Strengthened learning and support teams
The school learning and support team plays a key role in ensuring that the specific needs of students with disability and additional learning and support needs are met
- The composition of Learning and Support teams (LST) may vary as they are made up of members according to the needs of the school and community in which they work
- School Counselling Service staff and learning and support teachers are most often ongoing members of a school’s LST
- There is a range of department specialist staff that support schools who may participate in the LST processes at different times, dependent on student need including department Service Delivery staff such as Networked Specialist Facilitator and Learning and Wellbeing Advisors.
- Coordinate planning processes and resourcing for students with disability and additional learning and support needs, which may include health and wellbeing
- Design and implement the supports required to build teacher capacity so that all students access quality learning
- Develop collaborative partnerships with the school, parents and carers, other professionals and the wider school community
- Where schools have implemented ‘School-led multiagency responses’ or ‘School-initiated health and wellbeing alliances’, the LST acts as a key coordination point for referrals and on-going monitoring of outcomes for students following interventions.
- Supports the facilitation and coordination of a whole school approach building teacher capacity
- Students’ strengths, interests and areas for development are identified; adjustments and supports are put in place in partnership with classroom teachers
- Progress is monitored across the LST leading to improved continuity of care and enhanced transitions
- Key relationships are built and sustained, including with parents and service providers.
- Schools may not know how to maximise the use of their LST and the value add of different roles within the team
- Tracking student information and aligning appropriate interventions with key supports can be difficult in larger school settings, or where students are regularly moving between schools
- Schools require support to embed evaluation practices.
- Inclusive Education Policy for students with disability
- Student Health in NSW Public Schools: A summary and consolidation of policy
- Nutrition in Schools Policy
- Student Welfare Policy
- Child Protection Policy: Responding to and reporting students at risk of harm
- Working with Children Check Policy
- School Attendance Policy
- School Excellence Policy
- Professional Learning including Disability Standards for Education and the suite of Supported Online Learning courses that address a range of diverse disabilities and additional learning and support needs
- Government initiated and funded roles such as Student Support Officers (SSOs), National Student Wellbeing program (NSWP) and Wellbeing and Health In-reach Nurse (WHIN) Coordinators may be members of a school’s LST
- ‘Buying-in’ additional School Learning Support Officers (SLSOs) employed by the school to strengthen support