SEND
Corrective reading
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Topic: Fast Cycle Lessons 1-20 (first 12 weeks) The Corrective Reading program provides educators with the tools to help close the achievement gap by addressing deficiencies in both Decoding and Comprehension. Students who need Comprehension intervention do not write well, do not think or speak with clarity, and are not highly motivated. Students with Comprehension problems: cannot follow multi-step directions, exhibit poor auditory memory and statement repetition, lack analytical skills required to process arguments, have a deficient vocabulary and lack background or domain knowledge. Comprehension B1 and B2 develop the skills necessary to construct meaning from content-based text. This enables students to comprehend any subject matter they read and learn new information efficiently. |
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Skills |
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Knowledge |
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Rationale |
Deductions introduce basic reasoning strategies. Learners learn to draw conclusions and how to apply rules to diverse situations. Learners who don’t have an adequate store of common information are at a disadvantage when they read selections that assume they know this common knowledge. This programme will teach learners the names of body systems, body organs, classifications and basic information of how things work. Learners will learn many new words to increase their vocabulary. Learners with a faulty understanding of basic sentence structure have difficulty comprehending complicated textbook sentences. These learners may also be unfamiliar with the classification of sentence parts. As they lack understanding of sentence structure, they are ill-equipped to discuss written materials. Lessons 1-20 teaches parts of speech and sentence combinations. Learners will also learn to use inferences and follow directions. Finally, learners will learn to write stories that include a beginning, middle and end. Learners are selected for this programme in Year 7 and Year 8. They must be under an age 10 reading level and have been in the country for at least two years speaking English. We test termly through Access Reading Test. If learners achieve within one year of the chronological age, they will graduate from the programme. This reading programme has a large cross curricular link with science. |
Handwriting intervention
We use a dysgraphia programme which focuses on drawing, writing and planning Drawing is the first step to overcoming dysgraphia as it exercises and develops the fine motor skills, which are essential to handwriting. The writing sections revisits many of the simple concepts of forming letters.Planning is vital for organising ideas before students start writing in order for them to focus on their handwriting. This programme takes approximately 12 weeks.
numicon
Unit 1: These sessions lay the foundations for later work in the programme. The sessions can be used with all pupils starting the programme, whether or not they have previously used structured apparatus or experienced the Numicon approach to mathematics. The activities introduce pupils to the equipment and help them to see how it can be used to show mathematical ideas. The sessions also help to build pupils' belief in their ability to do mathematics, by giving them an opportunity to work together and to take a fresh look at some mathematical ideas that they might already be familiar with.
The session in Unit 1 give the teacher and the pupils the opportunity to get to know one another in the context of the programme, and to establish rules to ensure the activities are of benefit to all. This is particularly relevant to how the pupils are encouraged to communicate with each other, and the positive attitude to maths that should be fostered as part of the group culture.
The activities in Unit 1 provide further opportunities to make initial assessments of each pupil’s understanding in addition to the findings from Assessment A.
Units 2-11: These units contain the main mathematical content of the programme; the big ideas of Place Value, Adding and subtracting, Multiplying and dividing, Fractions and Working with fractions, decimals and percentages. These concepts are retaught, so that pupils who might not have benefited from using the Numicon approach when they first encountered these ideas are able to deepen their understanding of these key areas.
Ideas are revisited throughout the programme. For example, in Unit 3, pupils work with adding and subtracting whole numbers up to 4 digits, applying the place value concepts that were retaught in Unit 2. Pupils first consider the importance of estimating, and then use concrete resources to support column methods for calculating. They also explore inverse relationships and use these to work on missing number problems, using mental and written methods.
In Units 8, pupils return to adding and subtracting. They now work with whole numbers beyond 4 digits, and numbers to 3 decimal places, building on the extended place value ideas from Unit 7. Contexts involving money and mass, and the use of the inverse operation to support problem-solving, are also presented for pupils to work on together.
Similar links between units are made throughout the teaching programme, providing pupils with opportunities to explore mathematical relationships further and to generalise across abstract and real-life mathematical contexts.
Unit 12: During the final week of the programme, pupils review all the big ideas, bringing them together to apply their understanding through further problem-solving activities. The focus here is on supporting pupils to make connections and to explore the relationships between these mathematical ideas, thus securing their learning.
This week also provides important opportunities to celebrate the progress pupils have made since the start of the programme, encouraging them to reflect on their individual learning journeys, sharing their learning logs with the group, and their increased confidence and belief that they can do mathematics.
Fresh Start
Fresh Start is a reading intervention offered to learners whose reading age in our internal screening tests is 8 or below. This is a phonics program which targets areas of difficulty related to phonological awareness. The delivery of the programme is designed with the purpose of addressing the gaps in phonological awareness rather than reteaching the phonics course.
Fresh Start is a 1:1 intervention based on the “little and often” principle. The learners are taught in 15-20 minutes sessions 3 to 4 times a week. They are assessed regularly and leave the intervention when they have achieved the required standard. The learners will then be offered a follow-up reading programme if their reading age is still below their chronological age.
Talk about social skills programme
This programme teaches social and relationship skills to teenagers. Designed specifically for teenagers, this practical workbook provides ready-made material for running social and relationship skills groups with older children and young adults. Divided into five, hierarchical modules - self awareness and self-esteem; body language; conversational skills; friendship skills; assertiveness skills. Students take part in the intervention in a small group 1x/week for the school year.