Academic support in Prep
Enabling our pupils to achieve their full potential
Our Academic Support (AS) staff support all pupils in gaining the skills and tools they need to achieve their full potential across the curriculum, as independent and confident learners
How we work
We work closely with teachers to support the specific areas pupils are struggling with. This includes individual subject teaching (pre-teaching or revisiting subject content) and focusing on key skills. We identify strengths and learning styles to tailor our provision. Baselines are set to measure and demonstrate progress.
Typically, we work with groups, pairs or in a 1-to-1 one format. This can be in or out of the classroom, depending on the nature of support required.
Prep School support
In Prep School, all our academic support staff are fully-qualified teachers. They plan support with form and subject teachers and advise on the best methods to ensure full and equal access to quality teaching for pupils. Our support team can plan, implement and teach alongside some teachers to ensure this.
Support is usually delivered from Year 2 to Year 6, and covers the core skills of English and Mathematics, including:
- Individual word decoding
- Reading comprehension
- Spelling
- Handwriting
- Writing planning
- Creative writing word choices
- Editing written work
- Number sense
- Number word problems
Some pupils are taught in one-to-one sessions (targeted, individually planned and delivered lessons which incur an extra charge to termly fees bill) and / or in small groups in or out of the whole class setting.
Working with parents
Parents are fully involved in the implementation of support and the review at the end of a specific intervention. Pupils joining Kimbolton with county-funding (typically with medical issues rather than academic ones) are also supported. We liaise with the various agencies, including the county, to ensure appropriate support is provided.
We have a qualified, experienced team of staff with expertise in supporting pupils with a variety of specific neurodiverse learning difficulties, for example dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, Asperger’s and ADHD.
All our teaching staff recognise that every child has a favoured learning style. We encourage pupils to recognise this, enabling every child to reach their full potential by understanding the learning process as an explicit part of their education. Key to this is working with the pupil to create and effectively use a ‘toolkit of strategies’ to navigate round any underlying difficulty.
