School Psychologist
A part-time School Psychologist is part of our school’s staffing configuration. Services include: counselling for students, family support, some educational assessments, student management at school and home as well as working with classes and small groups. The School Psychologist works closely with class teachers and the Special Needs Committee. Parents may contact the School Psychologist directly, or through the class teacher, for confidential discussion about their child’s emotional/social/behavioural and educational adjustment. Referrals to a range of outside agencies can be facilitated by the School Psychologist.
Special Needs Committee
A Special Needs Committee meets regularly to discuss and review student needs. Areas of focus may include physical, learning, social, behavioural or health needs. The committee comprises of the School Psychologist, Special Needs Coordinator, and the class teacher/s. Special Needs, ILP and appraisal meetings are also scheduled at specific times throughout the year to support students in terms of resourcing, special programs, referrals to outside agencies, physical resourcing, specialist testing and referrals to specialist classes and programs. The special needs committee works closely throughout the year with class teachers, specialist teachers and the intervention team within the school as well as multidisciplinary agencies external to the school to support student welfare and individual needs.
Intervention Program
This program aims to provide appropriate learning experiences for students who are assessed as needing additional assistance or extension in the Literacy and Numeracy areas. This takes the form of individual and small group lessons and sometimes additional teacher or teacher assistant support in class.
The EAL/D Program
The EAL/D Program aims to provide children who have English as an Additional Language or Dialect with the opportunity and support to develop fluency and confidence in all areas of English.
Children may be eligible for the program if a parent nominates their child speaks or is exposed to another language other than English in the home.
The EAL/D program assists children to cope with educational requirements and emotional situations in their new environment. Trained specialist teachers support children from Kindergarten to Year 6 within their classrooms. All classroom teachers play a vital role in the EAL/D program. The EAL/D teachers are a resource working alongside classroom teachers to plan and meet the specific needs of students. We also utilise the Belconnen Primary Introductory English Centre located at Charnwood-Dunlop Primary for those students newly exposed to English.
In addition to academic support, the Aranda Primary EAL/D program also offers students and their families social support and an opportunity to engage with other EAL/D families and the Aranda community. Two highly anticipated events we offer are the EAL/D breakfast for families in Term 1 and the end of year EAL/D Christmas party for students.
Aside from formal events, the EAL/D staff are always available to support families and students with navigating general school life in Australia, including volunteering in the classroom, filling in notes, preparation for excursions and camps and accessing basic school requirements such as book packs and uniforms.
More information can be found on the Education Directorate website.
Library Resource Centre
The Library Resource Centre is an integral part of the school. The Library is used by all classes, groups and individuals for research, borrowing and browsing. The Library system is computerised with the Oliver library online system. Our Library is open at 8.30am for parents to read with their children. ( please note: this may be restricted during Covid periods. refer to current school communication)