Our Specialist Approch
Learning Beyond the Label
Supporting pupils with a specialist teaching approach has always been at the heart of More House teaching and learning.
Recent research at the University of Cambridge Centre for Attention, Learning and Memory (CALM) has helped us to understand why our approach is so effective at enabling children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) to learn within the whole class environment.
For a long time at More House, our teachers have recognised that language support must be central to everything we do, while also understanding that our success extends far beyond this. The CALM evidence-base has now helped us to understand the roles of Attention, Memory and Processing support, giving us the ‘LAMP’ spread of cognitive domains to consider in every aspect of our teaching and learning.
Language Attention Memory Processing
Teachers can be confident that when they apply their understanding of ‘LAMP’ domains in their adaptive teaching, as they plan, teach, assess and reflect, they will be supporting a wide range of needs and diagnostic labels. This means that pupils do not need to be withdrawn from lessons, missing out on valuable learning experiences alongside their peers. They do not need to depend on teaching assistants or one-to-one support and instead develop important independent learning skills.
Resources available to More House staff, such as the Class Mapping Tool, enable a bespoke approach to each and every teaching group, outlining areas of strength and barrier, so that activities and tasks can match pupil needs, play to their strengths and enable outcomes.
Staff are trained to understand, deliver and reflect on our specialist approach through our in-house training programme. Initial induction and the first year of weekly, in-person training, alongside enrolment into our bespoke Level 3 ‘Effective SEND Support’ online course, establishes a foundation to deliver this support, followed by a regular revisiting of the material during in-service training and professional development review opportunities.
A visit to a typical classroom at More House will find around 12-14 pupils and a single teacher focused on learning a topic or skill identical to that found in a mainstream school. The lesson will feature calm but active learning, with high expectations, relational interactions, clear tolerance of difference and a wide range of opportunities for pupils to access content, and for teachers to assess and evidence outcomes.
Since our pupils gain GCSE, BTEC and A-Level grades above the age-expected national averages, despite many being told earlier on in life that they would never do so, we know that this approach works. Story after story is told by parents, staff and the pupils themselves, of achievements that were never expected, of ambitions that have now been realised.
Yet we are not standing still. We work with university researchers to explore and reinforce our understanding, to improve the impact of our practice, to make it even more effective, consistent and life-changing for our pupils and their families.
Teaching at More House – How is it different?
We have created a leaflet to explain the unique and bespoke More House model of teaching and learning
Training & Outreach
To find out more about how other schools can engage with our Learning Beyond the Label approach, visit the Training & Outreach section of the website
Holistic and integrated therapeutic support
Welcome to the Learning Development Centre (LDC) at More House School.
Our therapists are inspiring and creative, committed to transforming the futures of intelligent pupils with literacy and language-related additional challenges, by empowering them.
Our LDC team of Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Literacy and Numeracy tutors and therapy assistants work directly with the students. Our therapists develop collaborative therapeutic relationships to support pupils to thrive and reach their full potential by finding their strengths.
LDC at More House School incorporates the following areas:
- Speech and Language Therapy (SALT)
- Occupational Therapy (OT)
- Literacy and Numeracy Support
- LDC Study Skills
To learn more about the above areas of LDC support, or about the therapeutic facilities at More House School, explore the sub-pages within this section.
Fully integrated therapeutic provision
Our Learning Development Centre is a purpose-built area, housed centrally in the school, where all direct therapy and specialist tuition is delivered by fully qualified therapists and specialist tutors, supported by experienced therapy assistants. Therapeutic provision is holistic and integrated throughout the school, working on the aforementioned four key areas of:
Language Attention Memory Processing
Almost all students in the school attend lessons in small groups weekly, with support continuing through GCSE and A-Level years where necessary. Pupils are grouped by support need, not diagnosis.
Many pupils have previously had negative experiences of being removed from class in order to attend support lessons, but at More House attendance in the LDC forms part of each student’s timetable, removing any need to be singled out or to miss classroom learning. Alongside timetabled therapeutic provision, therapists may attend lessons in the wider school to support students to generalise specific strategies in context.
LDC Across the School
The Junior and Middles Years
In Years 4-8, students can access up to one hour per day of therapeutic support or tuition, depending on identified need. This may comprise of any combination of Speech and Language Therapy, Literacy Tuition, Occupational Therapy and/or Numeracy Tuition and is bespoke to the needs of the individual. It is reviewed annually and may be adjusted to best match the developing skills of students.
The Senior Years
In Year 9, students can continue to access any combination of Speech and Language Therapy, Literacy Tuition, Occupational Therapy and/or Numeracy Tuition for up to five sessions per fortnight. This continues to be individually designed, to meet the specific needs of the students as they progress through their educational journey.
In Year 10 and 11, the separate individual disciplines of Speech and Language Therapy, Literacy Tuition, Occupational Therapy and/or Numeracy Tuition are united to form Study Skills. Students are grouped based on their areas of strength and challenge, and subject interests. Support is then provided by the same LDC team, to meet their language, social, literacy, executive functioning and numeracy needs as they apply this to GCSE topics. Support is provided to all with exam technique, study skills and revision, and then more individualised support is tailored to meet the specific learning challenges of each student. To learn more about access arrangements and exam support, visit the sub-page within this section. One session per fortnight is SLANG (scientific language) – specific support with the vocabulary, concepts and skills for Science, jointly delivered with the Science teachers. Study Skills sessions are delivered in small groups for three sessions per fortnight.
The Sixth Form
In Years 12 and 13, specialist Study Skills tutors continue to develop the skills learned in Year 10 and Year 11, and develop the skills necessary to manage the new challenges of Sixth Form learning, such as prioritising and workload management for independent learning. Sixth Form Study Skills sessions are delivered one hour per week in small groups.
How is provision decided?
On their visit to the school as part of the admissions process, pupils are informally assessed by the Speech and Language and Occupational Therapy teams and any previous reports or current Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) are reviewed. From here, therapists make a judgement about the level and quantity of support a student will require to be successful within our holistic school environment.
We recognise that students’ needs may change over time, as they develop skills or as new demands are placed on them. For this reason, therapeutic provision is closely monitored and carefully reviewed each academic year, and adjustments may be made to provision.