Internal Liaison

• The SFL Co-ordinators keep the staff acquainted with the policies and procedures of the SFL department.

• The SFL Department maintains a list of students who require support for learning. This list is issued to all staff at the beginning of each school year and updated as necessary.

• Subject teachers familiarise themselves with the details of any SFL student they teach by liaising with the SFL Department and/or the year team.

• Form Teachers liaise with the SFL Co-ordinators to familiarise themselves with details of the individual education programme (IEP) being followed by each SFL student.

• The SFL Co-ordinators liaise with Year Heads and the Co-ordinators of the English and Mathematics Departments. Year Heads then liaise with Form Teachers regarding SFL students.

• The SFL Co-ordinators will meet with Year Heads at the start of the school year to discuss the needs of SFL students for whom they have responsibility.

• Subject teachers inform the SFL Co-ordinators and the relevant Form Teacher, by way of a student information sheet, if they have concerns regarding the academic progress of a student.

Liaison with Parents 

• The SFL Co-ordinators  and relevant resource or learning support teachers are available, by appointment, to meet parents who wish to discuss the progress of their child.

• Parents of SFL students receiving tuition from the SFL Department will receive written reports at the end of the autumn and summer terms.

• Parents should provide copies of all available information relating to any academic difficulties their child may have experienced prior to entering the College.

• The College wishes to remind parents that, when resource hours have been granted to a student by the Department of Education and Science, these must be fully utilised by the student concerned.

Assessment

• All incoming First Year students will be assessed on the First Year Assessment Day in May. These assessments help to identify students with learning difficulties. The results are also used by the Year Head of First Year to assist with the process of creating balanced, mixed-ability intake classes.

• All test results are confidential. Parents wishing to receive assessment scores should make an appointment with an SFL Co-ordinator who will explain the significance and limitations of particular test results.

• Where assessment results or observations of subject teachers indicate a possible cause for concern, parents are invited by the Form Teacher to attend a meeting with an SFL Co-ordinator. This is to facilitate any external assessments which may be thought necessary and to allow an appropriate programme to be put in place for the student.

Tuition

Where a student has been formally diagnosed as having learning difficulties one or more of a number of options may be pursued:

• An IEP (Individual Education Programme) is drawn up by the Resource or Learning Support  teacher. Contents and targets are set for each term and shared with students.   Priority learning needs are based on specific subject areas of difficulty and diagnostic related work, for example, organisational and study skills, memory work, note-taking, time management, IT etc.

• Tuition may be given on a one-to-one basis, in small groups, or through co-operative teaching with subject teachers of SFL students.

• Daily lesson plans are kept for each student and other relevant information is noted from subject and form teachers.

• Resource and Learning Support teachers also provide professional support to mainstream teachers on appropriate teaching methodologies and strategies for differentiated learning.

• Resource and Learning Support teachers may recommend to parents appropriate resource materials for the student to work on at home under parental supervision.

Special Arrangements in State Examinations

• Each year, when the Department of Education informs the school of the special arrangements available for the Junior and Leaving Certificate examinations, parents of all students presenting for state examinations will be notified of these by letter. In cases where parents wish to avail of the special arrangements an application will be submitted on their behalf by the SFL coordinators.

Support for Learning Department as a resource

• The SFL department will endeavour to provide any specific information or resources relating to SFL which individual staff members and parents may wish to use.

Staff Development

• St Andrew’s College is committed to providing on-going in-service training for staff in the area of SFL.