Additional+Support+Programmes+at+Ridgewood

USA Case Study – Support Programs
Ridgewood High School is a very high achieving and prestigious school; with the majority of students continuing their study in college after their high school years. Despite this, there is and always will be students who need support, be it for learning difficulties, emotional or social issues or in assistance with learning the English language. Ridgewood High prides itself on its extensive provisions for students with such needs and it appears that there should be few students who have needs that cannot be met at the school.

There are three programmes in particular at the school which we investigated and feel contribute greatly to the provision of support for individual students needs. These programmes are: the Freshman Focus, English as a Second Language (ESL), the Strategic Actions and Innovations for Learning (SAIL) Programme and Collaborative Teaching. This study will focus on these three specific programmes, however these programmes are a part of wider departments at Ridgewood High School. //(refer to: Support Departments at Ridgewood High School) //

Freshman Focus
The Freshman Focus is setup to create links between the students in senior years and younger students. Students in their senior year at the school are trained as Peer Counsellors and then paired the Freshman (first year students) and help the students throughout the year with social and emotional issues that face these first year students.

SAIL Programme
This programme is there to accommodate students who are able to reach their full potential in mainstream classrooms. The programme enables students with a lower academic level to flourish through learning in several ways e.g. internships, job coaching, use of technology. The SAIL Programme aims to “maximise the potential of every learner”.

English as a Second Language (ESL)
The ESL programme is one that was setup specifically for students whose first language is not English. The course helps to prepare students with little proficiency in English for regular participation in mainstream classrooms. The aim of this is to integrate these students with the wider school and provide the students with a sufficient fluency to study mainstream courses and take part in school activities.

Collaborative Teaching
Collaborative Teaching is designed to support students who have Individual Education Plans (IEP’s) in mainstream classrooms.

//What is and IEP?//
An IEP is an //Individual Education Plan.// These are designed to support students individual needs and strengths. An IEP can take many forms, dependent on the school, but are all there to achieve a common goal – to support and to develop a students understanding and overall learning.

“So we then take a look at what’s been going on with them, we look at their grades, we look at teacher feedback, we look at parental input and then we decide if an evaluation is warranted or not. If the evaluation is warranted, we go ahead and we conduct that evaluation and we determine whether special services is something that we need.” **Andrea Schechter**, Learning Disability Teacher talking about IEP’s.

The Support Programmes in Practice…
All of these programmes contribute to the personalisation of teaching and learning in Ridgewood. These are not all of the programs in place to support students, however these are a few which show the vast range of needs that a student may need support with. Students at High School age can be faced with numerous barriers to their learning – bullying, depression, non-native speakers, dyslexia, to name a few – and these

The Freshman Focus is a major part of the support system for students at the school.

However, John Maye was keen to point out the fact that not only the Freshman students benefit from the program. A large part of what the program offer is for the senior students to become peer counsellors for the junior students.

“A lot of us think that sometimes they [peer counsellors] get more out of it than the Freshman.” **//John Maye,//** //Freshman Focus// The Freshman Focus program allows the senior students to gain skills in numerous areas, but most of all in leadership and communication.

“We help the kids feel comfortable with themselves, adapt to the High School, understand the norms, the culture here and then deal with the issues that arise on a daily and weekly basis.” We interviewed John Maye of the Freshman Focus who described the work that the group does to support students.

“We deal with a multitude of issues, whether they be getting to know each other, helping kids to prepare for exams, to suicide, bullying, it’s a gamut of issues that we deal with.”