THE LEARNING AND SUPPORT TEAM
“From Each Their Best” reflects the school motto and shared vision that all students can reach their learning goals within an inclusive and supportive school environment. The Learning and Support Team (LST) at Sherwood Ridge PS includes the following staff:
· Executive Teacher
· Learning Support Team Coordinator
· School Counsellor
· Specialist Personnel (LaST, EAL/D Teacher)
The Learning and Support Team is guided by the Department of Education (DoE) policies, regulations and legal frameworks, including The Disability Strategy (2019), Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration (2019), The Wellbeing Framework for Schools (2015), The Disability Discrimination Act (1992) and the Disability Standards for Education (2005). The team plays a key role in ensuring that the specific needs of students with disability and additional learning and support needs are met.
The team:
· supports teachers in identifying and responding to the additional learning needs of students
· facilitates and coordinates a whole school approach to improving the learning outcomes of every student
· coordinates planning processes and resourcing for students with disability and additional learning and support needs
· designs and implements the supports required to build teacher capacity so that all students access quality learning
· develops collaborative partnerships with the school, parents and carers, other professionals, and the wider school community.
INTENSIVE LEARNING AND SUPPORT
The Intensive Leaning and Support (IL&S) team provides personalised learning and support for students across the school to ensure teaching and learning programs and intensive learning and support addresses individual student needs and results in a positive impact on student growth.
Students are identified by the IL&S team and LST through the analysis of data. The IL&S team consists of the following staff:
· Learning and Support Teacher (LaST)
· Covid ILS teacher
· English as an Additional Language/Dialect (EAL/D Teacher)
· School Counsellor
· School Learning Support Officers (SLSOs)
Once the students have been identified, a note is sent home to parents informing them of their inclusion in programs running in the school. Baseline data is used to identify specific needs and measure growth.
School personnel is strategically used to positively impact student growth. The current support provided for our students includes:
- targeted literacy support (by LaST, EAL/D and Covid ILS specialist teachers)
- targeted numeracy support (by LaST, EAL/D and Covid ILS specialist teachers)
- support for the transition of refugee and new arrival students, and support with their literacy and numeracy learning (EAL/D specialist teacher)
- delivery of the MiniLit program to improve the literacy outcomes of targeted students (by SLSOs)
- the Gold Star Reading Program four mornings a week, to improve reading fluency, confidence, and engagement for students in Years 3-6 (by SLSOs)
- support for LST caseload students in the classroom and/or playground (by SLSOs)
- the development of Personalised Learning and Support Plans (PLaSPs) for students with a diagnosed or imputed disability, as well as High Potential, Gifted, Highly Gifted (HPGE) students, so that students have ownership of their PLaSP and demonstrate a positive impact on their growth
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have a Personalised Learning Pathway (PLP)
- Identification and support for students requiring a smooth transition into a new class with a new teacher.