The NSW Department of Education has developed a series of optional templates to assist community preschools to make observations. Community preschools may wish to use the templates to support an application for High Learning Support Needs (HLSN) Funding under the Disability and Inclusion Program. Use of the templates does not determine the application outcome nor eligibility for funding.

Templates are available for the following types of observations:

1. Antecedent, Behaviour, Consequences (ABC) recording (PDF 52KB)
2. Anecdotal observations (PDF 46KB)
3. Frequency tally (PDF 49KB)
4. Language sample (DF 43KB)
5. Running record (PDF 43KB)
6. Scatterplot (PDF 116KB)
7. Time sample (PDF 93KB).

You can also download a Word document with all the observations templates (DOC 60KB).

The NSW Department of Education will individually assess all applications. To be eligible for HLSN Funding, an application must meet the requirements outlined in the HLSN Funding Guidelines. Under the 2024 Guidelines, children with high learning support needs:

• have constant and ongoing support needs and require significant adjustments to enable them to engage with the educational program on the same basis as their peers, or a temporary illness or injury that requires short term adjustments to enable participation in the educational program on the same basis as their peers
• require an individualised learning plan (ILP) that incorporates specific teaching strategies and specifies how interventions and supports can be embedded into preschool activities
• require consistent adult support and guidance to engage at the same level as their peers (this may be provided by existing staff at the preschool and/or by employing additional staff to support the child).

The templates have been adapted from a webinar delivered by STaR which has been funded through the NSW Department of Education’s Sector Development Program.