Initial Contact

Students are usually referred to the Centre via one of two methods; either the student’s Funding Body (FB) contacts us directly to arrange an appointment or, the student self-refers after receiving notification from their funding body to proceed and arrange a Needs Assessment (NAR).

Students must have written evidence from their funding body consenting to the appointment before an assessment can be arranged.

Allocation of Appointment

Coleg Sir Gar Access Centre (CSGAC) will endeavour to allocate an appointment at a time both convenient to the student and when an appropriate assessor and the assessment room are available, checking with the Centre’s electronic diary, a document available to all relative centre staff. We aim to provide a student with an assessment date no later than 15 working days of initial contact whenever possible. We will not allocate an internal (i.e. Coleg Sir Gar) student with an assessor with whom they have previously worked or are currently working in another capacity (e.g. IT tuition, support worker etc).

At the time of booking, the student is informed that if they do not provide the centre with documentary evidence from their funding body confirming support for the assessment, the appointment will be cancelled until the documents are provided. They are also informed that failure to attend or provide 24 hours notice will result in a £50.00 fee.

A letter is sent to the student on the same day of booking confirming the details of their assessment and requests confirmation of whether they’d like their assessment in English or Welsh. This letter is also accompanied with a Pre-Assessment Questionnaire. At this point and when necessary, a letter or email is sent to the student’s institution requesting full details of the student’s course, including modes of assessment etc.

The student’s preliminary details are entered into the CSGAC Database.

Cancellation of Appointments

The letter of confirmation sent to the student contains a clause warning the student that they will be charged £50.00 in the case of late cancellation or non-attendance without notice.

If the student cancels the appointment with more than 24 hours notice, the administrator will endeavour to fill the appointment with another student waiting for an assessment and whose paperwork is in order. If the student cancels the appointment with less than 24 hours notice, or does not arrive for the appointment, we issue a letter to the student and an invoice generated by the administrator for the standard non-attendance charge.

Research

Once the documentation confirming the student’s disability and/or difficulty is received, this information is then passed onto the student’s assessor. Prior to the assessment appointment, the assessor is expected to undertake background research into the student’s course, the institution’s support provision and the student’s individual disability/condition, all of which should be logged either in the centre’s phone and/or mail logs and/or recorded in the student’s file. If the assessor has any difficulties or encounters and problems, they are encouraged to seek the advice of the Centre Manager or, alternatively, the student’s Disability Officer.

The Needs Assessment Appointment

All assessors are encouraged to carry out NARs within the Centre or Outreach Centres wherever possible. This is to ensure that students have access to a wide and varying selection of equipment and resources, including different examples of hardware and software and learning aids. However, in the case of students with mobility limitations, the assessor will in some cases attend the student’s home to carry out an assessment. In these cases, Assessor’s are asked to observe and adhere to the Centre’s Lone Worker Policy.

It is the Assessor’s responsibility to ensure that they have all the technological aids and facilities readily available during the assessment and ensure that all products are working and resolving correctly. Any malfunctioning or faulty equipment must be reported immediately to the Centre Manager, who is ultimately responsible for maintaining, revising and upgrading all centre equipment and aids.

Assessors are encouraged to give the student as much time as necessary in order for them to facilitate a warm and trusting environment in which to discuss their educational needs. Refreshments are available at any time throughout the assessment.

All assessments are undertaken in accordance with the DSA QAF Guideline Procedures which are available to all Assessors in their Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Portfolios.

Reports and Dissemination

All NARs produced by CSGAC are done so using the QAF format and should be completed and passed on for quality checks within five working days from the assessment.

In all instances, the report should be an accurate and impartial description of the appointment and in no way should the assessor make assumptions, guess or editorialise their findings. It is the assessor’s responsibility to request and input quotes for human and technological support recommendations and ensure that quotes included in the report are both substantiated and accurate.

Draft By-pass system

Under the new QAF system students now have the option to by pass the draft stage and a final draft is sent to the funding body within 10 working days.

Draft requested

Once the draft has been checked by the administrator for grammatical and spelling errors, it is sent to the Centre Manager for quality assurance and approval (within 10 working days). Once this is obtained, if a draft is requested it is sent to the student with a covering letter and a Reply Slip requesting the student’s approval before dissemination to the funding body and institution.

It is clearly stated in the covering letter that if the student does not contact CSGAC within 10 working days or do not return their Reply slip, it shall be assumed by the administration that the student consents to the dissemination of the report.

It is the assessor’s responsibility to make additions and alterations to the report should the student deem it necessary. Details about the draft and/or final copies of the NAR and amendments made should be noted in the student’s file and centre database.

Follow Up Work and Queries  

The assessor is responsible for following up all questions further to dissemination of the report. All communication should be made through the centre and recorded either in the centre’s mail or phone book or, alternatively, in the student’s file. Any action taken should be recorded in the student’s file.

The administrator will also circulate a questionnaire to all students who have used the centre in the last year, asking them to rate the effectiveness of the support provision recommended to them following their NAR. We use this to rate the efficiency and value of our recommendations and ensure that we are suggesting study skills tuition and equipment that the students find to be of benefit.

For further information please contact us:

Telephone: 01267 225191

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 Needs Assessment Time Frame