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Learning Support at Aquinas

The following information is for students who will be following a mainstream Level 2 or Level 3 program of GCSEs, A levels or BTECs (COVID restrictions permitting).

If you have needed any support at school, you might be wondering what support is available at college. Because the demands of college are different from those of school, we have an individual discussion with each student to establish what support is appropriate. There is a range of different support available and you might not necessarily need the same type of support or the same level of support as you have had at school.

You need to be aware that your school will not automatically pass information on to college and so we might ask you to contact your school to ask them to send certain information to us. If you have an Education Health and Care Plan, the Local Authority will usually send that to us.

If you have a learning difficulty, a disability or a medical condition which impacts on you as a student the Learning Support Team will work with you to support your learning and to enable you to become more independent during your time at Aquinas. We can offer you the following support, whether or not you have an Education Health and Care Plan:

  • an assessment interview – where we meet with you individually to discuss your needs and appropriate support
  • information to tutors – to share with your group tutor and subject teachers information about your support needs and strategies for supporting you across the whole college curriculum

Following the assessment interview, a number of different types of support can be put in place, according to need and to what is most appropriate for each student. These include:

Before you start at Aquinas

  • familiarisation visits
  • attendance of Aquinas staff at Year 11 review meetings
  • support at Welcome Day
  • support at enrolment

Once you are an Aquinas student

  • equipment loan – e.g. laptop, assistive software
  • 1:1 support sessions with a Learning Support Teacher – this could be either short-term or long-term and is designed to help you develop the skills and strategies you need for college work
  • in-class support from a Learning Support Assistant
  • meeting on arrival in college and support at the end of the day
  • support in unstructured time, such as break, lunch time and study periods
  • a quiet place to go to if ‘time out’ is needed
  • opportunities to meet other students
  • setting up and providing exam access arrangements – e.g. extra time
  • specialist assessment – to identify specific learning difficulties like dyslexia or to provide evidence for exam access arrangements
  • reviews

You might need a different level of support and/or a different type of support at different stages of your time at Aquinas.

We run a Learning Support Daily Drop-In, when we are available to provide further support or to discuss your needs.
In addition, support is available from:

  • Stockport Sensory Support Service, for students with a visual impairment or hearing impairment
  • the college Counselling Service
  • an Education Psychologist
  • Stockport Family

Further Information

  • The Learning Support Team

    • We are a team of specialist Learning Support Teachers and Learning Support Assistants.

      We are based on the first floor of the Learning Centre. We have a number of rooms for individual support, a classroom and an area where you can work independently and feel at ease.

      We are happy to meet prospective students at our open events to discuss support at college. If you apply to Aquinas, we encourage you to indicate in your application that you have a disability, learning difficulty or medical condition; this is our starting point for discussion with you later in the process.

      We look forward to working with you!

  • Contact Details
  • Local Offer

    • The Stockport Local Offer pages tell you what is available for children and young people who have Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) in Stockport. www.sensupportstockport.uk