Calderside Academy

Additional Support Needs

Welcome to the Additional Support Needs Department

The Additional Support Needs Department caters for students who require additional support across areas of the curriculum.

The department has its own wing in the school with 4 specially designed classrooms, a quiet room, staff base, Principal Teacher’s office, a laundry room and a disabled toilet and shower room. Students are taught English, Maths and a range of Health and Wellbeing classes in these 4 classrooms. They attend all other subjects in the various faculty wings throughout the school. There is a designated Depute Head Teacher and Principal Teacher who manage the department. There is a team of ASN teaching and support staff with specialist expertise in supporting young people with additional support needs. 

Students would access a place in an Additional Support Needs class via an Admissions Consultation Process which would begin in Primary 6. All students in the department have a learning difficulty and many also have additional conditions or health needs. ASN classes are usually capped at a maximum of 10 pupils and each class has a support assistant with them in all lessons. These small classes and extra support allow these students to learn at their own pace. All students within the department have an Additional Support Plan or a Coordinated Support Plan. 

All pupils have an annual review meeting to ensure all supports are in place and they are making progress. Pupils who require transport to and from school will have it provided. 

S1 - S3

ASN students in S1 – S3 follow a differentiated curriculum (still within the Curriculum for Excellence Framework) specially tailored to meet their individual needs. The ASN curriculum contains all the same subjects as the wider school curriculum however sometimes the period allocation is different. 

Some students in areas of strength may join a wider school class for a certain subject.

Allocation of Periods in S1 and 2; 

  • English 5
  • Maths 4
  • PSE 3
  • PE 2
  • RE 1
  • Home Economics 2
  • Lifeskills 2
  • Science 2
  • Social Subjects 3
  • French 1
  • Guidance / Assembly 1
  • Technical Education 2
  • Music /drama 2
  • Art and Design 2
  • ICT 1

Subject choices are made at the end of S2.

Senior Phase

Students take option choices for their senior phase, selecting subjects where they will gain National 2/3/4/5 qualifications. Again, some ASN students will be included in wider school classes if appropriate.

In the last year in school ASN students go to New College Lanarkshire, Motherwell campus on an Independent Link Course. Young people are collected and returned to home by transport arranged by Inclusion services.

Students at this stage can also apply to the Work It Out programme or E2E (Education to Employment) programme which may involve students being out of school additional days, possibly attending South Lanarkshire College, East Kilbride campus or being on work placements. 

Many subjects are focused on students becoming as independent as possible. 

Home Learning and Extra Curricular

ASN pupils can access all clubs and excursions within the school. In addition some clubs are arranged specifically for ASN pupils.

For example;

  • Buddy Club

  • ASN Club

  • Nurture Club

  • Art Activities Club

  • ASN Football

Home Learning

There is a selection of home learning available on google classroom for our ASN pupils. We will be updating this on a regular basis.

Here are some instructions for you to access google classroom:

• Do a google search for ‘glow login’
• Click on the top link
• Sign into the glow Launchpad
• Search for google classroom
• Click on the Google classroom app