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Additional Support for Learning Service
101 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4DS
Tel. 0131 469 2890
1
ASL Service In-Service day
15 August 2016
Towerbank PS 8.30am.
Refreshments: 10.30
Bring your own lunch!
Programme:
LGBT
ICT
Child Protection
SCERTS introduction
It’s hard to believe but we are nearly at the end of our first year as the ASL Service and what a journey it’s been. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff for your commitment to getting it right. I would also like to thank all our partners, we have enjoyed developing our collaborative links with you all and look forward to working with you in the new session. I wish you all an enjoyable and well-earned relaxing summer and look forward to seeing you all in August!
Kirsty
Government official meets young mums
The pupils in the Young Mums’ Unit at WHEC were
pleased to be given the opportunity to meet with
Felicity Sung from the Scottish Government. Felicity is
the lead for the government’s “Pregnancy and
Parenthood in Young People Strategy”, published in
March 2016.
The girls spent 2 hours with Felicity, sharing their
stories and raising concerns. Topics discussed included
housing, relationship issues, stigma and funding for
lone parents entering Higher Education.
Felicity is hoping to create a young person’s guide to
the strategy, along with a website for young parents.
The pupils in the young mums’ unit are looking
forward to working with her to develop these over the
upcoming months.
Review and changes of our current structure
for the following session
Annemarie Procter: Continue
EAL review with Joan Shelley
continuing as ADHT Team 1
Margaret Gray: Audit review
to continue
ASD Coordinators: Fiona
Calder and Lorna Johnston
will share this full-time post.
Fiona will remain ASL SL for
Craigroyston and Lorna will
continue to be ASL SL for The
Royal High Cluster
Hayley McMurray: WHEC and
Firrhill
Julie Wood will pick up Trinity
and Broughton clusters
Sarah Neary will pick up
Craigmount.
Anne Davidson will pick up
Gracemount.
Margaret Gray will cover
Claire’s clusters until Nicola
Hammond-Evans returns
from maternity leave in
October.
CONGRATULATIONS
To Claire Hornby who
will be leaving us at the
end of the session to
start her secondment
with Edinburgh
University.
We wish her all the very
best and know she will
be a real asset to the
university.
To Fiona Calder for the
work she has done
within the Trinity
Cluster this session
To Gillian Mair for her
work with a private
partner nursery to help
build capacity with staff
to meet the needs of a
learner with autism.
“I’m so excited to
receive Gillian’s
Support. She truly
does an amazing job.”
Josie Mitchell
Assistant Manager
To Amanda Knani and
Stephan Millar who
received very positive
feedback from Pilrig
Park School when they
rose to the challenge of
stepping out of their
comfort zone to help
when they experienced
staffing challenges.
Thank you, this is the
kind of practice we are
keen to build on. Well
done!
Additional Support for Learning Service
101 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4DS
Tel. 0131 469 2890
2
Contents
Review and changes of our current structure for the following session 1
Roseburn Equality Programme 3
Edinburgh Sound Chart - New CEC Literacy Resource 3
Hospital Supports for Dedicated Young Lady 4
Literacy Tracker for P2-S3 4
Congratulations 4
Dean Park NS bilingualism and Transition Support event 20/05 from 9.15 - 10.15 received positive feedback 4
ASL Service Pop-up Banner Error! Bookmark not defined.
Feedback from our first PSA Conference 5
Incredible Years Parenting Programme Success 5
VI Team Supporting Learners in the Lothian 5
VI Work being shared as an example of good practice 5
Thank You Box 6
From Louise Sinclair 6
To the staff of Redhall from Isla Ross 6
To Kim Almond 6
Autism Awareness Training 6
Decant Support for Schools Praised by Senior Colleagues and Head Teachers 6
Pan Lothian Day organised by the DST met with very positive feedback 7
Pan Lothian Day for the Deaf Support Team. 7
Feedback from a parent 7
Huge congratulations to our colleagues in Barnardo’s 8
ASLS take on Youth 180 8
Jessica receives right support from ASL 8
Staff development - the fun way 9
St Cuthberts RC PS Language class winners 10
Staff Retirals, Farewells and new colleagues 11
Additional Support for Learning Service
101 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4DS
Tel. 0131 469 2890
3
Roseburn Equality Programme
Angela U-S, Megan Cotter) and Annabel MacWilliam have
adapted (from the EY and P7 PSE programmes) and
delivered an Equalities Programme with the very culturally and linguistically diverse P3 class at Roseburn, looking at the key themes of, what makes us unique, being different and challenging stereotypes, ending with a particular focus on Race Equality.
