Learning support
Learning Support staff assist students with a diverse range of needs with varying backgrounds, abilities and preferences. These students include those for whom English is a second language, students experiencing difficulties related to a disability, a learning difficulty, social, behavioural or communication needs and Indigenous students.
Intervention
Learning support is delivered through:
- Comprehensive assessment of the student’s individual learning styles, strengths and areas of concern
- Collaborative planning and curriculum modification
- Flexible delivery. For some students the Learning Support team will develop and implement strategies in cooperation with the student’s teachers and/or parents. Other students may require direct support.
Our services are structured and systematic, and are monitored and reviewed on a regular basis. The strategies we use to support learners include:
- Team teaching
- Short-term individual support
- Small skill-based withdrawal groups
- In-class support
- Intervention classes in English, Mathematics and Science
- Special courses of study for students with intellectual disabilities
- Disability provisions
- Special provisions
- Cross-age tutoring
- Social skills and communication skills groups
- Counselling sessions and group work.
Nation-wide assessments
National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests are administered by Learning Support staff to all students in Years 5, 7 and 9. The results of these assessments are used to:
- identify the strengths and areas of need within each cohort and at an individual level
- review and change programme content within individual subject areas
- track student performance over time.
Disability provisions
The College provides Disability Provisions for students who have an identified difficulty in reading, writing and or completing examinations and assessment tasks. The purpose of these provisions is to support students who may be disadvantaged.
Provisions that may be offered to a student may include extra time, a reader, a writer, computers, rest breaks and separate supervision.
For school-based assessments, the decision to provide Disability Provisions is determined by the College. For external assessments such as the Higher School Certificate, an application for Disability Provisions is made by the College on behalf of the student, to the Office of the Board of Studies.
