As a university, UCA delivers mainly Higher Education courses with some Further Education provision. As such, our services are mainly geared towards adult learners and we are not able to offer some specialist provision that you may have become used to in your last school or college. It is important that you can understand what we do offer within our standard provision and whether this is suitable for you.
This does not mean that we cannot provide you with support, but we will work closely with you and your local authority to agree a support plan and funding package achievable by UCA, mainly delivered by external partners, working on our behalf.
In class support
We can provide in class support – for example to:
- Help with prompting with tasks
- Providing additional explanation for learning tasks (such as helping you to break down the assignment into manageable chunks)
- Some assistance with practical tasks such as setting up or moving equipment.
We aim to work with you to develop your own independent learning skills and will help you to develop techniques to do this. We would normally expect in-class support to reduce over time as you develop these skills. UCA disability staff also offer drop-in times so you can check with them if you are unsure of anything.
Exams
If you are required to undertake Maths or English GCSEs, we can provide access arrangements as required by external regulations. We will assess your needs and your normal ways of working and apply for arrangements which could include:
- Additional time
- Separate room
- Reader
- Scribe
- Rest breaks
Note takers
We do not provide note-takers as normal practice. However, if your EHCP and normal ways of working indicate you will need this, we will work with the local authority to add this to the support package. We do however encourage the use of assistive technologies and also work with teaching staff to provide notes on our student learning portal.
Learning materials
Learning materials are provided on the student learning portal and these can include lecture notes, Powerpoint presentations and assignment briefs. As you will be working at Level 3 (A level equivalent), we do not expect you to need modified language materials such as pictograms or Easyread. We can however provide you with training on assistive technology packages such as text to voice/voice to text software.
You will be expected to undertake independent research to contextualise your practical work, and to write essays and learning journals. We will provide you with help to understand research techniques and how to use the Library. We also have an accessible formats service if you have difficulty with printed text.
Specialist support/therapy
We do not have in-house specialist support or therapy services (for example speech and language), therefore we would need to work with you and the local authority to add this to the support package and arrange this with external providers.
Specialist teachers
Our teaching staff are industry professionals who also hold teaching qualifications. Teaching staff may also be accredited by specialist external agencies, thereby having a broad understanding of special educational needs. We will work with you to see if you need any additional support and can, for example, arrange sessions with external staff such as Teachers of the Deaf.
Assistive technology
We aim to work with you to make the best use of assistive technologies, for example text to voice software. We have Dragon Read and Write available on our network, and there are many accessible features on Microsoft Office that we can support you to use.
If you have any specialist software requirements, it is important to let us know as soon as possible – for example, Jaws, Zoom, etc.
Dedicated areas for learners with a higher level of support need
We do not have any dedicated areas but will work with you to find locations within the building that may be quieter for your needs at that moment in time.
Personal care
Our staff provide learning support services. If you require personal care support, we will work with you and the local authority/social services to discuss requirements and the support package available to you.
Medication
We have qualified first aiders on site who will be able to administer epi-pens in emergency situations (CHECK). However, our staff are not trained to administer other medications to students, so it is important that you are able to self-medicate, without support.
We can make our first aid rooms available to you to administer medication in private, but we are not able to store your medicines for you. If you require medication, it is best to discuss this with us in full as part of your application process.
Independent living training
As part of our induction processes, we provide workshops for students on healthy lifestyles, student wellbeing and keeping yourself safe.
If you need more intensive support to assist you to build independent living skills, we can discuss this with the local authority, but this is not something we can deliver ourselves.
Independent travel
Learners will be expected to travel independently to our campus locations, as we do not provide student transport. We can offer bursary support for learners, but you will need to make an application, and this is means tested.
You will need to consider how accessible the campus is for your daily travel – what the rail and bus links are, and what the journey to the campus is like. This is particularly important if you have mobility difficulties, or visual impairments as some of the campus locations are a distance away from rail stations and may have steep hills, subways or other challenging environments for you.
If independent travel will be difficult for you, we advise you to check with your local authority whether you can apply for a travel grant or if they can offer independent travel training.