Shiplake College A GSG School

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Special Education Needs

Shiplake has a reputation for providing support for bright pupils with mild learning difficulties and every academic year a small number of places are allocated to pupils with these difficulties. These are called Core Places. The initial entrance assessments screen all pupils who wish to come to Shiplake, and pupils are offered one of three types of places: Core, Monitor or Main. Core pupils receive Core Learning Development Support. This entails dedicated timetabled support in the Learning Development Department in place of a modern foreign language in year 9, and in place of one GCSE option subject in years 10 and 11. We believe that the quality of grade is better than quantity of exam subjects. In years 12 and 13 support is provided on a daily basis and is student-led rather than teacher-led, with students bringing the work they have identified they require support with. This helps them to be more independent and also helps to bridge the gap between support in school and support in Higher Education settings. Pupils who are in our Monitor category may have had a history of special educational needs, but are now able to function independently without support in class. We know, however, that these pupils may require examination access arrangements and therefore we keep them monitored in order to ensure that we have the necessary evidence for these arrangements to be put in place where necessary. The majority of pupils are in our Main cohort. Whilst it would be very unusual for a pupil to move out of the Core Group, all of the groups are fluid in nature, as we take account of how pupils change and develop over time. The promotion of pupils' self-belief, self-esteem and self-confidence to become successful and independent learners, is a key aim.

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