The Isle of Wight College

If you have any queries regarding College facilities/support for students with disabilities/learning difficulties please contact: Rachel Jagger-Thomas, Equality & Diversity Manager.. Rachel will support you to access members of the college team who can help you with all matters to do with support for students, both full and part-time. She will be available to discuss with students with disabilities and/or learning difficulties any issues relating to access to College, admission and/or courses of study, individual needs, such as support in or out of class.

To help students with disabilities/learning difficulties succeed on their chosen courses The Isle of Wight College will make sure you:

• Receive guidance and support from experienced staff in course selection
• Receive, where appropriate, individual support in and/or outside class
• Are encouraged to develop your self-esteem, independence and assertiveness skills

It is The Isle of Wight College's aim to encourage the participation of students:

• With physical disabilities
• With sensory impairments such as visual or hearing difficulties
• With learning difficulties and disabilities
• With mental health problems
• With any other disabilities as defined by the Disability Discrimination Act

This means that The Isle of Wight College is committed to offering educational opportunities to a wide range of students/clients and to offering the advice and support necessary for people with disabilities/learning difficulties to join the courses they wish to study and to succeed on them. Students who have a disability are welcome to call us to discuss their individual needs on 01983 550811.

This College is committed to ensuring that people with a disability, including those with learning difficulties, are treated fairly. If you have a disability, please let us know what you need so that we can make all reasonable adjustments to help you succeed.

We will provide, wherever possible, as wide a range of opportunities and support for students who have disabilities and/or learning difficulties and have a commitment to encourage them to join "mainstream" groups wherever appropriate. The College has the facilities and is happy to produce learning materials in a variety of formats where necessary. It can, if appropriate, provide a range of equipment to help students learn and additional support is available within the classroom or workshop environment if required.

For further details, or information on how the College can help please contact us using the form available or telephone: (01983) 535213

Diversity Calendar - Holy Days and Festivals.

For information you can access The interfaith information, Holy Days and Festival Calendar provided by the BBC. This site also includes a Salah Calculator.

The College seeks to make learning accessible to all through its Buddy Scheme. This is for anyone who feels they need extra help in order to access our courses.

What is a Buddy?

A buddy is someone who can accompany you throughout any Adult Education course if you feel you require additional support or have physical support needs. Your buddy can be a friend, guardian, family member or case worker and they can join the class at no charge.

If you don't have a 'buddy' to support you we can put you in touch with a volunteer service called RSVP who can provide vetted volunteers to act as your buddy to join you on the course.

Additional Support for Adult Education

If you need any equipment or furniture, for example, a chair with arms, adapted learning materials for those with dyslexia or a hearing loop system for those who are hard of hearing then this can be provided for you.

All students are asked to complete a confidential one page document alongside their enrolment form giving any details of their heath/support needs. This is then used to ensure we meet your needs, retained by the tutor and destroyed at the end of the course.

The Adult Education Brochure is available from the College Information Office and public libraries throughout the year. or you can request one by telephoning the Adult Education office on (01983) 535212 or emailing AdultEd@iwcollege.ac.uk, If we can help you in any way please let us know.

Subject to evidence from medical or educational psychologists for approval by the particular examination board, individual arrangements can be made to cater for students needs.

These may include extra time, reader, scribe, use of a word processor or full amanuensis.

These facilities are also available for internal assessments. Contact Jan Axford, Examination Officer (01983 526631 ext 236) for details.

The Isle of Wight College Learning Support Service aims to provide a supportive, constructive and well co-ordinated level of service provision for all students requiring learning support. The service aims to enable students to take control of their own learning and to develop them as independent learners and to provide a service that strives to remove barriers to participation for all students, regardless of disability.

Additional Learning Support

Any student at The Isle of Wight College, with a specific learning difficulty, such as dyslexia, or a disability is entitled to additional support with their learning. The student is usually referred to central ALS by the tutor, but self referrals can be made, after an initial screening. The central ALS team will conduct a student interview and possibly a diagnostic assessment to develop an appropriate support package.

Support options include: assistive technology, dyslexia support and specialist assessment for exam arrangements, in class curriculum support, EAL and language support, communicators for hearing impaired learners and access arrangements and assistive technology for visually impaired learners.

For more information please contact Samm Rooney (01983 550811)