Academic Information

Learning Support

The Study Skills and Learning Support Department provides a service which aims to enable all boys to achieve their full academic potential; and to ensure that no boy’s progress is held back by any kind of learning difficulty.

Central to the policy is the recognition that very able and highly intelligent individuals may suffer from weaknesses or difficulties in particular areas: we aim to help such boys to realise their true potential. Equally, a boy with quite exceptional abilities may require special provision to help him achieve his full potential.

The service provided is an integral part of the curriculum: it supports learning and the acquisition of skills in all subject areas which involve literacy and numeracy.

Assessment

- prior to entry
Parents and feeder schools are asked to inform us of any problems that a boy is experiencing and to send us a copy of any Educational Psychologist’s assessment. Our Head of Learning Support will analyse the assessment and advise the Warden as to whether Radley is the appropriate school for the boy’s particular learning profile. In certain cases a boy may be better advised to go to another school which is better equipped to deal with his particular circumstances.
One issue that sometimes arises is handwriting and the use of laptops. Our handwriting policy encourages competence in handwriting. We normally expect feeder schools to continue with the use of handwriting which we consider a fundamental skill and as such an educational entitlement.

- after entry
Each Shell boy is tested in literacy and numeracy in the first half of the Michaelmas Term. Any boy who has been identified as having a learning difficulty is then supplied with a Learning Support Summary. These are updated when boys’ progress is reviewed twice a term. In addition, there is provision for assessment by an Educational Psychologist, Mrs Fiona Burton, (BSC, M.Ed., C. Psychol.) who visits Radley three times each year.

Statemented Pupils

We have no pupils with statements of special educational needs.
 

English as an additional language
 

We have no pupils with English as an additional language who require extra help. Where this necessary in the future we have the capability to provide appropriate support.

Exceptionally Gifted and Talented Boys

Such boys are identified in the first term of their Shell year, when an Individual Education Plan is drawn up for future progress. The IEP is reviewed at the end of every term, and targets set for the next review. Provision of an IEP is on a Department basis, where extension and enrichment work is given by the individual subject Head of Department and his team. Enrichment and extension work is preferable to early exam entry, which is rejected as a policy because it narrows the horizons to syllabus goals.

Some Definitions

• Dyslexia – organizing or learning difficulties involving fine co-ordination and working memory, affecting aspects of literacy and /or numeracy, in an otherwise able individual
• Dyspraxia – poor co-ordination and impaired performance of skilled movements