Learning Support

We work in partnership with over ten local authorities, providing a highly individualised support offer for our students with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Support is accessible across all levels of study and at City of Bristol College we pride ourselves that our students have access to an inclusive, supportive learning environment with dedicated highly skilled staff.

Transition Support

Our Learning Support Teams at each of our College Centres will work with you to plan your transition. Our SEND Admissions Administrator will also contact your school/or setting if you have:

• have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
• attend a Specialist School or Alternative Learning Provision
• come from the Pupil Referral Unit
• have been in Hospital Education, Home Education or have been out of education

If you’d like to discuss transition support during your move to college, please contact our Learning Support Team at learningsupport@cityofbristol.ac.uk. We are here to help and would love to hear from you.

Personalised Support Programmes

We can work with you before you’re a student with us, to make sure the right support is in place for you. We can work with your school and/or any external agencies.

We’ll give you the help and support you need to achieve your goals. We support 1000s of students every year across each of our centres.

Our highly-qualified team arrange support packages personalised to individual needs.

Supported Internship Programmes

Supported internships are year-long study programmes for young people aged 18-24 with learning difficulties or autism. They include classroom and workplace learning, 9am-4pm over 4 or 5 days a week, and are designed to help students find paid employment.

Our DFN Project SEARCH and Internship programmes are designed to teach young people the essential skills they need for paid employment through workplace learning. Alongside their time with the employer, students follow a personalised study programme which includes studying for a qualification and, where appropriate, English and Maths.

To find out more and apply, contact Jo.Newington-Wise@cityofbristol.ac.uk

Residential Facility for Students with Additional Needs

The City of Bristol College offers independent living training through Its two a specialist residential facilities.  Students with additional needs can attend either our Ashley Down or Brislington sites from Sunday through to Friday, returning home over weekends and college holidays.

Whilst living and learning at our centres students focus on;

• Independent living
• Employability
• Community Inclusions
• Healthy lifestyle

Find out more, by clicking here.

Our Learning Support Teams at each of our College Centres will work with you to plan your transition.  Our SEND Admissions Administrator will also contact your school/or setting if you have:

• have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
• attend a Specialist School or Alternative Learning Provision.
• come from the Pupil Referral Unit.
• have been in Hospital Education, Home Education or have been out of education.

If you’d like to discuss transition support during your move to college, please contact our Learning Support Team at learningsupport@cityofbristol.ac.uk We are here to help and would love to hear from you.

Our College Centres and Facilities

To help you get ready for college, you can take a virtual tour of the college centres that host our Skills for Life and Employment courses.

For more information about courses, please visit our additional learning support page.

How to Access Learning Support

You can talk to us about your support needs at any time. This includes before you apply to college, at enrolment or during your course. We’ll be happy to help.

We support students who are on the Autism spectrum to succeed at college on all levels of courses.

Autism Champions are staff who have been trained to help support the teaching staff to deliver the best quality teaching to our neurodivergent students, so ALL students get teaching based on the most up to date research, using techniques that have proven to help students achieve their potential.

Spaces are available at each site for quiet time and to support students who feel overwhelmed in some situations. These will be shown to you on your tour of College.

If you’d like more, please contact learningsupport@cityofbristol.ac.uk

If you’re experiencing problems with your mental health, we can help.

Our experienced Safeguarding and Welfare Advisors are friendly and approachable, and can help you make sense of any difficulties you may be having. These could include, but aren’t limited to:

• Feeling low, sad or depressed
• Feeling stressed, worried or anxious
• Having problems at home, with friends or in relationships
• Bullying or harassment

You don’t need to go through anything alone. If you’re struggling, you can access support by talking to any member of College staff, whether it’s a lecturer, a Personal Tutor or Study Coach, a mentor or Learning Assistant from our Additional Learner Support (ALS) team, or Student Services. They can offer a listening ear and point you in the direction of other services we offer if needed, to make sure you get the right support for you.

If you don’t feel comfortable approaching someone in person, you can also call 0117 312 5000, email welfare@cityofbristol.ac.uk.

We also offer a range of academic and personal support resources and support.

Other Support

External Support Services

Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) covers a range of difficulties including:

• Dyslexia specific difficulties related to spelling, reading and writing.
• Dyspraxia specific difficulties in physical co-ordination and organisation skills.
• Dyscalculia specific difficulties in understanding and using numbers.
• Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) specific difficulties in attention and impulse control

We have a team of tutors and assessors who can help you if you have a specific learning difficulty. We can support you to develop learning strategies that will help you access and complete your programme of study. We also aim to help students to increase their independence, confidence and self-esteem. The following are the SpLD support available in the college:

• Drop-in support from specialist staff
• 1:1 teaching
• Screening for dyslexia
• Assessments for exam access arrangements and reasonable adjustments
• In-class support
• Assistive technology

Our experienced team of Speech and Language Therapists provide a flexible service, tailored to the needs of the students, their families and carers. We support young adults to gain confidence in communicating, increase their independence and achieve their goals for the future.

We can help young people who have difficulties with:

• Listening and attention
• Social communication
• Understanding spoken language
• Using spoken language
• Memory
• Speech sounds and fluency (stammering)
• Use of AAC (communication aids)

We provide a range of input to best meet the needs of students, college staff and parents/carers, such as:

If you would like more information about Speech and Language Therapy at City of Bristol College, please contact:

We tailor our support to your needs – from the moment you apply. A dedicated member of the support team will:

• offer guidance on course choices.
• provide information and support to access your guaranteed bursary money.
• liaise with key people: your teachers, key worker, foster family and social worker.
• give you guidance throughout your course.

What support can I receive?

