusive learning experience. Staff are therefore not only informed about their learners’ neurodiversity but also given tools and ideas to incorporate into their practice to meet learner needs. Good practice case studies have also been shared with Local Authorities and the All Wales ALNCo Forum.

Information about the college

Coleg Sir Gâr and Coleg Ceredigion became an integrated college in August 2017 and is now referred to as one college, with two brands and seven campuses across Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion. The two campuses that form Coleg Ceredigion are in Aberystwyth and Cardigan. Coleg Sir Gâr has five campuses in Ammanford, Gelli Aur, Jobs Well, Pibwrlwyd and Llanelli. The integrated college delivers a wide range of vocational courses with progression opportunities available on most courses to the next level, apprenticeships and higher education. Currently the college has 5,505 further education learners, of which 2,795 are full-time learners and 2,710 are part-time learners. Of the full-time learners, 80% are learners at Sir Gâr and 20% are at Ceredigion.