The children really enjoyed it and they included a food tasting day where parents provided a wealth of amazing
food that they all sampled. They have also been learning
the languages of the class each week and learned a song that teaches 'hello' in many languages.
Edinburgh Sound Chart - New CEC Literacy
Resource
After weeks of planning and narrowly averted disaster,
Fiona McCrory and Hilary Aitken launched the Edinburgh
Sound Chart. This fantastic phonics resource is tailored
for Edinburgh pupils, and will be invaluable in supporting
our schools to raise attainment in literacy and close the
attainment gap. Great work!
This has been launched at the Primary and Secondary SfL
Business Seminars. It will be distributed to all Primary
schools at SfL Whole School Phonic training next session
along with a PowerPoint enabling Primary SfL teachers to
deliver Phonic training to their own schools. High schools
will be given an extended version of the chart at SRA
training in August. For further information contact Hilary
Aitken / Fiona McCrory
.
Additional Support for Learning Service
101 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4DS
Tel. 0131 469 2890
4
Hospital Supports for Dedicated Young Lady
Allison and Linda have been working with a girl who has been in hospital for what was
expected to be a short stay about 2 years ago. Despite this, and the fact that she is in
constant discomfort, she sat 4 Nat 5s this year in two subjects (Chemistry and Biology),
she more or less taught herself. Allison and Linda taught her Maths and English. They
are expecting 4 A passes! This inspiring young person intends to sit 5 Highers next year,
again from hospital.
Literacy Tracker for P2-S3
The literacy and dyslexia support team have developed a tracker with the aim of
developing a straightforward and consistent format for tracking the progress of the
lowest attaining pupils. This is to address local and national priorities related to
developing literacy skills and closing the attainment gap and also to help develop a
common approach across the authority. The reasons we are suggesting this tracker are
as follows:
Allows straightforward tracking of learners across time, providing an 'at a glance'
record of pupils' progress from P2 right through to S3, ensuring that any dips in
progress can be quickly identified and targeted interventions put in place
Enables robust data analysis - by asking all schools to use the SWRT as a
measure, we are able to track a learners' progress through primary and into secondary
using the same measures
Indicates which interventions have been put in place, and their effectiveness
Ensures a consistent approach to recording across the city - the need for
consistent paperwork has been raised by SfL teachers and SfL Leaders a number of
times at cluster meetings.
This will be rolled out in schools and reviewed over the coming session. Please see
Hilary, Fiona or Anna for more information. Great work!
Dean Park NS bilingualism and Transition Support event 20/05 from
9.15 - 10.15 received positive feedback
The parents really enjoyed it and were so pleased with the packs you made up for each
of them. Thanks also for ordering all the resources for us to look at as well. You really
did go to a huge amount of effort. Lots of ideas as well for us to take forward, such as
involving our bilingual parents more in our nursery/school.
Matt Grieve, Nursery Teacher
CONGRATULATIONS
To Bryan Wilson who
has worked
exceptionally hard to
get support in place in
the form of a science
group for a particularly
challenging group of
pupils excluded from
High School.
To Ruth Fletcher,
A while ago many of
you participated in a
survey focusing on
professionals'
perceptions of Child
Planning Meetings. Ruth
conducted this research
as part of a programme
of study at Moray
House and she has now
passed her Masters
dissertation.
Congratulations Ruth on
this achievement! The
research highlighted a
range of topical issues,
both locally and
nationally, and is very
relevant to our work. If
anyone, whether you
participated in the
survey or not, would
like to receive a
summary of the
research then e-mail
Ruth directly.
