Parent Partnership Service

Support for Learners with ALN

Children, their parents and young people must be included in decisions about this support from the very beginning of the process.

Timely intervention, and well planned support is essential to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people with ALN. This also means professionals must work together with each other and with families and children young people.

Class teachers, supported by the senior leadership team in schools including the ALNCo, should make regular assessments of progress for all pupils. These should seek to identify pupils making less than expected progress given their age and individual circumstances.

School staff should talk to you and your child about this, and then decide together if your child needs Additional Learning Needs support. If a young person is 16 or older the school should involve them directly.

Sometimes you may be the first to be aware that your child has some Additional Learning Needs. If you think your child may need ALN support you should talk to your child’s teacher or to the Additional Learning Needs Coordinator (ALNCo).

If you are not happy about the support your child has you can ask to talk to the Additional Learning Needs Coordinator or headteacher.

Universal Learning Provision

All schools will develop inclusive teaching approaches to support all learners including those with ALN. This is known as  Universal Learning Provision (ULP). The ULP offer will be available for all pupils and will include:

1. Good teaching, learning and targeted differentiation;
2. Targeted teaching strategies to support each area of need- this is broken down into 4 key areas:
1. Cognition & Learning (including Specific Learning Difficulties)
2. Communication & Interaction (including Autism Spectrum Conditions)
3. Emotional & Social Difficulties (including Behavioural difficulties)
4. Sensory & or Physical (including Hearing Impaired & Visual Impaired)
3. Standard Targeted Interventions (interventions that are generally made available for all pupils of the same age which help identify emerging needs.

Additional Learning Provision

Additional learning provision (ALP) for children aged 3 years or over means educational or training provision that is additional to, or different from, that made generally for others of the same age.

Additional Learning Provision (ALP) can take many forms; it might include any support that takes place inside or outside the mainstream classroom, where it is additional to, or different from, that made generally for others of the same age. ALP might also be delivered in settings outside of the school or college in some circumstances and/or by external professionals.

Additional learning provision (ALP) for a child aged under 3 years means educational provision of any kind.

If you have and questions or concerns about a child or young person’s development or progress you can talk to the school, setting or college they attend. You can also get support from the Parent Partnership Service

Team Around the Pupil Parent and Setting (TAPPAS)

The majority of children and young people with Additional Learning Needs will attend their local, mainstream school. To ensure that schools are able to meet the needs of all their pupils there is a wide team of specialist professionals to support them. In Pembrokeshire every mainstream school will have a meeting with these specialists at least once a term, where they can discuss individual pupils who may need some extra help and support – these meetings are called TAPPAS

The ‘Team Around the Pupil Parent And Setting’ – TAPPAS is a group of professionals that supports schools and families in the wellbeing and additional learning needs of children and young people.  The team includes an educational psychologist, specialist teacher, speech & language therapists, an occupational therapist, nursing and primary mental health workers and school counsellors.

This includes:

• Consultation and planning meetings, which are held in all Pembrokeshire Schools termly where specialist teams and schools discuss ‘wrap around’ support and intervention relating to individual children and young people. (TAPPAS 1)
• Cluster wide forums for schools are termly and provide an opportunity to develop collaborative working between schools and agencies to build capacity as well as solution focused, proactive approaches for children and young people with additional learning needs.  (TAPPAS 2)
• Workshops and events for families which are held termly and provide opportunities for families to network and meet with specialists for advice and support. (TAPPAS 3)

Key Principles of TAPPAS

• Supporting schools and families in the early identification of pupils with ALN and the implementation of interventions and tracking of pupils;
• Working in partnership with schools and families to identify professional development needs of staff and supporting clusters of schools in implementing an appropriately tailored programme;
• Working in partnership with families to support their child’s needs within the home.

If you, or your child’s school, have any concerns about their development or progress, you will be asked for your permission for the school staff to discuss your child or young person at the TAPPAS meeting. Parents will then be given an outcome of what the next steps will be.