Additional Learning Needs (ALN) |

Additional Learning Needs at Penybont Primary

Penybont Primary CARES by putting our children first, to be the best that they can be. It is our aim to provide every child with happy memories and the best education possible.

 As a school we ensure the needs of all children are met through high quality teaching and learning provision in class by class teachers and our Learning Support Officers. In addition to this, children may also be withdrawn for one to one sessions/small group work.

The ALN aims of the school:

To meet the needs of all pupils through excellent teaching strategies, classroom organisation and differentiation.
To have a whole school Universal Provision that addresses the needs of all pupils.
To ensure that all pupils have access to a broad and balanced curriculum.
To ensure that early identification of a pupil’s needs is made, wherever possible.
To ensure that ALN pupils take as full a part as possible in all school activities.
To adopt a Person Centred Practice approach where the pupil, parents, school staff and outside support agencies are involved from the beginning, in planning actions and ways forward to support pupils with ALN.
To ensure that parents are kept regularly informed of their child’s progress.
To ensure that ALN pupils are involved, where practical, in decisions affecting their future ALN provision.
To work in partnership with parents, pupils and other agencies e.g. Educational Psychologist, Speech Therapists, Social Workers, School Nurse etc.

The Welsh Assembly have developed an additional learning needs (ALN) Act which transforms the separate systems for special educational needs (SEN) in schools and learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LDD) in further education, to create a unified system for supporting learners from 0 to 25 with ALN.

The ACT aims to:
• Ensure that all learners with ALN are supported to overcome barriers to learning and achieve their full potential
• Improve the planning and delivery of support for learners from 0 to 25 with ALN, placing learners’ needs, views, wishes and feelings at the heart of the process
• Focus on the importance of identifying needs early and putting in place timely and effective interventions which are monitored and adapted to ensure they deliver the desired outcomes.

A child has additional learning needs (ALN) if he or she has a learning difficulty or disability (whether the learning difficulty or disability arises from a medical condition or otherwise) which calls for additional learning provision, beyond the Universal Provision provided for all learners.

  A child of compulsory school age that has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she - 

     (a) has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or

     (b) has a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities for education or training of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream-maintained schools.

 A child under compulsory school age has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she is, or would be if no additional learning provision were made, likely to be within subsection (2) when of compulsory school age.

 A person does not have a learning difficulty or disability solely because of the language (or form of language) in which he or she is or will be taught is different from a language (or form of language) which is or has been used at home.

 The same considerations apply with regards to children with healthcare needs. It will be necessary to establish whether a child has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for Additional Learning Needs Provision (ALP). There will be many circumstances where an individual with healthcare needs does not have a learning difficulty or learning disability or where this is the case, the learning difficulty or disability does not require ALP.

 The Individual Development Plan (IDP) is the document that contains a description of the ALN that acts as a barrier to the learner in achieving their educational potential and the ALP that is necessary to overcome or mitigate this barrier. It is created through collaboration with the learner and the learners’ parents/carers in conjunction with any other professionals that might be involved. 

 The very few learners who do not make good progress through universal school provision may be identified as having ALN and require ALP. Where this is the case, the school will need to prepare and maintain an IDP that details the barrier to learning and the ALP it will secure to address the barrier. The IDP will detail the strategies and interventions that are additional to or different from what is normally provided for others of the same age.

Additional Information

For additional information regarding ALN, follow the links below:

ALN Information for Families

New ALN for Families Download

Additional Learning Needs in Wales – What is happening in Wales?