Here are some of the most common terms and acronyms used around ASN and what they mean:

Educational Terminology

• Active Literacy Programme (ALP): creating a consistent pedagogy across all CfE levels aimed at improving literacy in the areas of phonics, spelling, reading and writing
• Attainment: is the measurable progress which children and young people make as they advance through and beyond school, and the development of the range of skills, knowledge and attributes needed to succeed in learning, life and work
• Attainment gap: the gap between the progress which is made between those living in Scotland’s most and least deprived areas Many children and young people living in our most deprived communities, do significantly worse at all levels of the education system than those from our least deprived communities. This is often referred to as the ‘attainment gap’
• Care plan: helps all staff working with children to meet the needs of a child or young person
• Curriculum for Excellence (CfE): is the program of education in Scotland for all children and young people aged 3-18.
• Diacritical marking: spelling strategy used to mark single sounds, joined phonemes and split phonemes e.g.
  • = 6 phonemes
  • = 1 joined phoneme and 2 phonemes
  •  = 3 phonemes and 1 split phoneme
• Health and wellbeing encompasses the following elements across the curriculum
  • mental, emotional, social and physical wellbeing
  • planning for choices and changes
  • physical education, activity and sport
  • food and health
  • substance misuse and relationships
  • sexual health and relationships
  • The purpose of health and wellbeing is to help every child and young person to feel cared for and valued as an individual. Learning about health and wellbeing will help them cope with uncertainties in life, have confidence to try new and different things and make the most of opportunities that come along
• Joined phoneme: two letters or more that go together to represent a single sound (for example sh, ch, ng, igh)
• Literacy: the ability to communicate by reading, writing, and listening and talking
  • Reading – The ability to understand and interpret ideas, opinions and information presented in texts. It includes handling information to make reasoned and informed decisions
  • Writing – The ability to create texts which communicate ideas, opinions and information, to meet a purpose and within a context
  • Listening and talking – Listening is the ability to understand and interpret spoken ideas, opinions and information for a purpose and within a context, drawing on nonverbal communication (body language and facial expressions) as appropriate. Talking means the ability to communicate orally ideas, opinions and information for a purpose and within a context
• Numeracy: the ability to use numbers in order to solve problems by counting, doing calculations, measuring, and understanding graphs and charts, and results
  • Number processes means solving problems that can happen in everyday life through carrying out calculations involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; using whole numbers, fractions, decimal fractions and percentages; making informed decisions based on the results of these calculations; understanding these results
  • Money, time and measurement means using and understanding money, time and measurement to solve practical problems in a variety of situations, using relevant units and suitable instruments, with appropriate accuracy
  • Information handling means being able to interpret information in tables, charts and other graphs to come to sensible conclusions. It involves interpreting the data and considering its reliability in making reasoned deductions and informed decisions. It also involves an awareness and understanding of the chance of events happening
• Outcomes: CfE includes experiences and outcomes for each curricular area. The outcome describes what children can achieve in the eight areas of the curriculum
• Partition: represent a number in its component facts e.g. 159 = 100+50+9
• Pedagogy: the method and practice of teaching
• Phoneme: smallest unit of sound (for example a,d,e,j)
• Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD): identifies small area concentrations of multiple deprivation across all of Scotland in a consistent way. It allows policies and funding to be put in place to tackle issues associated with multiple deprivation
• Split phonemes: ‘magic e’ words (e.g., home, like, tune, game, here)
• Subitising: the ability to recognise the quantity of a small group, of objects concrete or pictorial, without the need to count

Acronyms

• AAM – All About Me
• ACEs – Adverse Childhood Experiences
• ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder
• ADHD – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• ALK – Active Literacy Kit
• ASD – Autism Spectrum Disorder
• ASL – Additional Support for Learning
• ASN – Additional Support Needs
• BNWS – backward number word sequence
• CA – Classroom Assistant
• CfE – Curriculum for Excellence
• CLD – Community Learning and Development
• CLG – Closing the Literacy Gap
• CLPL – Career-Long Professional Learning
• COT – Communication Outreach Team
• CP – Child’s Plan
• CSP – Co-ordinated Support Plan
• CT – Class Teacher
• CVC – Consonant vowel consonant
• DCD – Developmental Co-ordination Disorder
• DFS – Dyslexia Friendly School
• DHT – Depute Head Teacher
• EAC – East Ayrshire Council
• EAL – English as an Additional Language
• EAST – East Ayrshire Support Team
• ECC – Early Childhood Centre
• ELC –  Early Learning Centre
• EY – Early Years
• FNWS – Forward number word sequence
• GIRFEC – Getting It Right For Every Child
• HES – Hospital Education Service
• HI – Hearing Impairment
• HMIe – Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of education
• HT – Head Teacher
• ICT – Information and Communication Technologies
• ILP – Individual Learning Plan
• JiM – Jump into Movement
• LAC – Looked after Child
• LI – Learning Intention
• MISP – Massage in Schools Programme
• OT – Occupational Therapy/Therapist
• PDA – Pathological Demand Avoidance
• PEF – Pupil Equity Fund
• PRD – Professional Review and Development
• PDS/E – Personal and Social Development/Education
• PT – Principal Teacher
• RA – Restorative Approaches
• RME – Religious and Moral Education
• RMPS – Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies
• RRS – Rights Respecting School
• SEBN – Social, Emotional and Behavioural Needs
• SFL – Support for Learning
• SHANARRI – Safe, healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible, Included
• SIMD – Scottish Indicator of Mass Deprivation
• SIP – School Improvement Plan
• SLT – Senior Leadership Team
• SMT – Senior Management Team
• STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths
• TAC – Team Around the Child
• TLC – Teacher Learning Communities
• VI – Visual Impairment
• WALT – We are learning to…
• WILF – What I’m looking for…

More terms can be found at here.