Support and Challenge

As our School Vision states, we are passionate about ensuring EVERYONE grows during their time at St. Mary's.  

We know that some children will require support to do this, others will require challenge and some will require both! 

Support and Challenge at St. Mary's:

All children receive wellbeing support in the mornings to settle into the school day (please see the information on 'Feelings Flowers' here).

All lessons, throughout the day, are adapted to ensure they are accessible to all children.  These adaptations are clear to the children through the differentiated Success Criteria we share with them during the lesson.  This means:

• Children may receive adult support to complete an activity
• Children may be asked to complete a simplified version of the activity 
• Children may be asked to complete a more challenging version of the activity (please also see the Academically More Able page)
• Children may be asked to complete a different activity which requires them to apply the knowledge they have learnt to respond to something more abstract (please also see the Academically More Able page)

Please note, challenges and application activities are open to all children if they wish to tackle them!  

For those children requiring extra support academically, we have a comprehensive programme of intervention support available.  Interventions occur throughout the school day and are led by a trained and experienced member of staff.  Class Teachers will share with parents if their child is having intervention support and in which areas. 

Some children require additional support with wellbeing matters.  Through consultation with parents, these children will visit one of our Wellbeing Leaders regularly (Mrs. Burraway or Miss Grassi) to discuss and manage their wellbeing needs.  Work undertaken with the Wellbeing Leads will be shared with parents.   Please also see the information on 'Time to Talk' on the Wellbeing page. 

For those children requiring more specific, personalised support in one or more areas, they are supported by school staff under the direction of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENDCo).  Parents of children supported in this way will have at least termly meetings with the Class Teacher and SENDCo to discuss the support being provided and next steps.  Please also see the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) page.