Learning Support

Karen Barker, Deputy Headteacher

The Learning Enhancement and Development Centre (LEAD) staffed by a multi-disciplinary specialist teacher team and the librarians, provides exceptional academic support for all our pupils. Using the Finborough Learnability,  Covey Habits and Finborough 14, we can be at the heart of developing excellent habits for learning and life. As part of this, our student librarians enjoy their time volunteering and making a contribution to the community!

The Head of LEAD, a qualified assessor, responsible for assessment and tracking throughout the school, works with the other deputy head teachers and teaching staff, striving to ensure your child exceeds expectations.

From Early Years through to A level, the well-qualified specialist LEAD teacher team provides additional bespoke tuition for children with dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, AD(H)D and ASD.

Whether one-to-one, or in small, supported study groups, you can be completely confident that, throughout the whole school, your child will receive the academic support he or she requires. If necessary, support  is also available from speech and language, physio and occupational therapists.  The Head of LEAD has a developing expertise in auditory processing difficulties. She is a registered provider of Johansen Individualised Auditory Stimulation, a specialist listening programme, which has benefitted dozens of our children. In the words of one of our senior school pupils: “It’s life-changing.”

Johansen Individualised Auditory Stimulation (Johansen IAS) or ‘Sound Therapy’

Mrs Karen Barker is a registered provider of Johansen IAS.

Listening is the ability to use what we hear. Johansen IAS is an auditory stimulation programme which is a precise and effective way of developing and improving listening skills. It involves listening to music specifically designed to stimulate the nerve pathways into and within the brain – in particular the areas dealing with language. Children as young as three years old, adolescents and adults can all benefit from Johansen IAS.

We have seen statistically significant improvements in auditory processing skills, when the sub-skills for listening and learning are strengthened through listening to Johansen IAS CDs. Concentration, listening and understanding of language are enhanced, as incoming information is dealt with more quickly and efficiently.  Improvements in reading and spelling are also often seen, as the ability to analyse the sound structure of words is strengthened, making decoding much easier.

“It’s life changing” – (Y9 student)

Click here to view the Finborough CReSTeD Report 2019