Additional Learning Support
Additional Learning Support (ALS)
St Brendan's acknowledges that many students, for various reasons, will need help in the form of additional support in order to succeed in their chosen courses. Support is available to those with learning difficulties, physical and medical conditions, sensory impairments and mental health issues. Other students who do not identify themselves in this way can also access this service on a regular basis to help aid their progression.
Our emphasis is on inclusion for all students at differing levels of ability, from supporting students on how to structure their essays and gain confidence with their literacy and numeracy skills, to improving access to education for those with physical difficulties. We aim to make reasonable adjustments and remove barriers to provide a service to all students that enables learners to access and fully participate in education and college life. Early contact with the Learning Support Team will be useful.
The Learning Support Team offers one-to-one support to anyone who feels they may need extra support with their course, plus in-class support for many courses. We also offer 'drop-in' sessions and workshops in many subjects which are open to all St Brendan's students. We offer an independent, confidential service to students aimed at helping you to be successful in your studies and career. Many students have found this service to be beneficial, helping them to succeed in their studies.
We have a rigorous testing system in place to identify students in need of Additional Learning Support (eg. those with dyslexia) as well as exam concessions.
For students with ALS needs, we can provide:
- Support for all students including those with learning difficulties and disabilities.
- Individual programmes of support to meet the needs of each student.
- Full Braille facilities and facilities to support those with sensory impairment.
- Personalised equipment e.g. laptops, specialist software and hardware.
- Help to organise course work, plan assignments, meet deadlines and proof reading.
- Provision to access the curriculum at all levels.
- Adaptation of teaching materials to enable access.
- Full assessment leading to application for exam concessions when necessary.
- Fully equipped room to aid all students with their learning.
- Assistance with;
- Communication
- Numeracy
- Literacy
- ICT
At present we have the following hardware and software to support students:
- Special laptops with special music tech and computing software
- Dragon Naturally Speaking - Voice recognition software for making notes
- Jaws screen reader
- Sonar - accessible software for use in music tech (originally Cakewalk)
- Caketalking which works with Jaws to make Sonar even more accessible
- Omnipage Professional 16 for scanning and optical character recognition
- Duxbury DBT - Braille translation software
- Index Basic-D Embosser to produce double-sided Braille
- EasyProducer pack to produce Daisy files
- EasyReader software to read Daisy files
- Daisy Mlestone 311 player - portable Daisy reader, MP3 player and voice recorder
- Plextalk PTN1 Daisy Player used for small groups to listen to a Daisy format book whilst following on paper
- TIE junior (Tactile Image Enhancer) for making tactile diagrams
- Embossing wheel for creating tactile materials
- Plastic Embossing film for creating tactile sketches
- Gel Pad (geometry mat)
- Zoom Text magnifier and Screen Reader