Intervention and Support occurs for all students. Wave 1 interventions focus on a commitment by leaders and staff to develop strategies that support sustained high quality, differentiated classroom teaching for each child. Monitoring individual student growth/determining whether a student has met Standards of Educational Achievement and/or achieved 12 months growth helps to determine the need for individual/group intervention. An Early Years Phonological Awareness program supported by a Speech Pathologist supports Wave 1 interventions for the Reception and R/1 classes.
Wave 2 intervention includes programs to support students including Speech/Language, Reading and Mini-Lit. Targeted groups of English as an Additional Language or Dialect and Aboriginal students receive support to achieve goals within their One Plan. The EALD Teacher and Aboriginal Education Teacher support these two cohorts as part of small group interventions. All of our Students with a Disability in mainstream classes are provided with small group sessions to support them with achieving their SMARTAR goals that are outlined within their One Plans. Wave 3 interventions are provided for some students who require ongoing, intensive instruction and support. One Plans and ongoing planning help support these students individually throughout the year.
Teachers (classroom and specialist) are responsible for developing goals (and skills to focus on to achieve each goal) prior to SSOs/other teachers working with students. The content covered during intervention, together with assessing individual skills ensure that next steps in learning are able to be planned for and form a basis for continuous review and documentation of goals within the One Plan.
Students with a disability and students who have not reached benchmark in particular areas receive an entitlement each week. The grouping of students occurs according to their plans/needs through discussions between teachers.
Meeting Initial Needs in Literacy (Mini-Lit) Criteria
Mini-Lit is an early intervention program which has 80 lessons, it is designed to be delivered to small groups of students who require extra support with learning to read with a strong emphasis on phonological awareness. Students work in their group for one hour per day each week.
The initial criteria is the assessment of year 1 students using a MiniLit placement test. A maximum of up to 8 children are grouped according to their results.
The groups can change according to some of the following factors:
- students who are transient
- students with high absenteeism
- behaviour
- The ability to not make progress with the group
Once a group is established there is the capacity for other students to qualify (using a placement test which determines their ability) for an existing group if a position becomes available.
Children are tested approximately every two lessons to ensure they are grasping what has been taught. Based on the criteria to pass if the test is not met the whole group will need to repeat the previous two lessons of the program. For example if the group fail test lesson 15 then the whole group will repeat lessons 13 and 14 and then be tested again on lesson 15. One student in the group could consistently not pass the test hence why over a period of time a decision could be made for that student to withdraw from the program or that student may join another group if there is a position available. The intervention team will then look at the data from the initial Mini-Lit placement test results and choose a student to join the existing group whose results match the current ability of the establishing team.
Students will be on the program for at least 3 terms or will exit once they have reached their year level running record requirement.
Speech/Language
The Speech and Language program supports those students verified through DECD Speech Pathologists, or those students that are identified by teachers for pre-referral. Identified students focus on receptive and expressive language needs and/or articulation. Students receive 1:1 or small group support for a minimum of 30 minutes a week, where written or oral activities are completed that targets their articulation sounds or language needs. Student’s progress to the next area of development after each goal had been met. Verified students will receive ongoing speech/language support throughout their schooling and/or will receive other interventions that target specific goals as outlined in their One Plans.
