Details for school decision makers

This scheme and the resources below will support schools to establish and maintain collaborative relationships with allied health service providers.

There are several ways in which schools may decide to engage a service provider via their school budget. These may include:

• one-off
• ongoing
• short-term
• long-term.

Therapists can be engaged to support:

• individual students
• small groups; these could be students, staff or even parents
• whole classrooms and
• teacher cohorts and support staff.

There are currently two ways in which allied health services may be delivered on school premises

1. School initiated and funded services for small groups, whole of class/school and staff professional development:

Direct engagement of an allied health provider, paid for by the school from their budget. These services will largely be linked to learning outcomes. Schools can use these services to meet the specific and individual needs of students with or without disability that affect what they need to do at school.

Schools may engage these services to support identified groups of students or to provide professional development to their staff.

2. Parent/carer funded services for individual students: A parent/carer may request permission from the Principal to allow their allied health provider to deliver services during school hours to their child. In most cases, this service will be funded out of the student’s NDIS (National Disability Insurance scheme) plan. NDIS funding does not fund group programs or services of any kind. This scheme does not apply to these scenarios.

The services that a school may decide to have an allied health provider deliver are not meant to replace the therapies and supports that individual students should be receiving via their NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) package to meet their functional needs. However, schools may use this scheme to engage providers for the support of individual students if they believe these services are essential and are not being funded through the NDIS. This is at the school’s discretion.

Engaging a service provider via this scheme is not compulsory.

How are services paid for?

Schools will purchase specialised allied health services using their budgets. Spending will be at the discretion of the principal or their delegated decision maker.

Support

The department will remain available to support schools and suppliers to monitor and evaluate the outcomes and performance of the services.