Allied Health Service

Often we have parents requesting school based National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funded support/allied health service to be delivered at school.

When managing requests, a number of factors need careful consideration:

Therapies funded by the NDIS are related to the participants’ whole-of-life support needs and not for educational purposes
Will the service impact other teachers and students in the classroom/school?
Is the service in accordance with the school's visitor/contract arrangements?
Can the school fulfill its duty of care obligations in keeping with the Child Safe Standards?

As we simply do not have the practical and administrative capacity to meet all requests for allied health practitioners to work in the school, we are prioritising NDIS students with complex health care needs and are limiting other workers for non NDIS funded children, as we:

Cannot provide multiple private rooms for therapy to occur. Due to our duty of care obligations, all students need supervision from a member of staff (either in attendance or within line of sight)
Do not have the personnel to complete the additional paperwork/administration due to allowing a provider on the grounds
Are unable to manage timetabling requirements for multiple workers in the school at the same time
Need to consider the disruption to routines that visitors may have when working in the classroom
Take into account the ability to comply with emergency procedures, such as whole-school evacuations, if and when they occur

These considerations are a reflection of the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria NDIS/External Providers: Guidelines for Schools.