Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Stephanie Di Salvo
Assistant Principal
Dear parents, carers and friends of the school community,
Welcome back to Jacana School for Autism for 2022!
A return to school can be both an exciting and emotional time for students and families, particularly during the first weeks of Term 1. During the last few weeks of Term 4 last year, JSA strategically allocated professional learning opportunities for staff to plan for student transitions. The Transition Week Curriculum Day Program undertaken during the second last week of Term 4 last year, provided the opportunity for both teachers and ES staff, to prepare for the individual learning support needs of their new students. In addition, the Term 4 Transition Week Program supported students to prepare for expected changes, including being in a new classroom, setting up and familiarising themselves with new routines, and working with different staff and students.
Prior to the commencement of Transition Week, social stories/scripts were designed for students to explain the expected changes to their school routine and experiences. Stories and scripts were designed using a range of symbols, photographs, written words, and objects.
During this time, teachers and ES staff referred to Student Profile data, to identify and plan for targeted strategies that would support their student's individual learning and support needs. This included ensuring that autism-specific strategies were effectively resourced and accessible such as; visual supports, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems, and regulation supports.
It has been wonderful to see our students transition so well into their new classrooms and to see them engaged in classroom activities. It has been an absolute joy to observe our students so excited and eager to return to onsite learning and to be reconnecting with their staff and peers. Congratulations to all our JSA students who have had a great start to the school year!
School Theme: 'Embedding Learning and Wellbeing'
The revised Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO) was designed in response to the impact of Covid-19 in the past two years. It places ‘Learning’ and ‘Wellbeing’ at the centre of school improvement and recognises that the two outcomes cannot be addressed in isolation.
In response to the revised FISO, our school's key learning initiative for 2022, will focus on supporting:
- Students to extend their learning in numeracy
- Staff to refer and embed existing school resources and processes to increase student wellbeing and mental health
This diagram below, illustrates our school's Key Improvement Strategy for Learning and Wellbeing and their respective 12 Month Targets:
Learning Key Improvement Strategy
Support both those who need extra support and those who have thrived to continue to extend their learning, especially in numeracy.
Wellbeing Key Improvement Strategy
Effectively mobilise available resources to support students' wellbeing and mental health, especially the most vulnerable.
Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
PLCs have once again resumed for the year and teachers are already in the full swing of collaborating with their respective teacher teams to build on their own professional learning. In Term 1, our PLC Instructional Leaders (Miranda Ingram, Rachael Macmillan, and Linda Wakeling) will be supporting our teachers to assess and address student readiness to learn at JSA by:
- Unpacking Student Profiles
- Interpreting profile data
- Addressing the blocks of the Seesaw of Regulation
- Exploring the School-Wide Regulation Package
This work will directly align to achieving our 'Wellbeing Key Improvement Strategy and 12 Month Target.