To Diane Ferguson
who has achieved a
diploma in additional
support for learning (for
Bilingual Learners) at
Moray House) –
excellent work, Diane,
WELL DONE ALL!
Additional Support for Learning Service
101 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4DS
Tel. 0131 469 2890
5
Feedback from our first PSA
Conference
It was very positive! A huge
thank you to all the staff who
supported this by delivering
valuable training to help improve
attainment and close the gap for
our lowest attaining 20%:
We sent two of our PSA’s to the
recent PSA conference. I just
wanted to let you know that they
thought that it was absolutely
excellent. They were desperate to
share their experience with the
rest of the PSA team, and put
together a handout for them and
fed back to them this morning.
Linsey Wright Business Manager
Kirkliston Primary School
Incredible Years Parenting
Programme Success
The stories of success of this
group that Susan McBeath and
Claire Gibson have been running
are so heart-warming. One parent
had said, “Susan and Claire bring
the fun factor”.
Great work Susan and Claire!
VI Team Supporting Learners
in the Lothian
Linda's input into a young man’s
transition is surely an example of
how enhanced transition should
work! She first came to meet him
in October and began assessing
his needs and how to support
him.
She has such a lovely calm
manner that he warmed to
working with her right away and
has always looked forward to her
visits. She has put in lots of time
working with his family and
evaluating the safest routes for
walking to and from school.
She is doing journeys now at a
time when the streets will be full
of secondary school pupils and
the paths are very busy. She has
made sure he can confidently
locate rooms in the high school
and he has spoken to several
members of staff.
Linda has so obviously ensured he
has the best possible introduction
to his new school. His confidence
has grown hugely, both here in
class and in relation to transition.
I'm sure Linda has had a large
part to play in the way this child
seems much happier. It is a huge
boost to his self-esteem.
Your visual impairment team are
truly an asset to be valued. I feel
this child has gained so much
from working with Jola and Linda
and I wanted to express my
appreciation for all their work.
Janis Macdonald
Class teacher 7A King's Meadow Primary School,
HADDINGTON
VI Work being shared as an
example of good practice
Alice Mountford VTVI was asked
to deliver her presentation and
video of work she did with a pupil
she supports at CALL in June.
The Royal Blind School, amongst
others, have also requested a
copy of this. Great work, Alice,
well done!
Additional Support for Learning Service
101 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4DS
Tel. 0131 469 2890
6
Decant Support for Schools Praised by Senior Colleagues
and Head Teachers
Colleagues at a recent HT Executive meeting recently thanked ASL
Service and Psychological Services for their work to support schools
meeting the needs of the most vulnerable learners involved.
A huge thank you to all concerned for going above and beyond as
ever. Andy Jeffries our acting head of Children’s Services, gave
special thanks for the great team work!
Feedback from a parent
Just wanted to say thank you for your support at the meeting yesterday, it’s been such a long haul and I can’t tell you how much it means when I really think other people get it. Also, and I’m sure people don’t say this enough to you guys Jodie has
been amazing support for my son, here’s hoping it all keeps going
well after the summer, hope you have a great break.
Gill
Autism Awareness Training
As part of the council’s strategic priority, “5. All schools and
establishments should engage in professional learning programmes
for all staff in relation to promoting accessibility and equalities, with
particular regard to children and young people with autism,”
ASL service have started rolling out training. Trinity Academy
recently received whole school ASD training and the Headteacher
described it as fantastic – well done to Lorna Johnston and her
partner colleagues who have developed and delivered this valuable
training. All ASL service staff will receive training next session to tie
in with this priority for the authority.
Thank You Box From Louise Sinclair
Depute Headteacher, Gracemount High School
I just wanted to thank you for the additional ASL support that has been provided since our
TATS meeting. What a difference it has made we have been able to target some of the most
vulnerable pupils and help them to cope with all the change the 2nd decant brought. Fran has been working with Ann from Barnardos supporting some group work and some 1:1 sessions and they have had a welcome impact.
