At Hendrefoilan, we are passionate about ALN.

Pupils feel safe in school, and they know who to talk to if they are worried and upset. Leaders and staff prioritise pupils’ well-being, creating a culture of trust in which pupils thrive. Pupils are encouraged to make healthy choices and there are many opportunities to exercise and develop good mental health. However, pupils feel less secure about working independently and the school is working to address this priority. The school encourages pupil involvement in school development priorities, and further opportunities are underway to improve this, for example assemblies led by the head pupils and school council. Pupils’ well-being is supported through a menu of provision, including daily mindfulness sessions, collaboration with CAMHS in reach, the early help hub (EHH), the education welfare officer (EWO), and the educational psychologist. Barriers to learning are recognised and addressed through partnership work, for example, with the EHH, and/or appropriate interventions, such as sensory circuits. The school takes every opportunity to support others. 

The ALN aims of our school are to:

• Ensure that all pupils receive a broad and balanced curriculum.
• Provide differentiated activities suited to children’s needs and abilities.
• Ensure that early identification of additional needs takes place.
• Ensure that parents of ALN pupils are fully involved from the beginning and are kept regularly informed of their child’s progress
• Ensure that ALN pupils are involved, where practical, in decisions affecting their future ALN provision
• Work in partnership with parents, pupils and other agencies e.g. educational psychologist, speech therapists, social workers, the school nurse, etc.

ALN Provision

ALN pupils benefit from additional or different support. At Hendrefoilan, staff use approaches that meet the needs of all pupils on their personalised learning journey.

Below you will see some of the support packages used.

All nursery pupils are screened using the wellcomm assessment tool which identifies delayed understanding and/or expression of language, these pupils are supported through play based language activities.

Speech link is used to support pupils aged four to eight. The online, screening assessment is fun, quick and easy to administer. It identifies whether a pupil’s speech is age appropriate.

Staff use dyslexia quest in year 1 to screen all pupils for dyslexia and identify those who need additional support.

Nessy reading and spelling is used across the school to support dyslexic pupils. Pupils follow individual programmes that identify and work towards meeting targets.

 Toe by toe is also used to support pupils who show dyslexic traits, it focuses on a repetition based programme identifying letter sounds and blends.

 We run a DCD group, which meets three times a week to support children who have handwriting or coordination difficulties.

We have a highly trained member of staff who is able to offer small group or one-one work.

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Swansea LA have just released a video, about how learners with Autism can be supported, please feel free to watch the video below.