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Learning Support Team

The Learning Support Team, is part of The Nottingham City Council, Inclusive Education Service. We are a team of specialist teachers, teaching assistants and assessors, who support children and young people with SEND to access learning. We have lots of experience in teaching and supporting the learning of children and young people, and are passionate about what we do.

We work with children and young people who have moderate and severe learning difficulties, speech and language difficulties and specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia or dyscalculia. We support schools with strategic support for

How we are currently working...

The Learning Support Team, remain open and working, and are available to support you during this time. We have carefully considered our role and remit around supporting schools, we have considered the government guidance for reopening schools safely and how this runs alongside general social distancing guidance. We made the hard decision that face to face work through schools visits, observations, assessments and training continues to be high risk for children, staff and colleagues.

In addition, the SpLD assessment standards Committee (SASC), have suggested that individual assessment needs be considered on a case by case basis, and non-urgent assessments be postponed until a time when safety can be guaranteed.

The summer term is usually a busy time for schools and The Learning Support Team, as we plan and undertake Exam Access Arrangements for secondary schools, complete final core observations, attend pupil reviews, undertake individual assessments and train our school based colleagues. We realise that some schools may be keen to plan for the next academic year, and the work of the Learning Support Team may be integral to that. We are taking steps to support schools effectively during this time, whilst maintaining safety, and reducing risks. The actions we are taking are:

Developing a detailed consultation framework, which LST staff can conduct remotely with key members of school staff. The framework will replace observations and assessments in the short term
Exploring the potential of remotely conducting assessments and the implications of this
Developing online training and webinars for school based colleagues
Providing personalised resources for core students staying at home
Attendance of school meetings, reviews and planning meetings remotely
Identifying schools requiring, planning for, and conducting Exam Access Arrangements over the coming academic year

We await further guidance from the government, and key governing bodies such as Joint Council of Qualifications (JCQ) and SASC, on when and how to safely develop our provision and offer further. If you know your school will need access arrangements for the next academic year, please contact Julie.wright@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

For school

Strategies, advice and identification

We are developing a detailed discussion framework to help us identify and solve issues for children and young people in school, which can be performed remotely. In the interim this will replace face to face assessments and observations, and aims to be, ‘COVID secure.’

We continue to offer telephone and video link (via MS Teams) consultations. We also continue to response to emails as quickly and as effectively as possible.

We are not able to perform face to face assessments at the moment, but if you would like to book access arrangement testing or an assessment of SpLD, please contact LearningSupport@nottinghamcity.gov.uk, and you will be place on a waiting list. We will endeavour to keep our schools informed of all changes to practice and scheduling as it happens.

We continue to moderate HLN requests, and this is done by an initial remote consultation, and where needed email follow up. Please be aware that HLN moderations may be charged.

Resources

We can continue to provide resources to support our children and young people. If you have identified a need and would like to request resources, please discuss this with your school LST link teacher

We can continue to allocate High Cost equipment for identified core children (EHCP or in receipt of HLN). If you would like to discuss a high-cost request, this should initially be made through you the school LST link teacher.

The High-Cost policy and application form is available on request

Also, a full list of our services can be found here.

Training

Currently, we are unable to conduct training in the usual way. The Learning Support Team is developing ways to conduct school inset training remotely using MS Teams. Our training packages are bespoke to the needs of your school, however we can offer:

Dyslexia awareness
Differentiation
An introduction to SEND
Supporting students with communication needs
Recovery Curriculum Free Training Session

The Recovery Curriculum - plus Voice Over - Presentation with sound

Recovery Curriculum for Hearing Impaired - PDF

We are keen to ensure we develop the right training for schools and respond to the current situation appropriately. With this in mind the IES COVID-19 response survey is available to all schools, by completing this, you will help inform the training we develop and offer to schools. If you haven’t done so already, please can you complete this survey.

Business as usual work – traded

All the Learning Support Team services are offered as a traded and may be charged.

Where work is focusing on a core pupil this continues to be free of charge.

For the home

Social Media platforms

We can now offer resources, tips and strategies for parents supporting their children at home through several platforms:

The pages and sites are kept up to date regularly, and we would encourage our schools to direct parents to use them if they can.

Parents can also email the team directly, with questions around supporting learning at home, by using the Learning Support email, LearningSupport@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

Should parents contact the team, we will ask which school their child(ren) attend, and wherever possible feedback to the school.

Home activity packs

We can offer personalised home activity packs for our pupils, if both parents and schools feel this would be beneficial. There are several ways to request a pack, either contact the school LST link teacher or complete the online IES COVID-19 Response survey.

Contact Us

Please contact the Learning Support Teacher linked to your school for support. We can offer remote consultations, attend planning meetings and support problem solving.

If you are unsure who your link teacher is our SEND Inclusion Support Service Administrative Team will take your call/email and connect you with the correct team member/practitioner 0115 8765311 or email LearningSupport@nottinghamcity.gov.uk.

Key contacts

Learning support inbox LearningSupport@nottinghamcity.gov.uk

SEND Inclusion Support Administrative Team 0115 8765311

LST Team Leader Julie Wright 0115 8765311

Further Information

For further details on the Learning Support Team services please download the documents below:

LST criteria for involvement

Learning Support Team- Core Services

Learning Support Team - Traded Services

DeEscalation Poster

DeEscalation Techniques

Mental Health Support Activities - Primary