Looking ahead to August we realise that this will bring fresh challenges getting pupils back into routines and re-establishing classroom behaviours. Fingers crossed we are actually back in our building. Ann and Barnardos have
given a commitment to provide support until at least the October Break which is fantastic and I
know that they are hoping Fran may be able to continue working with Ann. As you review support for next session could I ask that you consider this request and let me
know what might be possible. Many thanks!
Redhall and Prospect Bank
I wanted to mention a huge thanks to the staff of Redhall and Prospect Bank for their ability to be consistently flexible and welcoming to the
mainstream staff and pupils who attend as part of The LINK GROUP. It's the first time that we have run the group in both schools in the same
year as the pupil intake was high this year for children with Down syndrome in P1. The mainstream staff have given wonderful
feedback about the value of the sessions they had throughout the year. The pupils have made great friends and staff were able to support and learn from each other. There is a great deal of input required from the specialist school staff as they give time to demonstrate
strategies and resources to the mainstream staff. Many then use these back in their own classrooms. Class teachers, PSA's, occupational
therapists, speech therapists and of course parents (who attended the final session last week) THANK YOU!
To Kim Almond
Well done and thank you from Head Teachers in Bruntsfield and Preston Primary schools has come in for Kim Almond for the support she has given the schools. Great work, Kim, thank you!
Redhall Link Group I Redhall Link Group II
Additional Support for Learning Service
101 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4DS
Tel. 0131 469 2890
7
Pan Lothian Day for the Deaf Support Team.
On Wednesday 5th May the Visiting Teachers of the Deaf held their annual Pan Lothian Day. Teachers of
the Deaf, Nursery Nurses and Communication Support Workers from East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian and Edinburgh attended this event which was held in St. Mary’s Primary School RC, Eat London Street. The following speakers came to talk to us over the day.
Rachel O'Neill - Programme director MSc Inclusive Education, University of Edinburgh and lecturer on the deaf education pathway for teachers of deaf children. Carol Jones – from Hearing Dogs for the Deaf People.
Carol attended with a recipient of a Hearing Dog and we got to view how Rico the dog supports his carer. Agnes Allan from the Cochlear Implant Centre provided us with an update from Crosshouse hospital. Dawn Lamerton - Principal Audiologist / Head of
Service for Paediatric Audiology talked with us about Tinnitus in Children, Paediatric Audiology clinics, Auditory Neuropathy in a nutshell and Auditory Processing Disorder or is it? Dr Ruth Henderson talked about Syndromic Hearing Loss and discussed common syndromes associated
with hearing loss. This was a very informative day which was enjoyed by all. This is an annual event where authorities take turns in leading this event.
Read Write Inc. in Edinburgh – Film Premiere! Read Write Inc is Edinburgh’s P3 to P5 literacy intervention programme for pupils with literacy
difficulties. Read Write Inc uses phonics to help
children to learn to read and write while developing a wide range of vocabulary. By participating in the programme, many pupils have been able to develop learning skills to access the full curriculum and have improved their reading confidence.
To celebrate the success of the Read Write Inc programme, and further support schools to build on these positive results, Hilary Aitken (Literacy/Dyslexia Support Team) and
Alastair McArthur (Multimedia officer) worked with schools and pupils to create an RWI training film. This was launched at the Filmhouse Cinema on
Tuesday 26th April. All teachers and children from the schools involved in making this film were invited to the premiere
alongside Councillor Paul Godzik and CEC staff. It was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by all. The children were awed into silence on seeing themselves on the
big screen and thoroughly enjoyed the tea party afterward
Pan Lothian Day organised by the DST met with very positive feedback
This is an annual event and it was Edinburgh’s turn to coordinate and organise. It was a varied and interesting programme made all the better for being completely about deafness related topics, presented by relevant specialists and enjoyed by like-minded people! There was lots to talk about on the day and there will be more to follow up in our individual teams over the coming days. Your choice of venue was also central and easy to find. Alison Thomson, Visiting Teacher, West Lothian Hearing Impaired Service
Additional Support for Learning Service
101 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4DS
Tel. 0131 469 2890
8
Huge congratulations to our colleagues in
Barnardo’s
Recently inspected and celebrating 150 years! The
Inspector graded the service as ‘outstanding’ which is
only the 3rd time he has ever awarded that grade. The team are justifiably proud of the outcome. In his report, he highlights the ‘extremely effective collaborative’ work we do with stakeholders. Our work with ASL, which he was very aware of, was a key factor in that observation. Well done to all involved and a special well done to Barnardo’s!
