The Bartimaeus Centre is the central hub of our Learning Support Department.  The name Bartimaeus comes from a Bible story of the blind man who cried out to Jesus for help even though the crowd tried hard to silence him. Jesus heard his cry and offered him help, and so restored his sight.  The blind man was named Bartimaeus. 

In the Bartimaeus Centre we aim to help pupils achieve their potential in all aspects of their academic and personal development. This is done by inviting pupils to attend small group sessions led by one of our experienced Learning Support Assistants.  Through the sessions pupils not only benefit from guidance in developing their core skills, but also form friendship and develop greater belief in their own ability to learn and succeed.

Each set of sessions is structured around a carefully planned scheme of work designed to  help pupils develop their basic skills and improve access to the curriculum. 

The following areas are covered:-

Literacy

Why am I writing? Who am I writing for? What do I want to say? Within this framework sentence construction; punctuation; tenses; paragraphing; clauses and speech are covered.

Spelling

Areas covered are: frequently miss-spelt words; re-enforcement of spelling rules; homophones; when double letters are used; and prefixes and suffixes. 

Paired Reading 

Small groups of up to 4 pupils read to an adult to encourage reading fluency, understanding of the text and enjoyment of books. Through these sessions the pupils gain confidence in their approach to class work, and are more able to access information in their class text book.         

Handwriting

These sessions work on letter formation; improved writing technique; increased writing speed and improved legibility. This includes group discussion and peer reviews; and looks at different genre styles.

Numeracy

This programme of work uses games, worksheets and the interactive white board to boost the pupils’ confidence in their own mathematical knowledge. This enables them to participate more fully in their Maths class by consolidating the basic number work that underpins most maths topics. Areas of work covered are:- number work; multiplication; division; percentages; fractions; decimals and place value.

Reflection

The aim is to increase pupils’ confidence both inside and outside the classroom. It promotes emotional literacy and awareness, considering both their behaviour and the behaviour of others and the effect this has on other people.

This involves role-play, artwork, games and discussion. Through these, pupils learn decision making, problem solving, assertive language, and correct body language as well as helping to develop social awareness and greater self-belief and confidence.

Touch Typing

Some pupils have access to small laptops supplied by the school. If your child has been advised to use one for class work, they will be invited to attend touch typing lessons to enable them to work at the pace of the class.

Behaviour Support

This is an exciting new venture that is aimed to support students who have difficulty concentrating or behaving appropriately in lessons. If a student’s behaviour, attention or motivation is causing concern on a continual basis they may need to access a personalised behaviour support programme for a limited amount of time.  It is hoped that by providing this individual programme of behaviour support to the student, they will be able to self-regulate their own behaviour back in the classroom and achieve their full potential. Some students may also be issued with an ORANGE card which will enable them to access the Bartimeaus Centre without referral.  These are students who have more acute or complex behaviour issues and may need to remove themselves from situations for a time-out period to allow them to calm down.