Dear Parents and Guardians,   

Welcome to Week 2 - Term 1, 2023 at St. Joseph’s Parish School, Weipa.  

This year, I will be overseeing both Diversity and our Learning Support Team who be providing specialised academic support and intervention for students from Prep to Year 6. I will also be teaching Music to the Prep to Year 6 class on Friday. We plan to have a lot of fun while ‘Bringing Faith and Learning to Life’.  

The Position of Middle Leader of Diversity works within whole-school initiatives to address the diverse needs of students through a culture of inclusiveness. This role includes working closely with teachers to plan and implement teaching strategies and programs that identify and respond to the individual needs of students. Communicating with parents as key partners in the educational outcomes of students and liaising with visiting specialists, including Therapists to support student learning is also an integral part of this role.   

We have spent last week and this week meeting to analyse student data and discussing the needs of the students within the classes. Further assessments has then been undertaken, where necessary, to pinpoint students’ strengths and weaknesses and areas for intervention. This is an ongoing process for the Learning Support Team as new data is gathered throughout the year.  

As in previous years, we will be following The Response to Intervention Model. This is a three-tiered model for learning and intervention. The Learning Support Team will provide support across all three tiers – within the classroom, in small groups, and with individuals.  

Tier 1: Classroom Support 

The majority of students (80%) succeed in the regular classroom with assistance from the class teacher and Student Support Officers. The Class teachers uses data (assessment results) to monitor student progress and make adjustments according to these results. Teachers are more than happy to discuss with you modifications and adjustments that may be in place for your child. 

Tier 2: Small Group Support 

A small percentage of students, around 15%, require additional support to achieve at the expected level. The Learning Support Teamwork alongside teachers and parents to identify these students and to provide intensive, short-term, targeted support. This support is in addition to classroom support provided by the class Teacher and Student Support Officers. 

Tier 3: Individual Support 

A very small number of students (5%) require a high degree of individual support and may need a team approach from a number of specialists. These students often require a more individualised program and may be on a Modified Curriculum Plan. 

Please remember that staff at St. Joseph’s want to work with you to best support your child and their learning journey. It is critical that you keep your child’s teacher informed of any information that may affect your child’s learning while in our care. You can do this by contacting your child’s class teacher, the school office or myself. 

If your child engages with any private therapists including Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist, Psychologist, etc, it would be greatly appreciated if you could let your child’s class teacher know. We also have access to a Speech Therapist and Occupational Therapist employed through the Cairns Catholic Education Services. They provide advice to educators on how to support students within the classroom environment rather than a therapy approach of which a private Occupational Therapist or Speech Therapist would provide.   

Visitors  

Week 3: Next week we have Heather Alison, our new School Counsellor, visiting us in Weipa  providing her service to St. Joseph's School from Monday 6th February – Friday 10th February. Heather is onsite 2 weeks each term and will also provide support online all other weeks.  

Also next week we have Lorraine Carroll - Speech Language Pathologist and Zinna Aylward - Occupational Therapist from Cairns Catholic Education visiting on Wednesday the 8th February – Thursday 9th February supporting teachers and students.   

Week 5: Rebekah Wegner - Consultant for Inclusive Education will be arriving to support teachers and students. on Monday 20th February –Wednesday 22nd February. 

Week 7: This week from Wednesday 8th March to Thursday 9th of March we have Vicki Reinmann - Psychologist Inclusion from Cairns Catholic Education visiting and supporting teachers and students.   

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at a convenient time that suits.  

My email address is   mturner@cns.catholic.edu.au    

Kind Regards,   

Melanie Turner.