You and your child’s school - and other professionals where needed - will work together to identify your child’s education needs and determine how the school will provide adjustments and support to meet them.

Planning for your child’s education should consider their strengths and interests, which are important for engaging your child at school. It should also take into account their areas of need and set out a path to help them achieve their goals.

You may see planning referred to in a number of ways, such as a personalised learning and support plan, an individual education plan or an individual learning plan.

Planning for your child will be reviewed regularly by your child’s school, in consultation with you, and adjusted to meet your child’s needs over time.

Identifying your child’s needs

The school can understand your child’s needs by talking to you and looking at other school information.

They also consider things like your child’s reading and numeracy skills, their language and communications skills, social skills, their school attendance, their health care needs and their personal and cultural background.

Any documentation you have from health and other professionals such as doctors, nurses, psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, audiologists or early childhood educators will also be taken into account.

How you can work with your child’s school

All schools will provide support for your child, although personalised planning may not be necessary in all cases.

You will be invited to provide input into any plan or adjustment for your child’s education, and it should be updated regularly. Most schools do this every school year, or when required - for example, if your child’s needs change.

Staff at your child’s local school will:

• discuss your child’s strengths, interests and areas of need with you
• help to explain what personalised learning and support for your child might look like
• discuss specific learning adjustments that could be made to support your child, for example to the curriculum, to learning resources, to the way the curriculum is taught, assessment,or your child’s classroom environment
• develop a personalised plan for you child’s learning and support, and
• suggest any support groups or external providers who may be able to support you and your child.

When you meet with your local school to discuss your child’s personalised learning, you may consider your child’s:

• academic progress
• physical health and needs
• behaviour at home
• ability to study and care for themselves independently
• social interactions with their classmates
• emotional wellbeing.
  

Before these meetings, you might find it helpful to think about how you see your child's future at school and their life after school. Your child’s plan should be helping them work towards these goals.

You can also talk to your child about how they feel about going to school and any worries they might be having. Their friends and siblings might also be able to give you some insights into how they are progressing.