ASLS take on Youth 180
The ASL Service have run a pilot group called Youth 180 for secondary aged young people who are not able to attend school or sustain mainstream education for a
variety of reasons. Some of the young people could be classed as EBSRs.
The group has run from Granton Youth Centre 2 times per week for 2-hour sessions on a Tuesday and Thursday. The facilities were great as the large hall, kitchen and computer room provided ample space to carry out a variety of tasks, while the pool table was used during the break time and created great social space and some light-hearted “competition”.
The sessions were split into two with a curricular focus on Maths and English during the first half and a group work/social skills focus during the second half. Young
people were supported with numeracy and literacy skills as well as support with formalised certificated subjects including National 3 and National 4 English
and Maths.
This term the group work sessions have been based around the umbrella topic of “Health”. The young people have studied the benefits of a healthy balanced
diet and even made 2 healthy meals of “baked
potatoes with cheese and tomatoes” and “Macaroni Cheese”. They also took part in some exercise activities in the youth centre garden including tennis, skipping, ball skills etc. For the last few weeks, they have been studying the topic of smoking and alcohol
and the effects these substances can have on the body. Overall the young people have engaged well in the group and those who have been attending consistently have established positive relationships with staff and other young people in the group
Jessica receives right support from ASL
Rhona Gallagher has been supporting Jessica in a
nursery for the last 2 years. She initially came to
Spectrum (VTSS) with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum
Disorder. She had no language, still in nappies, and
displayed anxiety behaviour. Jessica's parents and
nursery took on all the strategies that ASL suggested
and introduced visual timetables, structured work
baskets, toilet programme, sleep programme,
behavioural interventions and OT support for dietary
interventions. Jessica's progress has been incredible
and she's more than ready to start P1 next session.
Jessica's gran, May, recently had her 80th birthday
and asked all guests to donate money to ASL Service
instead of bringing a gift. The family said that they
wanted to give something back to our Service for all
the support Jessica had received as they are delighted
with the progress she has made and they would like
the donation in the form of vouchers, to go towards
supporting other youngsters with ASD or
communication difficulties. Jessica's grandparent has
now kindly donated £400 in Argos gift vouchers for LLC
resources. Can the LLC team please provide
suggestions to Ian on resources that could be
purchased?
Additional Support for Learning Service
101 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4DS
Tel. 0131 469 2890
9
Staff development - the fun way
Teachers love learning, of course, we do, that’s why
we are in this profession. However, we felt most of the
training aimed at teachers is delivered in quite fixed
formats with the majority of sessions based around
PPT presentations peppered with a discussion here and
an activity there.
At St Ninian’s we decided to mix it up a bit. After a
joint EAL and whole staff evaluation of our action page,
it was decided that the next area of focus would be
staff capacity building. As teachers, we put a lot of
consideration into planning the curriculum in ways that
would engage and be relevant to all our pupils and we
wanted to put the same consideration and planning
into the teachers’ learning activity.
So here’s what we did. We
decided to try a pub quiz format!
The planning part was really important to take account
of the different levels of experience of the staff and
also to cover a wide range of information like
legislation, strategies, research, cultural information
etc.
This information was shared with the whole school
staff over a period of 6 weeks via a noticeboard in the
staffroom. The same information was accessible on the
OneDrive and a hard copy in the form of a final folder
at the end of the 6 weeks.
We have to say a big thank you to the school office
staff who took on the responsibility of putting up and
taking down the noticeboard each week. At the start of
the 6 weeks there was a whole staff questionnaire to
assess prior knowledge and the questionnaire was
repeated at the end to evaluate the impact of the CPD.
