ALN @ CRC
Mr Crofts is our school’s Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator (ALNCo). Any concerns regarding ALN, please contact the school office to arrange an appointment. Our school telephone number is: 01792 771524. We look forward to hearing from you.
Aims and Ethos
Cwmrhydyceirw Primary School values the abilities and achievements of all our pupils. All children are valued, respected and nurtured. We endeavour to provide the best educational opportunities for each child and strive to maximise their potential in a ‘can do’ learning culture.
At CRC, we recognise that all pupils come to school at different stages of development and with different needs. Whilst many factors contribute to the range of difficulties experienced by some children, we believe that much can be done to overcome them by parents, teachers and pupils working together.
The ALN aims of the school
- To ensure that all pupils have access to a broad and balanced curriculum
- To provide a differentiated curriculum appropriate to the individual’s needs and ability
- To ensure that early identification of a pupil’s needs is made
- To ensure that ALN pupils take as full a part as possible in all school activities
- To ensure that parents of ALN pupils are fully involved from the beginning and are kept regularly informed of their child’s progress
- To ensure that ALN pupils are involved, where practical, in decisions affecting their future ALN provision
The principles underpinning our approach to ALN are:
- A rights-based approach where the views, wishes and feelings of the child, child’s parent or young person are central to the planning and provision of support. We have due regard to the requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and also the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)
- Early identification, intervention and prevention
- Collaboration and integration
- Inclusive education
In order for the school to determine whether a child has ALN, the following tests must be applied. The key questions that need to be asked are:
i) Does the child or young person have a greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age?
ii) Does the child or young person have a disability (within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010) which prevents or hinders the child or young person from making use of facilities for education or training of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream maintained schools or mainstream FEIs.
Children with ALN will need additional or different support from that given to other children of the same age. For more information on this, or if you think your child has ALN, please speak to your child’s class teacher or Mr Crofts.
What support does the school offer?
Universal Learning Provision: This level of support is where most children’s needs can be met. This support includes, but is not limited to, differentiated teaching, small group support, reading rulers and overlays, etc. Access to this level of support is available for every child in the school. Please see the document below for further information on universal learning provision (ULP).
Early Intervention: This is for children whose learning needs cannot be fully met by universal learning provision (ULP), but ULP strategies would continue to be in place. For example: early intervention support includes, but is not limited to, maths intervention groups, or access to dyslexia-friendly software packages. Some children may even be receiving further support through speech and language programmes or have access to educational psychologist support. Here is a list of some of the intervention groups we offer here at CRC:
Targeted Support: This is for children whose needs cannot be fully met by early intervention, or for those that have not been making progress through intervention. Children at this level would have gone through the decision making process and have ALN. This learner will have person-centred outcomes on an IDP and access to all the school’s intervention groups and strategies (depending on need) but may also include some support from external agencies. Please see Mr Crofts for more information on targeted support.
Specialist Support: This is accessed via the local authority. This is because the pupil requires specialist placement and/or the school cannot maintain the pupil’s IDP. Please see Mr Crofts for more information on targeted support.
2022: How Additional Learning Needs is changing
The Additional Learning Needs and Educational Tribunal Wales (ALNET) Act 2018 means that additional needs is changing.
This video will give you more information about how this affects children and young people.
An animation explaining ALN
Easy Read: Helping children and young people who need extra support to learn
How will the Act affect schools?
