Student Support Services

Lots of the work we do in Student Support Services is not always visible. One of our goals as part of our inclusive education journey is to build not just our understanding of our students’ diverse needs, but to build the capability of all staff and students within our school. Over the last semester our team have been involved in many initiatives including: 

• Working within Time4 faculty teams to support differentiation within planning, teaching and assessment. 

• Providing professional development to staff in a range of topics including dysregulation strategies, specific disability training and understanding of the National Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) and student adjustments. 

• Providing assistive technology lessons to all Year 7 classes within Humanities lessons. 

• Working with regional services such as Advisory Visiting Teachers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and pathways officers to provide support for students and staff. 

• Our Speech-Language Pathologist, Kirsty Knight, has commenced a project focused on the evidence-based practice of Word Study. This approach to vocabulary instruction supports all students within our classrooms in developing a deeper understanding of words through their sounds (phonology), structure (morphology), and meaning (semantics). The goal is to build all students’ reading fluency and enhance their ability to communicate effectively through writing. 

• Supporting our students at Years 7, 8 and 11 school camps and ensuring all students have access to this wonderful experience. Our teachers give up their personal time to attend these camps and I thank them for their dedication to our students. 

As one of my favourite inclusion gurus, Dr Shelley Moore says, “we aren’t just being inclusive because the law tells us to, it’s because if we don’t, the world is missing out from knowing some really incredible people”.