Llantwit Major School Learning Hub
The Learning Hub provides a highly inclusive and flexible provision for learners with Additional Learning Needs (ALN), supporting equity of access to learning and promoting positive learner wellbeing. It operates as a “through provision” from Key Stage 3 into Key Stage 4, ensuring continuity, progression and appropriate pathways where earlier models of withdrawal did not fully meet learners’ longer-term needs. The Hub offers a calm, quiet and safe environment in which learners can regulate, engage and make progress, enabling them to access learning successfully.
The provision responds effectively to a range of learner needs. Some pupils access the Learning Hub as a short-term, targeted intervention to support emotional regulation and readiness to learn before reintegrating into mainstream lessons. Others benefit from a reduced timetable, allowing them to focus on areas of strength and need within a supportive environment that promotes confidence, engagement and achievement. For learners who experience barriers in more academic subjects, the Hub provides access to appropriate alternative and vocational qualifications, ensuring ambitious yet realistic pathways and positive post-16 outcomes.
Learners access the Learning Hub if they have a diagnosed or suspected ALN, require a reduced number of options, are new to the school, or experience difficulties accessing full-time mainstream provision. Currently, 79 learners access the provision, with small group sizes typically ranging from 5 to 15 pupils at any one time. The Hub operates flexibly and is also used as a planned de-escalation and regulation space, supporting learners’ emotional wellbeing and reducing barriers to learning.
Targeted interventions, including small-group literacy and numeracy support, are delivered to address individual learning needs and secure progress. At Key Stage 4, learners access a range of recognised vocational and alternative qualifications equivalent to GCSEs, including SWEET and Agored courses, which support progression and raise learner aspirations.
The Learning Hub is led by an experienced, qualified teacher and operates under the strategic oversight of the ALNCo. Teaching staff and Learning Support Assistants are deployed effectively to ensure high-quality teaching, learning and support. Leaders monitor provision closely to ensure it meets learners’ needs, promotes wellbeing, and secures positive outcomes for all pupils who access the Hub.
