Support Arrangements for All Pupils
Providing personal support for learners 3-18 is the responsibility of all staff. In the early learning and childcare and primary setting the early years practitioner or class teacher is the key adult who knows every child or young person in their care well, taking an avid interest in their welfare and progress.
In the secondary setting it is Guidance staff who play an active role in promoting learners’ personal, social and academic welfare; this is supported by Pupil Care and Support staff who offer help, support and advice as required, safeguarding the health and wellbeing of learners.
Identifying and Addressing Additional Support Needs
The Argyll & Bute Staged Intervention Framework is used to identify and meet pupils’ needs and to manage and review provision. This follows the Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) practice model. GIRFEC is a national framework to help all children and young people grow, develop and reach their full potential. Its focus is to improve outcomes for children and their families based on a shared understanding of their wellbeing.
Every child in school will have a Named Person. In primary school this will usually be the head teacher and usually a principal teacher of pupil support or depute head teacher in a secondary school. The Named Person will usually be the first point of contact for parents if they have any concerns about their child at school. The Named Person will work with parents to provide support to meet a child’s needs or resolve concerns. If there is a need to involve more than one agency to work together to provide support then a Lead Professional will be appointed to coordinate that support.
Where support is being provided by a single agency then a Planning meeting may be held and a Child’s Plan opened. Where two or more agencies are involved in supporting a child’s needs, then a Child’s Plan will definitely be opened. The Plan will include an assessment of the child’s needs using the My World Triangle assessment tool and a note of the agreed outcomes based on that assessment recorded on the Well Being App within SEEMIS. Parents are an integral part of this meeting and the Plan includes an opportunity to have their views recorded within it. Plans will be reviewed at appropriate intervals, again with parents as full partners in these meetings.
More information on GIRFEC in Argyll and Bute can be found at http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/social-care-and-health/girfec-resources.
Staged Intervention
The key principles underpinning Staged Intervention, as outlined in the Education Scotland website (https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/Support%20for%20all) are as follows:
What is staged intervention?
- Staged intervention is used as a means of identification, assessment, planning, recording and review to meet the learning needs of children and young people.
- It provides a solution-focused approach to meeting needs at the earliest opportunity and with the least intrusive level of intervention. The process involves the child, parents/carers, school staff and, at some levels, other professionals, working in partnership to get it right for every child.
- Staged intervention is designed to be flexible and allows for movement between stages depending on progress.
Argyll and Bute Staged Intervention: The Stages at a Glance
Universal Support Entitlements: All learners have an entitlement to support. All children and young people should have frequent and regular opportunities to discuss their learning with an adult who knows them well and can act as a mentor, helping them to set appropriate goals for the next stages in learning. Young people themselves should be at the centre of this planning, as active participants in their learning and development. Robust systems for assessing, monitoring and tracking are key within this stage.
Stage 1 – In-class or in-group.
The class teacher or key worker (Early Years) identifies a need for some additional support. The Named Person is notified and the teacher /key worker makes some changes to the normal routine or gives some extra attention so that the child can get the best out of the work of the group or class.
Stage 2 –Targeted intervention.
There is an identified need for targeted planning and intervention to address additional support needs.
A Child’s Plan may be in place outlining the specific targeted interventions required and detailing long- and short-term outcomes and timescales. Timescales for review of the interventions will be built in to the plan. There are likely to be termly reviews of short-term targets and annual reviews of long-term targets.
Additional support at this level may include (in addition to supports available at Stage 1):
- new resources being accessed for use by the whole class/group;
- small groups being created for additional tuition;
- an individual programme of work being introduced;
- a short term programme of individual support being put in place.
Classroom or Pupil Support Assistants may be deployed to help deliver these supports.
Stage 3 – Specialist input.
There is an identified need for more targeted intervention and/or specialist provision and interventions including:
- a high degree of individualisation of learning and/or
- access to a different learning environment
- substantial adaptation to the curriculum and/or
- substantial adaptation to the learning environment.
A Universal Child’s Plan will be in place outlining the specific targeted interventions required and detailing long- and short-term outcomes and timescales. Where there is multi-agency involvement, a Lead Professional will co-ordinate this support. There may also be a Co-ordinated Support Plan in place.
Further Information about Additional Support Needs
Local, direct support is usually the best way to meet pupils’ needs. If parents/carers have any questions about their child’s progress or well-being at school, they should discuss these first with Marissa Melville (Headteacher). Please contact the school office to arrange an appointment.
This school values partnership working with parents/carers and will do everything possible to help resolve concerns or differences of opinion at an early stage. If you have any queries about your child’s additional needs, or about the support being provided to meet those needs, please contact the Head teacher.
Parents/carers and young people have the right to ask the Education Authority to establish if a pupil has Additional Support Needs (ASN) and consider if a Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP) is needed. This should be raised with school staff in the first instance or can be sent in writing by emailing the Educational Psychology Service to educational.psychology@argyll-bute.gov.uk describing the type of assessment and why it may be necessary. Alternatively, please call 01369 708537 for more information. Requests are acknowledged promptly and usually agreed unless the request is considered to be ‘unreasonable’.
Parents/carers can also arrange an assessment privately and ask the Education Authority to take the assessment report into account.
Parents/carers and young people have the right to:
- Independent Mediation Services
This service is free and involves an independent third party who helps to resolve disagreements between the Education Authority and parents/carers or young people. - Independent Advocacy
Take Note is the National Advocacy Service for Additional Support Needs, established by the Scottish Government and provided jointly by Barnardo’s Scotland and the Scottish Child Law Centre. It offers independent professional or legal advocacy to families and young people who have grounds to make a referral to the Additional Support Needs Tribunal Scotland. More information is available by telephoning 0131 667 6333 or by email to enquiries@sclc.org.uk. - Free Dispute Resolution
Some disagreements, such as about the assessment of additional support needs or the level of support, can be referred for written review by an adjudicator independent of the council. Requests for Dispute Resolution should be made to Louise Connor, Head of Learning and Teaching/Chief Education Officer via Connor@argyll-bute.gov.uk. If you do not have access to email, please contact Louise Connor by phone on 01631 569196. - Referral to the Additional Support Needs Tribunal Scotland (ASNTS)
Parents/carers and young people can appeal to the ASNTS about decisions involving a Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP) http://www.asntscotland.gov.uk (0845 120 2906).
A new national advocacy service provides advice to parents/carers and young people about grounds for a referral. Contact Barnardo’s, 235 Corstorphine Rd, Edinburgh EH12 7AR www.barnardos.org.uk.
Independent advice and information is available from Enquire, the Scottish Advice Service for ASL http://enquire.org.uk/ (0845 123 2303).
The Govan Law Centre Education Law Unit works in partnership to support pupils’ and parents’/carers’ rights in education. Contact Govan Law Centre, 47 Burleigh Street, Govan, Glasgow G51 3LB. 0141 445 1955 https://govanlawcentre.org/education-law-unit/
The Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance safeguards people who are vulnerable. Contact Melrose House, 69a George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2JG. 0131 260 5380 http://www.siaa.org.uk