Learning
Support
Primary School
Student Support Department (SSD) is a department within the primary school which is available to students who require assistance with their learning.It caters and provides additional support for students who may require:
- Revision of strategies and skills of reading, writing, comprehension, spelling, oral language and arithmetic.
- Modifications to their curriculum and strategies to assist their learning and or behaviour within the classroom.
Student Support lessons consist of:
- Two 40-minute weekly sessions of explicit and direct teaching instead of Languages Education.
- Well researched, effective whole language and phonetic approach with revision of phonemic awareness for Lower Primary students.
- Direct teaching of a variety of language strategies which are reinforced in a creative manner.
- Opportunities to support the range of writing genres.
- Students will participate in language-based games and will have strategies modelled to them.
- Specific practice of auditory processing skills.
- Courses such as the FX Program for self-regulation and the Read Write training is offered to selected students.
Within the classroom:
- Adjustments as required for students to make the curriculum accessible to them.
Student specific modifications when they are unable to complete subjects at their year level. - Meetings with year level teachers to discuss and monitor ongoing student needs.
- Regular meetings with the Guidance Officer, Pastoral Care staff, English as an
- Additional Language teachers, class teachers, teacher aides and Student Support teachers as deemed necessary.
For Parents:
Newsletters for parents to assist with home learning (includes creative ideas and resources on disorders, disabilities, language, learning and other topics).
Referrals for parents to appropriate professionals.
Regular meetings with class teachers, case managers and stakeholders, to create and maintain personalised educational plans for students.
Secondary School
This Program gives academic support to students who are experiencing difficulties with academic progress. The Secondary School provides qualified and experienced Learning Support teachers and Teacher Aides. Support may take the form of Teacher Aide assistance to individual students during usual classes, withdrawal from classes for small group or individual tuition, modified Academic Programs and individually tailored assistance.
More details
Students may also participate in specialised classes of Literacy and Numeracy or Skills units in specific subject areas, where they are still assessed according to the Australian Curriculum criteria and benchmarks. A specific Study and Work class, which sits outside the Australian Curriculum, teaches skills in preparation for work and life.
Modifications to academic programs may consist of differentiated subject content and a modified assessment load, and where necessary, modifications to assessment conditions eg length of time of assessment, place of assessment, use of a computer or a scribe.
All our teachers are experienced in differentiation of teaching practice and in making modifications for the needs of individual students. Parents can be assured that our dedicated teachers thoughtfully adapt the curriculum to meet the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on school students (NCCD) standards.
