Supporting Education

Cranleigh Abu Dhabi is committed to offering all pupils a broad and balanced curriculum to ensure the best possible progress for our children.

As teachers and parents working in partnership, we take steps towards making appropriate provision for the children in our care who have special educational needs (people of determination).

Every Child is Unique

We work proactively to create a supportive and inclusive environment to help resolve difficulties and promote positive solutions for pupils experiencing barriers to their learning. We appreciate the uniqueness of each child who comes into our care and to support and nurture their physical, intellectual, emotional and social development, irrespective of their starting point. Provision for people of determination is a matter for the School as a whole and as such, all teachers are teachers of pupils with special educational needs.

Understanding a Child's Special Educational Needs

The majority of pupils learn and progress through normal teaching and assessment but there will be some whose overall attainment or achievement in specific subjects fall significantly outside the expected range and these pupils may have special educational needs.

Cranleigh is committed to the early identification of special educational needs and adopts a graduated response to meet these needs.

If a child is not making the expected progress the Form Tutor/ Subject Teacher will consult with the Learning Support Team in order to decide whether additional and/or different provision is necessary. Initial intervention may involve in-class observation, discussion with relevant teachers and implementation of scaffolding/differentiation techniques.  We can also carry out ‘in-house screening’ and offer access to a full educational assessment administered by our Specialist Assessor.

Supporting the Child

If children require further support the Learning Support Department has a range of qualified and highly experienced Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) and specialist teachers who are able to provide support in-class, individually and in small groups. In our team we have a Speech and Language Therapist (SaLT) and Occupational Therapist (OT) helping to cater for and support a wide range of individual learning needs. We are fully committed to empowering pupils to be confident, self-reliant and resilient. We also have a school counsellor as part of our team.  This service is important to promote positive mental wellbeing and provides a confidential, safe, nurturing and personalised approach for children.

The provision for pupils who have been formally assessed and require additional support is recorded in a Learning Passport that is created in consultation with the child and their Learning Support Teacher, subject teachers, parents and the child’s form tutor. Any additional examination access arrangements that students qualify for are noted in the Learning Passport. Achievable targets will be set and we encourage a close partnership with parents to be involved in their child’s learning and progress.

Reaching their full potential

At Cranleigh, we strive to ensure that every child reaches their full potential and it is our aim to boost each pupil’s self-esteem and to capitalise on and increase their strengths, as well as remediating areas of weakness. We are confident that many of our pupils of determination will make a great effort to overcome their learning difficulties. Encouragement and support both at school and home are vital and we remain very connected and invested in the child, parent, school triangle for success.