Learner Support makes it easier for you to see the “big picture” for each of your learners. From the very first time that a learner walks into the school until the moment they leave, you will now have all of their information, records and interactions available to you in one place. This enables you to truly give them the support that they need. Importantly, other Learner Support team members, Guidance and Counsellors, Tutors, Year or Form Head’s along with Management will be kept up to date and SchoolWise makes sure nothing goes unmissed. It will help align teams right across the school and help make sure everyone is on the same page.
Having all the necessary information about each learner in one place and up to date will only lead to better outcomes.
Things change and so do people, that is why it is important to have an up to date profile on each learner within your school. This couldn’t be easier to capture within Learner Support by any member of the team.
All the interactions a learner has such as diagnostic or screening tests, guidance meetings, learning support interventions, attendance or behaviour issues, meetings or phone calls with parents, progress notes can all now be captured in SchoolWise. You now have one place to record and track their journey through your school.
Learner Details and Attributes
When we sat down and spoke with our schools around how they were capturing and building out a profile for each learner, it quickly became apparent that this was an onerous task. Folders in filing cabinets at different ends of the school with sticky notes, templates, handwritten sheets, photocopies and reports. Correlating and tracking this information is done static registers and spreadsheets on someones computer or device. Adding or searching for information when you need to is such an arduous task nevermind sharing this with the relevant people.
Recording and tracking a learner’s data into their ‘Learner Profile’ is quick and simple and can easily be retrieved at the click of a button. Importantly, it’s in real-time so everything is up to date.
You can track their Social, Emotional and Mental Health such as ADHD, Dyslexia, Withdrawn, etc. Physical such as visual or hearing impairments, Language Exemptions and Dropped subjects if they are receiving 1:1 time for Learning Support. You can even track their RACE and DARE requirements.
You can also Tag your learners to group or segment them. This removes the need for static mailing lists or registers, spreadsheets and paper files. For example, if guidance have their 1:1 meetings with learners around thrid level options, each learner interested in ‘Computer Science’ for example could be tagged with this. You could then search for all the learners across the school or in sixth year who are tagged with ‘Computer Science’. You can even message those learners to say a guest speaker is coming to the school next week to talk about the course in the local university.
Searching for learners across your school is instant. Let’s say you need to find all the learners in your school who have Dyslexia or maybe just those in first year. Show me all the learners in third year who have the tag ‘Study Skills’. Find all learners who are exempt from Irish.
Having all of this relevant information about your learner will only lead to better planning and intervention strategies to support them in their journey through your school.
You now have every note, phone call, message sent to teachers, guidance interview, intervention plan, attributes and details about every learner in one place. Medical, CAT4, WRAT, passport from primary school to psychological reports are all in one place at the click of a button and available to only those who should be able to access it.
With a holistic view of your learners, you will be able to support them the best possible way as you know and understand them. Having all of their up to date, relevant information in one place will lead to better outcomes and help you create an inclusive school.
This post is a series we will be doing on Learner Support so signup to be notified or check back for more posts.
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