Language Support Many children come to Cauldwell with English as their second language. We value our rich multicultural population as we feel it provides all our children with an understanding of the society in which we live. The children share their experiences with each other and learn to respect and honour differences. Most children are quickly able to access the curriculum fully and make excellent progress. However, a minority may need additional help to either communicate effectively or develop higher English skills. We are fortunate in that some of our staff are trained in ESL (English as second language) and therefore able to offer support and guidance in a variety of ways. Some teaching may be done in mother-tongue or the children may need additional English language explanation to fully understand and develop their learning. All children benefit from additional support whether by being part of a small group working on a language problem with the support staff, their peers or with the class teacher in a larger group. The children’s needs are identified by the class teacher then the whole team devises a specific programme of work, through a specific language plan. Special Educational Needs At Cauldwell we try to ensure that each individual’s needs are met. However, there are a small number of children who may have a special need that interferes with their learning or behaviour. These children may be identified before they come to school, or their need will become apparent during their schooling. A teacher may be aware of a specific problem or a parent may be concerned. All children identified as having a special need that causes concern will be placed on our special needs register and their progress regularly monitored. Close contact will be kept with the children’s parents and an individual education plan will be devised. About 2% of all children may have a special need that requires considerable extra resourcing or support and these children may then be given an Education, Health and Care Plan for special education needs. At all stages parents are kept fully informed and their questions and concerns will be dealt with sensitively. Mrs J Knapp is our named governor responsible for special needs and Mrs Kerrie Gobindram leads our special needs team as Special Educational Needs and Disability Co-ordinator - both may be contacted through the school. If parents feel their child may have a special need, even if only very slight, please do not hesitate to get in contact with us.
parents are both informative and jargon-free. Parent governors should be aware of ways to encourage parent’s interest in the school. You as a parent, elect four parent governors for a period of four years. The minutes of the Governing Body meetings are available in the school office. What is the purpose of the Governing Body? The School Governors have responsibility for guiding the school in its aims and for overseeing the budget which has been allocated by the Borough Council. We do this by maintaining close contact with the Head Teacher and working with the staff to ensure that as far as possible and practicable, they all have the facilities and resources needed to do their jobs effectively. Who are the Governors? Governing bodies are a mixture of elected and appointed persons representing various aspects of the community. So there are Parent Governors elected by parents of pupils who attend the school, Community Governors appointed by the existing Governors and there are Governors delegated by the Local Authority to represent the authority's interests. If you are interested in becoming a Governor, please enquire at the school office How do we do our job? Governors, who are unpaid, are people who give up their spare time to help in managing the school. This is done by meeting together at least once each term and by forming a number of committees to monitor and guide various areas of activity - such as Finance & Personnel and School Improvement. Each committee will meet twice a term and report back to the Governors as a whole, on what is happening, what decisions have been taken and recommending courses of action which may be outside the terms of reference of the committee. For example, the Finance committee will work with the Head Teacher to set a budget each year but the budget has to be ratified by the whole governing body before being sent to the Borough Council. Another important aspect of the governors' role is in setting targets and monitoring the progress that the school makes in achieving them. The School Development Plan and the School Improvement Plan are working documents which set out the school aims to do in the academic year, which is continually updated, showing how it will be monitored and achieved. Each Governor has one or more areas of activity to which he or she is linked and will make periodic official visits to the school to observe what is happening in that area and report back to the rest of the Governors. Governors also set and agree policy documents relating to such things as Staff Pay, Behaviour, Health & Safety, Financial Management and several others. Each of these documents may be seen by enquiring at the school office.