Information for DSA Needs Assessors: 2023/24

Please see information below if you are conducting a Needs Assessment for students studying, or continuing to study, at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama (RCSSD). This is designed to assist you in any disability related support that you might recommend.

If you have specific questions about support available to disabled students at RCSSD, please contact the Neuro-Inclusion and Disability Service (NDS) via email:  nds@cssd.ac.uk

Central’s Context

Central (also known as RCSSD) is a theatre making university where courses are comprised of practical and academic components. Academic work is often focused on a student’s developing praxis – meaning how they integrate what they do with the research they have undertaken. Providing effective 1:1 NMH study skills support is therefore a highly skilled undertaking. It’s not surprising to us that our internal 1:1 provision is so successful receiving outstanding student feedback, and having won 3 awards from the professional body of the Association of Dyslexia Specialists in Higher Education (ADSHE) (https://adshe.org.uk/).

NMH providers

 1:1 Specialist Support Tutorials

At Central we have a robust in-house service for providing 1:1 Specialist Support Tutorials. Our ADSHE Award winning team of 1:1 tutors are experienced in working within the specialised context of our conservatoire-university.  We can offer face-to-face sessions as well as remote sessions and can offer a combination of the two. Our experience and student feedback over the years, is in-house support works best for our students.

Mentoring 

Please be aware that Central has limited in-house Mentoring provision and our preference is for external providers to be recommended as part of the Needs Assessment process.

NMH Rates

The table below shows RCSSD Non-Medical Helper rates. Period covered – 31/7/23 through to 31/07/2024.

Rates are shown per hour in the table below.

This institution does not offer Band 1 Support Assistants, Band 2 Enhanced Support Assistants, or Band 3 Specialist Enabling Support. Students requiring personal or health related care would normally use their UK-based eligibility for Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) to source their own private or CQC approved Domiciliary Care support as this type of care is not normally provided by the University.

Please note: There is no provision for external NMH providers of 1:1 Specialist Tutorials or Mentoring to use space/rooms on our campus as we are a very small institution.

Other relevant information

• Exams Arrangements - there are very few exam assessments on Central courses but where required reasonable adjustments will be put in place, for example a separate room and additional time. It is useful to have these reasonable adjustments flagged in a needs assessment report. Kindly note that some practical group aspects of the course cannot take place at a later date.
• All students get access to the Office 365 suite
• Recommendations made by DSA Study Needs Assessors will be considered within the context of RCSSD’s policies and procedures and implementation is at the University’s discretion.

Accessing the RCSSD Neuro-Inclusion and Disability Service (NDS) and setting up Reasonable Adjustments

All students who disclose a disability are contacted by the NDS and are also encouraged to reach out to NDS@cssd.ac.uk Students need to provide supporting medical or diagnostic evidence in order to access reasonable adjustments.

Additional Time

All students registered with NDS are entitled to additional time for coursework hand-in academic deadlines and additional time on library loans.

£200 laptop contribution to DSA funding

There is currently no dedicated financial support for the £200 DSA laptop student contribution, however students can apply to the university’s Hardship Fund for support with this cost (where eligible). Initial student enquiries can be made to the Neuro-Inclusion and Disability Service (NDS) on email:  nds@cssd.ac.uk