Learning Support

Abbot’s Hill is an inclusive school that unlocks, develops and celebrates the strengths of the individual child. We deliver an innovative, relevant and ambitious curriculum for all, with a personalised, tailored approach to learning.

As a staff, we believe that learning support is the responsibility of every teacher and learning support assistant. The school operates a ‘whole-pupil, whole-school’ approach to the identification, management and provision of support for special educational needs.

The Learning Support department, known as The Rose Garden – complete with resident hamster, Romeo – offers a warm and welcoming environment, with an open door policy, to pupils, staff and parents. Our experienced team of specialist teachers and two Level 7 qualified specialist assessors deliver regular training to all staff, providing strategies and techniques to support individual learning in class. This allows us to support our pupil-centred approach to learning support.

Learning support has been extended into the Prep School through The Rose Bud – an inclusive learning space for Prep pupils and staff to use for small group sessions, 1:1 interventions and as an open resource for all pupils to access during break time. This space can be used for quiet reflection, asking specific questions regarding their learning or accessing peer on peer support.

We aim to enable all pupils to achieve their full potential in all aspects of school life, and recognise that some are challenged by specific learning differences. We cater for mild needs and make reasonable adjustments to cater for those needs. Whilst not a specialist school, we work with conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, Attention Hyperactivity Deficit Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), collaborating with external agencies including speech therapists, occupational therapists and educational psychologists as appropriate. The Rose Garden also offers support to all pupils with other areas of learning such as organisation, examination technique and revision skills.

In the Prep School, support may be through in-class specialist support, online spelling and reading programmes, and small group interventions with a specialist teacher.

The Admissions Process

We can support a limited number of children with mild learning difficulties each year. During the application process, we will ask you for additional information about any known or suspected difficulties or diagnoses relating to your child’s health, wellbeing or learning abilities – such as a formal Educational Psychologist, Medical or Specialist Teacher’s report and will seek an informal conversation with your child’s current school. This information will help us see if we could reasonably meet your child’s needs so that they can benefit from everything the school has to offer and be able to contribute in full to the life of the school. 

If you have any questions relating to this aspect of the Admissions process, please contact registrar@abbotshill.herts.sch.uk