Mountain Creek State School is committed to every student reaching his or her potential. This is evidenced through the Kanjini Centre. Kanjini is an aboriginal word for ‘caring and sharing’. This Centre is the home of the Special Education Program staff. It is also the base location for Support Services within the school. The School Chaplain, Guidance Officer, Speech Language Pathologist and other visiting personnel all operate from this location. Co-location facilitates clear communication and networking pathways to ensure effective and efficient use of resources. The team offers the school community a range of skills and expertise to support staff, parents and students to be the best they can be.
Special Education Programs
Mountain Creek has embraced inclusive practice in catering for students with disabilities. Education Queensland recognises six areas of impairment – Physical Impairment, Vision Impairment, Hearing Impairment, Speech-Language Impairment, Intellectual Impairment and Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The students between Prep and Year 7 work alongside their peers in classrooms. The Special Education Program Teacher and Class Teacher collaborate to plan the most appropriate use of resources and teaching adjustments aligned to each student’s individual needs.
Individual Support Plans are developed with input from the student where possible, the family and the school. These are reviewed at the end of each year with SEP staff gaining the Top Tip from last year’s Teacher to assist in the transition of the student between year levels.
There is a flexible array of options provided to assist students to achieve best possible outcomes in areas such as curriculum, communication, social participation, emotional wellbeing, safety, health, personal care, learning environment and access. Some of these include targeted maths and literacy programs, sound skilling, feedback discussion sessions, cooking, gardening, study skills programs to working alongside Teachers in the classroom to provide appropriate adjustments to cater for the diversity within the room. Fairness is not about everyone getting the same, fairness is about everyone getting what he or she needs (La Voie 1996).
Student Support Committee
Parents and Teachers who have concerns for individual students are able to refer these to the Student Support Committee for discussion. This committee includes the Class Teacher, Sector Leader, Guidance Officer, Support Teacher Literacy and Numeracy, Head of Student Services and Speech Language Pathologist. Parents are advised in writing of the outcomes and the students are reviewed at the end of each term to ensure appropriate support actions have occurred. The Committee meets twice a week to ensure a rapid and efficient response to need.
Student Services Team
The School Guidance Officer, Behaviour Support Officer, School Chaplain and Head of Student Services meet each fortnight to discuss and review support for students with complex and challenging needs within the school community. The EdLinQ program is highly valued and a representative from Child Youth Family Services visits each fortnight to collaborate with the Team.