Dyslexia Support at St David's College

Dyslexia is a learning difference which primarily affects reading and writing skills. This specific learning difference (SpLD) can also impact on other areas of learning.

St David's College offers specialist dyslexia support within a mainstream, academically ambitious independent school in North Wales. Dyslexic pupils learn alongside their peers, with small classes, teachers trained in multi-sensory methods and tailored help through the Cadogan Learning Support Centre, so they can access the full curriculum and study for their GCSEs and A levels. Dyslexia is a specific learning difference (SpLD) that primarily affects reading and writing, and can also affect other areas of learning.

These can include speed of processing (how quickly you make sense of things), short-term memory (information you’re currently thinking about or aware of), sequencing of information (the ability to arrange language, thoughts, information and actions in a certain order to get things done.), auditory perception (how you hear and act on information), visual perception (how you see and act on information), and organisational skills (deadlines, decisions, timetables, planning, homework).

Difficulties in these areas can affect learning and acquisition of literacy skills and cross-curricular progress. It is important that Dyslexia schools recognise the importance of enhanced teaching techniques. St. David's College is among the best schools for dyslexia, and we utilise multisensory teaching to engage different senses and facilitate learning. Multisensory teaching uses different senses:

Auditory (hearing and speaking)
Visual (seeing and being aware of)
Kinaesthetic (touch and movement)

This multisensory approach to teaching enables the pupils to receive a comprehensive lesson that will fit a range of learners.

Learning differences often overlap, so our specialists also provide support for dyscalculia and maths difficulty as part of our whole-school learning support.

If you would like to confirm a diagnosis, we offer a full diagnostic assessment for dyslexia and SpLD.

At St David's College we have built an enviable reputation as one of the best schools for dyslexia in the UK and one of the best dyslexia boarding schools internationally. Pupils are encouraged at every opportunity to use assistive technology, specifically Learning Tools within Microsoft Office 365 OneNote Class notebook, Word and TEAMS. Within the OneNote pupils can use Immersive Reader to read aloud documents, this makes accessing the curriculum much easier as pupils are able to listen and follow the text as well as identifying key words. The dictation tool enables pupils to get their thoughts down, producing work at their own speed.

The technology that St David's uses as a Dyslexia School in Wales encourages pupils to take charge of their own work and work towards becoming independent learners.

It is important to minimize the volume of text used to deliver information to dyslexic pupils. Textbooks are available as PDFs meaning that their content can be read to pupils in Microsoft Edge or within Microsoft OneNote.

At school we reinforce and consolidate learning by revisiting topics and try to ensure that only 20% of a given lesson content is new information.

Information must be chunked into manageable amounts, and visual images used to support learning. Keywords will need ‘over-learning’ and introduced to the pupil before the lessons as well as during and after.

Key points to support your pupil:

Praise, this will build self-esteem and encourage learning
Don’t ask to read out loud, unless you know they are comfortable doing this
If the pupil forgets things don’t tell them off or embarrass them – encourage them to use other ways of remembering, e.g. mobile phone as a reminder
Never use the word LAZY it often takes the dyslexic learner longer to process information
Give them extra time to finish tasks
Use a computer to complete work
Use coloured pens to highlight information
Display notes with key information in various places around the home, they can then see them constantly as a revision and memory tool
Mindmap ideas to help with planning
Nessy and Wordshark are fun online platforms that pupils can use to work on their literacy skills.

For the dyslexic pupil, the assistive technology embedded in Microsoft Office 365 encourages them to take charge of their own work and work towards becoming independent learners in control of their learning.

Dyslexia Support: Common Questions

How does St David's support dyslexic pupils?

Support is woven into mainstream lessons: small classes, staff trained in multi-sensory teaching, and tailored plans through the Cadogan Centre, so dyslexic pupils learn alongside their peers with the right scaffolding.

Is St David's a dyslexia school?

St David's is a mainstream independent school with genuine specialist expertise in dyslexia. Dyslexic pupils study for GCSEs and A levels within an academically ambitious setting, rather than a specialist-only one.

Do you assess for dyslexia?

Yes. The Cadogan Centre offers a full diagnostic assessment service for dyslexia and other specific learning differences, in person and online.

Can dyslexic pupils take GCSEs and A levels?

Yes. With the right support, dyslexic pupils sit the full range of qualifications, with exam access arrangements where appropriate.

Is there an extra charge for dyslexia support?

Core support is part of the school's teaching. Additional one-to-one or small-group support is charged separately, see the fees page.