Paperless company

Westcountry SEN strives to operate as a paperless company. We use computerised whiteboards in our online lessons, and we use mini table top whiteboards when we are working face to face. These mini whiteboards can be reused over and over, so there is no need for students to use paper in their lessons.

Our emails and phone communications are obviously electronic too.  We believe in doing as much as we can for the environment and do not encourage students to work on reams of paper, unless it is a pad of paper the child had brought in (notepad) and they intend to take it away with them.

We have the potential to go through 1000’s of pads of paper a year. So we pride ourselves on trying to cut down on paper where ever possible. We became completely digitalised in 2018.

Lesson Reports

Lesson reports are all achieved digitally. It is our policy that they are completed on the same day as the lesson took place. However, we know life gets busy so sometimes they may need to be completed the day after, but certainly within 24 hours.

You will get a reminder email for any lesson report that is outstanding the day after the session.

Reports go to the parents /clients who pay for the service. In some cases, the student will also be the client (this is the case if they are an adult paying for their own tuition). The reports are attached to the bottom of an invoice that goes out every Friday, or the client can log in when they want to and read the reports. The clients can see all the reports in chronological order if they choose to.

The session report is not a record keeping exercise. It is true they are a statement of fact that the lesson took place and what happed in it, but they are also direct communication to the person who loves, cares for and worries about the student who has been sat next to you. You must always remember this. Your Mentor will guide you with how to lay out the reports and what to include.

When writing sessions reports you are creating a permanent record of Westcountry SEN’s sessions, and you must also reflect Westcountry SEN’s core values within them. You must not use any negative personality adjective at any time.

There may be times that you as tutor feel frustrated or have personal things in your life which your tone reflects something negative towards the student. For example, ‘Jason needs to concentrate more’

This is something that may happen in school, but it is inappropriate within a session support. The difference is that you as a tutor should be asking yourself, why is this child struggling to concentrate, what is it about the material that is being presented, can I reduce the cognitive load of it, what do we need to do within the tutoring sessions to help and can my Mentor help me figure it out?

This is miles away from a negative personality trait being placed upon the child. A tendency to place a negative trait on a child that suggests the child needs to ‘try harder’ in any way, reflects you are struggling in the lesson and Westcountry SEN needs to provide you with more support.

Final words on reports

• Reports should be one or two short paragraphs at the most
• They should be summative of what happened in the lesson
• Identify what went well
• Identify what areas you can work on in the next session
• Avoid trying to come off as an ‘expert’
• Know that parents can and do download these reports as permanent records
• Know that your mentor can access your lesson reports
• Lesson reports are scanned for any negative / blaming language before they are released to parents.
• Always ensure you use the correct name and proofread before saving.

Saving lesson details (uploading pictures)

In the ‘using the system’ section you were shown a video about using the system and where to upload documents.

If you are wanting to keep a visual reference of the student’s work that they have done on the mini whiteboards, you can only do this by taking a photo (using Westcountry SEN’s technology, such as the office smart phone) and uploading it to the documents section on the requested tuition page.

You can also save documents to your company OneDrive in your company email account.

No paper system or makeshift filing system can be used within your own home or within any of the tutoring rooms. Everything must be stored digitally in line with the data protection section within this course.

info@westcountry SEN

Is the address to use to report anything you need to be companywide. Such as any concerns you have about a child, if a parent wants to change or request a lesson time, if a student doesn’t attend a lesson or if you want to request a holiday.

This email address is the most monitored email address within the company. It is our admin/receptionists’ job to monitor this email and direct the emails to who they should go to.

Remember you cannot store your students work in paper form in the tutoring rooms or taking paper copies back to your home. Work is stored on the Westcountry Whiteboard if working online, or photographed and stored digitally in the documents section within Tutorcruncher. Please remember to delete the photo from the device you used to take it.

Accident Book

The Accident book is found in Westcountry Practices kitchen. The book is very simple to fill out as long as you answer each question.

Please ensure you fill out the correct time and date as any first aid course states.

Safeguarding concerns

You should email [email protected] if you have concerns about any person who does not work for the company. However, if there are internal concerns about a member of staff, you should email Marie [email protected] or Pippa [email protected]

You should also phone and request to speak to either person and follow the safeguarding procedures.