An established learning support department
Curriculum
Amesbury’s SEND Department was judged as ‘outstanding’ at our last full school independent inspection in September 2017 and we are very proud of our children’s achievements when they leave Amesbury and beyond.
We have a well established learning support department with an excellent team of Helen Arkell trained specialist assistants and teachers. We use qualified educational psychologists or specialist assessors to determine the extent of a child’s learning needs and to see whether withdrawn small group or one-to-one learning support in either English or Maths will be required.
Head of learning support
Mrs Tanya Rathmell joined Amesbury in 1999, having previously taught Year 4 in a state school in Brisbane, Australia and Year 3 at Bridgewater School in Manchester after moving to the UK permanently. She has also taught a number of year groups in the school in Maths and Science and was formerly a Year 5 Form Tutor.
Tanya has a B.Ed. (Hons) from Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, and is a Deputy Safeguarding Lead, trained in 2024. She has Qualified Teacher Status and in 2022 completed a PG.Cert.(with Distinction) NASENCo course at the University of Middlesex. She is passionate about supporting children with specific learning difficulties in the mainstream classroom. In addition to her role, Tanya has been a Year 3 Form Tutor and class teacher for 18 years, as well as a Year 5 Form Tutor for 2 years in the past. Her son James, also attended Amesbury from 2005 – 2015.
