WATCH: Second Education video looks at student support at Lisia School
THE second video released by Education focuses on how students will be supported in the new colleges.
Education, Sport & Culture is releasing a new video every Friday for six weeks about Lisia School, the second of which came out today [Friday 24 January].
It focusses on the personal support students will receive in the island's new 11-18 colleges.
It explains how tutor groups will be smaller than they are at present but that the average class size policy of 24 students is being maintained.
'All Children with special educational needs will have more space than any of them have today,' an ESC spokesperson said. 'And for the first time health and care services accessed by students will be co-located at the colleges.'
In the film executive headteacher Liz Coffey and principal designates of the two new colleges, Vicky Godley and Kieran James, talk about how students will be supported within the new model for secondary education.
A newsletter was also be sent to parents of primary and secondary students today covering the same subject.
Some of the topics discussed include: class sizes, tutor groups, personal tutors, vertical tutoring and extra support.
'Due to the size of the colleges and the number of teachers, we can keep tutor groups small so that each tutor will look after around 15 students,' the spokesperson said.
'Tutor groups in our current high schools are based on average class sizes of 24.'
Historically, tutor groups were structured by school years but introducing vertical tutoring across years 7 to 13 aims to create more of a family feel, strengthen the college community, and help behaviour management.
'This structure has been a great success at La Mare De Carteret since its introduction a few years ago and will be replicated in the new colleges,' they said.
'Considerably more space has been allocated to provide high quality support for students with disabilities or additional needs.
'This includes Communication and Autism Support Bases at both colleges and space for co-located services, such as school nurses, educational psychologists and counsellors. This level of provision simply would not be possible if secondary education was organised across more than two sites without a significant budget increase.'
The films can be viewed on the new Lisia School Twitter and Facebook accounts or on YouTube. These social media channels will also publish a range of new and existing information.
Future films in the series will cover subjects such as the impact of scrapping the reforms, the amount of inside and outside space and how transport plans will be developed working with residents who live near the colleges and other interested parties.