The pub quiz was held (in school with irn bru!) on the
7th week as one of the school’s afternoon CAT sessions.
We put a big emphasis on the social and collegiate
aspect of learning. There was food from different
countries with Asian, Polish and Scottish food being
represented. The staff feedback and the questionnaire
results were very positive after the event. There was a
relaxed atmosphere with a bit of competitive buzz!
One of the lovely comments was that the teachers felt
very pleased with the extent of their collective
knowledge.
We learned a lot in the process. Of course, there are
many things we would do differently, but also many
things we would repeat. We are going to use this
format with some tweaks over the coming session. If
you want to know more details about the CPD we
would be happy to share all the pros and cons with
you.
Nikhat Yusaf and Helen Law
Comment from Angie Brack (HT): "Despite having
had the usual busy day the teaching staff were all
ready to play! Each round focussed on slightly
different areas which meant that a lot was covered in a
relatively short time. Everyone was discussing and
debating the answers - a chance for professional
dialogue is always welcomed. It was a relaxed session
filled with fun. I am sure like all teachers my staff
enjoy a bit of competition and the teams worked well.
The prizes were well received too. My thanks to
Nikhat and Helen for all their work and effort to make
this a successful and enjoyable experience for all the
staff. "
Additional Support for Learning Service
101 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4DS
Tel. 0131 469 2890
10
St Cuthberts RC PS Language class winners
Jennifer Lawrie’s language class children from the younger class at St Cuthbert’s have been announced as one of
three winners for this year’s Virgin Money Fireworks Poster competition.
They were invited along to the prize giving on 28th June at the Virgin Money Lounge on St Andrews Square where they
were announced as one of the posters that will advertise the firework at the end of the festival.
The children coped so well with the party and all the attention they were given as this can be hard for them to cope
with sometimes. We are all extremely proud of them.
http://www.eif.co.uk/blog/2016/longlist-virgin-money-fireworks-concert-poster-competition
The above link is the link to the longlist. They haven’t updated the website yet with the winners. St Cuthbert’s entry
is the black picture with the red, yellow and orange fireworks.
I just wanted to pass on this exciting news.
Kind regards
Jennifer Lawrie
Additional Support for Learning Service
101 Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh EH16 4DS
Tel. 0131 469 2890
11
A warm welcome to our new colleagues
Sheena Lowes, Teacher, Covering Private Partner
Nurseries, previously team 2 fixed term
Catherine Robertson, LLC teacher EY/Pri, Team 1,
wef 15/8/16
Colleen Reeve, now returned from Maternity Leave
and Career Break , EALT, Team 3
Megan Cotter, EALT, Team 2
Emma Taylor, PSA, Team 1
Elaine Todd, Teacher, Secondment from Sighthill PS
0.5 Team 1/0.5 Team 2
We say goodbye to:
Staff leaving:
Jan McDevitt, VI teacher
Anna Maxwell, PSA, Team 1
Szymon Podboraczynski - BSA, Team 3
Kirsten Shield, Nursery Nurse, Team 2
Gail Morris , Nursery Nurse, Team 2
Thank you for all your hard work and
support. All the best for your futures!
Staff Secondment:
Claire Hornby, Acting SL Team 3, to Edinburgh
University, Moray House, 1 yr
Career Breaks:
Marina Mackenzie, Nursery Nurse, Sensory
Services, 2 years
Amal Houssain, BSA, Team 3, 1 year
Jen Beales, EALT, Team 1, 2 years
Maternity Leave:
Alice Mountford, VI teacher, 27/06/16 to 30/6/17
Caroline Gray, PSA, returning soon!
Best wishes to both
Lynn Lymer - VI, teacher
Fiona Kelso - EALT Sec, Team 1
Sarah Chalk, LLC, Teacher EY/Pri, Team 3
Margaret Hunter, PPN, SL
Allison Nisbett, LW teacher, Sec, Team 2
We wish you all the best for a fun filled
retirement. Thank you for all you have
done to help get it right for the children
and young people we support.
You will be missed!
Farewell to colleagues who are retiring:
