The Special Education Needs (SEN) department is designed to provide assistance to special needs students. Our SEN Coordinator determines each child’s individual needs and provides the special services and/or materials that are required. Teachers collect and analyse data to monitor progress of students, with the support of NGRT tests and CAT 4 testing. Students experiencing emotional/behavioral instability, also receive special assistance from the SEN Coordinator and assigned shadow teachers.
Learning Support Programme is a meticulously designed programme incorporating the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS). DIBELS are a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of early literacy and reading skills. Our phonics and reading specialists conduct DIBELS periodically, to assess PYP students reading proficiency against key benchmarks.
The Access Centre at BNI facilitates students in selecting their careers and getting admission in universities of their choice. Our experienced career advisors have an open-door policy and are readily available for students in school, and via email. Assistance is provided in:
- Admissions essays
- Compiling and sending documentation to universities
- Financial aid applications
- Entrance and standardized test preparation
- Visa-related paperwork
The Dynamic Speaker Series events organised at BNI introduces students to new and alternative career paths by interacting with industry experts. Our aim is to adopt a holistic approach to counselling, work closely with students and their families to engage in active decision-making, and ensure the best possible future to meet each student’s needs.
At BNI, we believe that in order to maximize the true potential of each child, it is imperative that we first diagnose the strengths and challenges correctly and accurately. Diagnostic testing is an effective means of doing so.
(Grade III and above), all students undergo the NGRT (new group reading test) by GL assessments. The NGRT is a diagnostic test that measures the reading and comprehension skills and age of a child. It also provides solutions to overcome challenges for both the school and the parent.
For Grades KG to five, we also conduct DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) which is a series of short tests that assess K-8 literacy. It is a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of a set of K-8 literacy skills, such as phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. DIBELS at BNI is conducted four times a year to ensure that the reading levels for BNI Primary students are at par with those of international standards. Based on the collected data, appropriate and required intervention is put in place and students are provided with learning support.
For Middle and Senior School (MYP and IBDP), all students undertake the CAT4 test by GL Assessment. CAT4 is most widely used in the UK for students aged 6 – 17+ years. It is an assessment of developed abilities in areas that greatly influence learning and achievement – namely verbal, non-verbal, quantitative, and spatial reasoning. Interestingly, CAT4 also provides indicators as to how a child will perform in International exams such as IGCSEs, A-Levels, IBDP. It also provides support in terms of strategies to be used to close gaps in any of the four above-mentioned areas.