Supporting every student
Learning Support Team Vision
At Putney Public School every student is known, valued and cared for as we facilitate a whole school approach to meeting the needs of all students. At Putney our school motto is ‘Excellence through Endeavour’. In the pursuit of excellence, Department documents such as the Disability Strategy, the School Excellence Framework, the Wellbeing Framework for Schools, the Australian Student Wellbeing Framework and Every Student, Every School Learning and Support Framework guide us in our planning and practices to ensure the achievement of successful educational outcomes for all students.
Children achieve the best educational outcomes when they receive inspired teaching, are embraced by their schools and fellow students and have the support of engaged families and friends. (Disability Strategy 2019)
At Putney we strive for excellence in delivering quality teaching and learning programs, building on the individual strengths of students, engaging students in their learning by providing choice and positive educational experiences. As a staff, we reflect on our teaching practice to ensure we deliver learning opportunities using highly effective teaching strategies, have strong classroom management skills and provide support for our students to allow them to connect and succeed with the curriculum. It is a priority of our school that positive, respectful relationships between students, teachers, support staff, parents and the wider community are developed to foster connectedness, belonging, student wellbeing and genuine support to ensure that all students thrive to reach their full potential. Effective partnerships are based on mutual commitment, trust and respect, and shared responsibility for the education of each student.
Consistent, school-wide practices are used for assessment and reporting and to monitor student learning across the curriculum. When students have identified needs in learning, there needs to be a strategic and planned approach to support their cognitive, emotional, social, physical and spiritual wellbeing.
Personalised learning and support is a process that assists a wide range of students with additional learning and support needs. Personalised learning and support is underpinned by evidence of four key elements:
- The assessed individual education needs of the students
- The provision of adjustments or support to meet the students’ assessed needs
- Monitoring and review of the impact of the adjustment or support being provided for the student
- Consultation and collaboration–of teachers with parents, support staff and other professionals where required.
The Learning & Support Team
Our Purpose
The Putney Learning Support Team has a role to address the learning and support needs of students through the coordination, development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of educational programs. It aims to facilitate processes and strategies to cater for the social, emotional and academic needs of all students. The team is a decision making body which strives to maximise the use of school resources and personnel to ensure a coordinated and effective structure to support staff to improve these outcomes for students.
The Learning and Support Team will:
- Facilitate a whole school approach to the development of personalised learning and support with parents/ carers
- Co-ordinate a whole school approach in identifying and supporting students with adjusted learning needs
- Develop referral systems for classroom teachers to access support services
- Establish school ‘levels of support’ for classroom teachers in order that they can implement reasonable adjustments and access appropriate resources to cater for students with additional learning needs
- Identify and provide direction for professional learning needs of staff to build the capacity of teachers to support students to achieve their potential
- Implement effective models and programs to improve student outcomes e.g. evidence based programs and best practice in the area of learning difficulties, monitoring and evaluation procedures)
- Provide direct support for students with additional learning and support needs through a range of strategies, including the areas of social integration, behaviour management and transition programs.
The Learning Support Team share a commitment to actively engage in professional learning, professional reading and dialogue, to allow for strategic planning, development and review of suitable differentiation and adjustments to our targeted students.
The Process
The Every Student, Every School guidelines will be followed by the Putney Learning and Support Team to support students with additional learning needs and their teachers.
- Identify - the learning & support needs of individual or groups of students and the professional learning needs of staff
- Analyse - using evidence and data to understand the reasons behind the need
- Prioritise - the learning and support needs of student and the professional learning needs of staff
- Allocate - resources to meet the learning and support needs of individual or groups of students and the professional learning needs of staff
- Evaluate - regularly, the efficacy of learning and support for students and the planned professional learning for staff and realign where necessary.