Pledge to Young People in Care and Care Leaver

We promise to offer you the best education and college experience by:

• Giving you support to apply for and receive the bursary, including money for travel.
• Providing support for English and maths for as long as you need it.
• Giving you opportunities to get in touch with other care leavers, if you want to.
• Offering you mentors and training to become peer mentors.
• Getting information to the right staff so they know how to support you well.
• Giving you guidance and support around work experience and employment possibilities.
• Working with you and other important people in your life, to help you succeed.

Get in Touch

If you’d like to find out more about this support, please contact Kirsty Cross, our Designated Lead for Children in Care and Care Leavers.
Call 0117 312 5017 or email Kirsty.Cross@cityofbristol.ac.uk

Accessible College Environments

Our Centres are fully accessible, and we provide tailored support to students with physical disabilities and medical conditions, including:

• In-class support
• Reduced and personalised timetables
• Personal care
• Accessible environments
• Staff training
• Medication handling, storage and administration
• Arrangement of your Personal Emergency and Egress plan (PEEP)

We always aim to enable learning to be accessible to all. At the application stage, we will meet with students who require additional support to ensure that we can meet their needs, or where possible make changes to ensure that they have the same opportunities as other students. All new facilities and changes to current buildings are made with consideration of those with additional needs to ensure that we can be an inclusive college.

SEND Reforms

The College embraces the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 2014 and the Children’s and Family Act 2014.

The Additional Learning Support team at City of Bristol College works hard to ensure that the principles of the SEND reforms are met across the organisation. In practice, this means:

• Young people and their families are at the centre of all discussions around the support we provide
• The support offered takes into account young people’s health, care and educational needs
• We work closely with the local authority to access all aspects of the services available in the area
• Young people and families are supported during the transition to an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
• We focus and prepare young people for adulthood including employment, independent living or higher-level courses
• Person-centred reviews are provided ensuring young people meet their individualised goals and their EHCP outcomes are reviewed

Bristol Local Offer

The Bristol Local Offer pages inform you what is available for children and young people who have Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) in Bristol.

The City of Bristol College Travel Training Service aims to support students with additional support needs to travel safely and independently. The service is available to students at the Ashley Down Centre, College Green Centre, South Bristol Skills Academy and Parkway centres. The Travel Training Service provides a safe place to try out independent travel, learn new skills and build confidence. The service supports students to overcome barriers by empowering them with tools that facilitate their inclusion and their transition into adulthood and employment.

Who is Travel Training for?

Eligibility Criteria:

Students who are on a Education, Health and Care Plan with an agreed outcome to have Independent Travel Training stated in section F of their EHCP.

Travel Training is available to students who want to develop the skills and confidence to travel safely and independently, using public transport as an alternative to being supported by parents or staff or using a taxi or community transport/minibus.

Some of the students we support have never had the opportunity to travel independently before, while others are already independent in some routes and they want to learn a new route or to improve their confidence and safety.

How does it work?

Travel Training involves working on a one-to-one basis along the routes to college, work placement or other relevant places to the student and is individually tailored to suit the student’s needs. The travel training sessions cover topics of:

• Road safety and awareness
• Personal safety
• Planning a journey
• Travel skills and using public transport
• Money skills
• Concept of time
• Appropriate behaviour
• Communication

After an initial interview and assessment are completed with the student/parents/carers, a training plan is designed – usually lasting around six weeks, depending on previous travel experience and skills.

During the training, the level of support given is gradually reduced. Most of the training is done in a practical way and involves observations whilst out using public transport and crossing roads to make sure they are safe.

A travel training pack is provided to the students, containing useful easy English information covering relevant topics such as how to keep safe when out and about, a checklist of what to carry, how to cross the road safely, what to do in scenarios of missing the bus, a bus breaking down, having an accident, feeling unwell and being bullied or harassed.

To help students feeling safe and confident when out and about, a tailored travel wallet is provided to the student with relevant information about their journey such as bus numbers and times, emergency numbers and speaking cards.

More Information

If you would like more information about the service or to make a referral please contact our Travel Training Coordinator, Lucy Bent:

• Landline: 01173125072
• Mobile: 07773193897
• Email: Lucy.Bent@cityofbristol.ac.uk

We strive to provide an accessible environment for all students.  If you have a hearing or visual impairment, we have specialist support available for you. We’ll tailor any support around your needs. Our aim is to encourage independence and make sure you enjoy all aspects of college life.

D/deaf and Hard of Hearing support

We offer comprehensive specialist support for D/deaf and hard of hearing students. We have a team of highly-qualified and experienced Communication Support Workers (CSW). Our CSWs work with D/deaf and hard of hearing students across all college sites on all levels of courses.

Our CSWs can support you:

• In class for all taught sessions, including note taking
• During breaks and lunchtimes, if required
• For any travel training
• During Study Plus sessions
• During work experience
• For extra Study Support sessions
• For any college meetings and information events
• For all college trips and outings
• For EHCP review preparation and meetings

Other D/deaf and Hard of Hearing support:

• One-to-one transition and progress mentoring
• Support with Exam Access Arrangements
• Liaising with families
• Deaf Awareness Training for staff
• Adaptation of materials
• Support for subject tutors
• Regular check ins with a Deaf Support Coordinator
• Translation Assignment Support (research, materials, translation and adaptation)
• Transcribing from BSL to English for written work
• Support to access the Deaf Community

Visual Impairment Support

We provide a range of specialist support for students with a visual impairment. This includes:

• Assistive technology.
• Assistive software (including speech-to-text software and screen readers).
• Differentiation of course materials, books, and virtual learning environment.
• Orientation to familiarise yourself with your college centre.
• Visual Impairment Awareness Training for staff.
• In-class support.