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Additional Support

All children and young people need support to help them learn. Some may require support that is additional to or different from the provision that is generally provided to their peers.

The Education Additional Support for Learning Scotland Act 2004 assumes that the needs of most children and young children who require additional support will be met through the range of provisions available within the school. This includes a curriculum which is based upon:

  • Challenge and enjoyment.
  • Breadth, progression and depth.
  • Personalisation and choice.
  • Coherence and relevance.
  • Adults who build positive relationships, encourage pupils to take responsibility for their own learning, are able to communicate with parents, are accountable for the identification of needs and understand the roles of specialists.

Additional support will usually involve one or more of the following:

  • Approaches to teaching and learning including differentiation and personal learning planning.
  • Provision of personnel from within the school including support for learning assistants and/or the local authority and/or partners and other agencies.
  • Provision of resources including ICT, particular teaching materials or aids and training or professional development.

The 2004 Act also assumes that planning for learning will be through Personal Learning Planning or PLP.

Some children and young people will require more detailed planning and/or specific targets setting and will have an Individualised Educational Programme or IEP in one or more areas.

For a small number of children and young people planning will require a Co-ordinated Support Plan or CSP. This is where complex or multiple factors give rise to a need, where those needs are likely to be enduring and where meeting the needs will require the involvement of more than one agency.

The relationship between PLP, IEP and CSP is outlined in the PDF document from the 'Related Downloads' section of this page.