Cognition and learning 

At Field End Infant School, we support children with their cognition and learning development. Cognition and learning refers to a child’s general learning ability. Some children may learn at a different pace to their peers and may have difficulties with: 

• Processing information 

• Acquiring and applying skills 

• Retaining and remembering information 

• Problem solving 

What will every child access as part of their day-to-day learning? 

Within all classrooms, staff ensure that there is high quality, inclusive teaching for the children within the classroom. Below are some of the things that teachers consider when planning learning:   

• Quality first teaching   

• Multisensory teaching approaches 

• Purposeful seating arrangements 

• Physical – visual – abstract concept used within learning 

• Language activities being scaffolded 

• Modelling language 

• Differentiated questioning  

• Opportunities to support and facilitate early play skills  

• Physical and visual prompts to support language 

• Working Walls 

• Visual timetables to help children understand the structure of the day  

If my child is struggling, what additional support might they be able to access in school?  

Some children can find it challenging to acquire and apply skills effectively. This might be due to a specific learning difficulty, moderate or severe learning difficulty. We use a range of teaching strategies and make adjustments in the learning environment/lessons to ensure children’s needs are catered for.  

For those that require additional support within the school we run a range of interventions such as:  

• Reading Recovery  

• Fischer Family Trust (FFT) literacy  

• 5 minute Literacy box  

• 5 minute Mathematics box 

• CoPs GL assessment tool  

If my child has more complex needs, how might the school make provision for them?  

If a child does have cognition and learning needs, the school will be in regular communication with the child’s parent / carer to ensure both home and school are working in partnership to support the child.  

Sometimes the school or parent / carer might feel a child would benefit from the support of an external agency and with parental / carer consent, a referral might be made for the child to be assessed by an Educational Psychologist or referred to the Child Development Centre.  

Useful Websites:  

Tiny Happy people offers advice on how to support cognition and learning at different stages in your child's life: 

National Autistic Society gives further information, videos and resources about Autism: 

Eastcote Centre for ADHD and Autism offers face to face support to parents / carers (your child does not need a diagnosis to access this service):