By the time students attend the Senior School, specific difficulties relating to reading and spelling have usually been ironed out by targeted support at Prep School. Ideally, students should be competent in decoding text accurately (reading words by adding sounds together) and spelling phonically (so the target word is recognisable) and are able to engage in independent study. Where students are not competent readers and cannot communicate in writing without support, to continue teaching these skills at a level for it to be effective, is time-consuming and unpopular with students. In such cases, we encourage students to utilise assistive technology to facilitate their independent study. The range of supports given at this level are those that will also be required in exams depending on the current regulations of the Joint Council for Qualifications.

Study Support lessons are taught directly to our Third Form students (13+ years).

These include (depending on need):

• Review of Maths topics taught in class
• Basic operations and number skills in Maths
• Reading for information
• Essay planning
• Writing notes and summaries
• Effective punctuation

In addition, we tailor individual sessions to support specific needs including:

• Organisational strategies
• Revision planning (also covered by Tutors)
• Exam techniques (also covered by Tutors)
• Speech-recognition training (where appropriate)
• TextHelp training (where appropriate)

Fourth and Fifth Form students (14-15+ years), who are focussing on GCSE courses, require a more flexible approach to Study Support. Difficulties tend to be experienced with the process, rather than content, of:

• Maths
• English (or structuring essays)
• Coursework
• Organisation of prep, notes or computer files
• Planning for and undertaking revision

Study Support information and advice about students with identified and specific learning difficulties is made available to all our teaching staff. This provides them with an outline of the student’s strengths and weaknesses and ways in which they can be supported in the classroom. Study Support will vary depending on the subject, the nature and level of difficulty, and the student’s own efforts. Students are required to commit to working towards goals which will help them access their curriculum and demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of it.

Support is not confined to the Support for Learning department.

Students have access to a wide support network at Fettes; the Houseparents, the Resident Tutor, Academic Tutor, House Prefects and other senior students. There is a weekly time available in the timetable for extra help with subject teachers and one-to-one tutor meetings. All students are expected to identify targets, for each subject, in areas of difficulty they feel it is important to address and to discuss possible strategies with their Tutor and subject teachers. Information and pointers from class work, homework, exam results and reports are fed into these discussions. These are recorded and reported on by subject teachers.

It is particularly important for new entrants to the Fourth Form (14+ years) that additional support needs are discussed well in advance. Among other things, this ensures that appropriate procedures are set up and in place for the start of GCSE courses. We will find time to fit in Fourth and Fifth Form students with full timetables where possible; perhaps after breakfast or lunch or during activity time after school. The students concerned must be willing to show commitment to attending these sessions otherwise it is ineffective. All students are encouraged to attend the weekly Academic Priority session, where teachers are available for consultation about any subject-specific difficulties.

Students with significant needs, requiring several Study Support lessons per cycle, are advised to consider keeping one GCSE option column free. This should be discussed with the Deputy Head (Academic), who will advise on implications for future A level, IB or career choices. Studying for only eight GCSEs would provide several free periods per week, allowing for more individual attention from Support for Learning staff and for private study.

Students who need extra time in exams often find they need more independent study time to keep up with reading, complete written assignments, coursework, prepare revision notes and spend time reviewing them.

Students entering Fettes in the Sixth Form (16+ years) and who have had exam arrangements at GCSE level should contact the Head of Support for Learning on arrival so we can provide the best support to you. They should take responsibility to introduce themselves to the Head of Support for Learning and the Head of Sixth Form at the new students’ meeting on the first day of school or as soon as possible thereafter.

Copies of documentation regarding the student’s history of support, such as Educational Psychologist reports, test results and other assessments should be passed on to the Head of Support for Learning. This information is used to help establish a History of Need which forms part of the compulsory evidence required when applying for further exam arrangements.

Applications for extra time are the most common exam arrangement.

Some students require the use of a computer to word-process their writing or, very occasionally, a reader, scribe (or voice-activated software). A scribe (or voice-activated software) should only be allowed in exceptional cases. In such cases, students would use word-processing with a spellchecker rather than a scribe or voice-activated software, as these encourage independent study and prepare students for life beyond school.

The school should be alerted to any visual difficulties such as colour-blindness (affecting colour-naming in map reading in Geography exams or identifying the colour of litmus paper in Science) or the need for enlarged or modified exam papers.

Medical conditions where exam arrangements are required must include a doctor’s letter detailing the medical problem that adversely affects the student’s education. Long-term illnesses such as ME do not in themselves make a student eligible for exam allowances. However, each case is assessed on an individual basis and on occasion in consultation with the examining bodies themselves. It is advisable to discuss such matters well in advance with the Head of Support for Learning.

All schools are required to provide specific information on students for whom exam arrangements are requested to exam boards.

The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) publish guidelines for making applications for exam arrangements. These are broadly the same for Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) and the International Baccalaureate (IB). The additional arrangements requested for exams must reflect the student’s difficulties as they are experienced in school on an everyday basis and not just to maximise performance in exam situations.

Inspectors visit each school during the exam period and go through students’ evidence files to check that applications for exam arrangements comply with exam board requirements. Where a student has been given exam arrangements without an adequate file of evidence, the school’s action may be described as malpractice. Where this is the case, the student’s grades may be disallowed and in extreme instances, the school can have its status as an examination centre removed. Fettes therefore takes this process very seriously and will not put students forward for exam arrangements without strong school-based evidence of need.

The Joint Council for Qualifications states that, for the purpose of making an application for exam arrangements, assessments must be carried out from the start of Year 9 (age 13+ years - Third Form at Fettes). Assessments, used as evidence of exam arrangements, should ideally be carried out by a Specialist Assessor employed by the school. The Head of Support for Learning (as Specialist Teacher) is in the best position to conduct these assessments and from them to determine eligibility for exam arrangements. Should parents prefer a full psychological assessment from a Specialist teacher, Educational Psychologist or Clinical Psychiatrist the school should be informed of this before the assessment takes place. If any parent has concerns about their child in relation to Dyslexic difficulties, we recommend getting a full diagnostic assessment done and support families in making the necessary arrangements.

An existing Educational Psychologist or Specialist Teacher report provides very useful background information for the student’s support. However, to provide evidence of need for a successful application for exam arrangements, the Specialist Assessor will administer tests to determine current performance with a focus on those areas previously demonstrating greatest weakness. External assessors cannot determine exam arrangements but they can suggest recommendations.

Although exam arrangements can roll over into the Sixth Form, it cannot be assumed these will automatically continue. This may be best demonstrated by re-testing the areas of greatest weakness. In addition, teachers are asked to support a declaration from their observations that the student continues to have an impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their work in class.

Following assessment, exam arrangements must be supported by school-based evidence of need.

Information is therefore sought about a student’s difficulties from subject teachers based on their observations and supported by examples of work. For example, evidence that extra time resulted in improved outcomes for a student would be relevant here. Exam arrangements are monitored during internal exams through a feedback sheet from each exam paper. Changing pen colour when extra time begins allows teachers to assess the impact of extra time on the quality and quantity of work completed in the second colour. Such outcomes would constitute good evidence for extra time. However, if students have not used the extra time to any significant advantage, the monitoring sheet provides a platform from which discussions with the subject teacher follow about using this time more effectively. If extra time is still not used effectively then the student will not be able to have it for the external exam sessions.