Study Skills
From Year 9 onwards, we provide a specialist Study Skills programme which meets the specific needs of our Key Stage Four pupils. Through three sessions each week, pupils are explicitly taught a broad range of academic study skills to support their learning across the Key Stage Four curriculum and to support them to develop as independent, effective learners.
The Study Skills curriculum is tailored to meet the specific learning needs of each cohort of students, but includes the following core content:
- Personal Organisation and Time Management strategies
- Neuroplasticity, Metacognition and what these mean for our learning
- Resilience and growth mindset
- Reading Skills and Strategies
- Using Assistive Technology e.g. computer reader software, reading pens and dictation software
- Planning techniques
- Writing skills
- Research skills
- Note-taking and recording strategies e.g. mindmapping, flowcharts
- Memory strategies
- Revision Techniques and creating effective revision materials
- Exam preparation and exam technique
- Overlearning key content for English, Maths, Science
- Developing a ‘normal way of working’ for exams and using exam access arrangements effectively (Members of our team are qualified to assess pupils for GCSE exam Access Arrangements such as extra time and the use of a reader or scribe).
The SpLD Study Skills team comprises of three teachers with specialist qualifications/specialist teaching experience. A minimum of a 3:12 adult to student ratio means that students benefit from small-group and one-to-one support in every session. We use a range of research-informed strategies and visual, multi-sensory approaches to support students with the development and consolidation of these key study skills and content in a SpLD friendly-format.
