St Gerardine School

St Gerardine School were awarded £77,400 for their project, Additional Support Needs Targeted Intervention. It enables additional support to be delivered across a cluster of schools, resulting in early, targeted and child-centred interventions and support for Service children with additional support needs.

Across the cluster of schools there are 433 Service children on the roll, of which 30% have been identified as having additional support needs. This is 5% higher than those of non-Service children.

Due to higher levels of movement between schools for Service children, it is fundamental that assessments are used quickly and regularly to assess gaps in attainment for those Service children with additional support needs. Early intervention can then be issued to help close this gap.

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The project aims to, over the course of the year, work with 100% of Service children identified as having additional support needs, across the cluster of schools. Accurate assessments of pupil’s education levels and how their needs can be met will be carried out upon their arrival at the school, allowing for flexibility to meet the emerging needs of Service children. Timely interventions will then be offered by pupil support assistants to target gaps in learning.

Children will be assessed during and after completion of these interventions to show the improvements they have made and to help form plans to alter classroom settings to fulfil learning needs. The progress of children accessing the project will also be regularly monitored throughout. Both the cluster Literacy, Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing groups and the school’s wider inclusion team, will be able to see the progress of individual children and access the ongoing impact of each intervention. This will allow for reflection and redirection of interventions if necessary.

 Over the course of the year, through comprehensive data monitoring, the project should give a clear indication of interventions that have the most impact on closing attainment gaps’ leading to long term impact for the cluster Service children with improved understanding of the attainment and emotional needs of Service children.

Chief Education Officer, Vivienne Cross, said: “We are delighted that the programme application has been successful and work to provide early and targeted interventions to support Service children with additional support needs can be carried out. This programme will impact the education and lives of these children, and we look forward to seeing the full effect of this work throughout these 12 months.”