Curriculum Support

Special Education Needs

Students come to St Thomas More Catholic School with varying needs.  These needs are assessed in different ways which enable support to be put in place, should it be required.

Entrance to St Thomas More Catholic School

Any student who starts at the school mid-term follows an induction programme.  As well as being formally tested, students are welcomed to the school, given information booklets, introduced to their Form Tutor and Head of Year, logged on to the cashless catering system and given an ICT account and then escorted to their first lesson where a pupil in their form class is nominated to take care of them.

Whilst at St Thomas More Catholic School

Having been identified either by formal testing, information from a previous school  or reports from current teachers, students are supported in a number of ways.

1. Students with a Reading Age lower that 8.00 follow the Ruth Miskin Literacy Programme or Word Shark and Lexis programmes.
2. Students with a Reading Age above 8.00 follow literacy programmes designed to improve the fluency at which they read and also their understanding of the text.
3. Those students who have poor handwriting skills attend handwriting classes.

Students with a Statement of Special Needs

In-class support with a Teaching Assistant
Withdrawal for additional classes should they be needed.
Support from outside agencies, i.e. Speech and Language Therapist, Connexions Personal Advisor, Haringey Behaviour Support Team, etc.

Students Taking Exams

Special arrangements can be made for any student having an identified need.  These arrangements may include up to 25% additional time for each paper taken, a member of staff to read and/or write for a student to individual students being allowed a short rest break.

Ethnic Minority Achievement Department

The EMA Department work alongside mainstream teachers in their classrooms to support the developing English language skills of bilingual students from ethnic minority backgrounds are under achieving.  The EMA Department negotiate with the mainstream teachers as to the type of partnership that best suits the students including literacy, language support in class or withdrawal for a specific purpose for a limited time.

New arrivals are met on their first day at the School Reception and spend the morning in the Curriculum Support Department being familiarised with the rules and routines of school, filling out their timetables as well as having their English as an Additional Language (EAL) assessment to assigned level of English Language Acquisition.  The students are then escorted to their first lesson in Period 3 (10:50-11:40) and if available a ‘buddy’ from the same language group is appointed. 

If the student is a beginner in English they have a one week induction programme of an intensive course in basic English.  This is followed by withdrawal from lessons twice a week for English language support.

According to Exam Access Arrangements students who use EAL are entitled to have modified language papers and to use bilingual dictionaries and to get 25% extra time for examinations if they have been in England for less that two years.

Our aims for students are as follows:

To continue to improve the students skills in thinking, literacy and numeracy, as well as their personal and social skills so that they are well prepared to be lifelong learners.

To be a part of a learning community where everyone is valued and included and where students are encouraged to become independent learners.

To experience a full range of educational opportunities in school to allow them to develop and improve their talents and interests.