Quality First Teaching
When pupils operate broadly within the expected range of abilities for their age but their progress/development may occur at a somewhat slower pace than that of other pupils, their needs can be met through Quality First Teaching and the interventions employed by their class teacher and learning assistants.
What might Quality First Teaching look like in our school?
All staff amend the curriculum appropriately to personalise the learning to the children's differing abilities either through differing tasks, resources or support. This provides children with an opportunity to succeed, whatever their ability, through challenge at an appropriate level.
Adults will be working alongside differing groups of children to move their learning on, whilst monitoring all the pupils in their class to ensure their understanding of the learning taking place.
There are rigorous assessment, tracking and target setting systems for all pupils and regular reviews take place to monitor pupil progress against expected outcomes as part of ongoing school assessment processes.
Group and individual intervention programmes may be introduced to meet specific identified needs either over time or to overcome a particular area of difficulty identified within a lesson.
A variety of intervention programmes are run outside of the lesson. These may be focussed on English, Maths, Behaviour, Social Skills, Fine and Gross Motor Skills.
Intervention Groups
Below is a brief overview of some of the additional programmes we deliver to support all learners where appropriate:
Focus Groups
These are short, small group sessions that have a specific learning intention and may focus on phonics, spelling, handwriting, reading, writing or maths. They may be led by the class teacher or learning support assistant.
Toe by Toe
This is a highly structured multi-sensory individual reading programme which is specifically designed for children working below their age related expectations for reading. It is usually delivered by the learning support assistant with individual children. The sessions are very short, lasting no more than 10 mins, and take place frequently across each week.
Talk Boost
Is a structured programme which aims to boost children’s communication, phonics, speech and language skills through short, targeted sessions for small groups of children. It is aimed at KS1 pupils.
ICT
We have a variety of ICT programmes and websites that can be used to allow pupils to practise spelling, phonics, reading and maths skills. For example, ‘Starspell’ is a programme used to support pupils with the spelling of key words. These programmes may be delivered as part of the lesson or in addition as an intervention.
Social Skills Groups
Emotional literacy sessions are delivered to small groups weekly. They are designed to help young people in understanding their feelings, to promote positive relationships and teaches them the vocabulary to express themselves. In KS2 we call these groups ‘CAPS’ – Confidence, Assertiveness & Positive Skills.
Gym Trail
This is a twice weekly early morning session to develop pupils’ gross motor skills and to encourage teamwork, concentration and the ability to follow instructions.
Fine Motor Skills
These are individual or group sessions made up of a variety of activities to develop children’s manipulation skills through the coordination of small muscle movements usually involving the synchronization of hands and fingers. The frequency of these sessions will depend on the individual pupil’s needs.
Lego Club
This is an intervention delivered in KS2 aimed at supporting children in developing their concentration, attention and speech and language skills in order to assist them in following instructions in the classroom. It consists of three pupils in a small group and is delivered weekly by trained learning support assistants.
School Counselling
We have a trained counsellor who visits the school every two weeks to support pupils with a variety of emotional issues. This intervention is accessible to all pupils who may be experiencing difficulty with some aspects of home/school life e.g. a family bereavement which may impact on their school life. These are short one to one sessions tailored to the child’s specific requirements. In addition, should further support be required, we have access to Therapeutic Counselling that is run in weekly ‘clinics’ based in one school in each area, where pupils are seen for 6 x 40min sessions (half a term). During this time, children have the opportunity to explore their issues and hopefully learn some strategies to manage their feelings in a different way in a safe place.
EAL - English an an Additional Language
This is for children who have a first language other than English and may need further intervention with their English language understanding in order to aid their academic development. Our Special Educational needs Coordinators (SENCos) use guidelines given by Specialist Teachers.
South Essex Extended Services
We are very lucky to have the support of South Essex Extended Services. They work in partnership with all the Rochford Local Delivery Group Schools, to provide bespoke support for schools children & families. They provide a variety of support to schools and families such as a Family Support Worker, provide parenting support groups, offer training for staff and parents whilst organising fun days during the school holidays.
Their offices are based at:
The King Edmund School,
Vaughan Close, Rochford,
Essex SS4 1TL,
Telephone; 01702 545771 (ext; 3226).
Alternatively you can visit their website to see an overview of the services they offer.