Specialist programs
Specialist teachers
The curriculum of the school is supported by the work of several specialist teachers. These include:
arts teacher
physical education teacher
Language other than English (LOTE) teacher
support teachers: literacy and numeracy
speech therapist
instrumental music teacher.
The school also has access to a guidance officer.
Special Education Program
Bucasia State School offers support for Students with a Disability (SWD) through its Special Education Program (SEP), catering for the students enrolled at the school with a positive and collaborative approach.
Students who receive additional support through the SEP are those who have been diagnosed with a disability, and include students with a:
- physical Impairment
- intellectual Impairment
- hearing Impairment
- speech-language Impairment
- vision Impairment
- Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Our program accesses the regular services of a guidance officer, speech pathologist and an occupational therapist.
Student Services Unit
SSU, a spacious, light and airy classroom with a securely enclosed outdoor play area, is provided to support the program which is primarily carried out within the regular classroom. This alternative space provides access to lessons and activities that are performed outside the mainstream classrooms.
The school nurtures and reviews inclusive practice, adopting a continuous improvement model. Positive relationships between families, students and staff are an essential factor for success of the program and parents are most welcome at the student services unit to discuss their child’s needs. It is through consultation with parents and care-givers that goals for students are determined and documented in the Individual Student Plan process (ISP). Cooperation between home and school in achieving set goals is fundamental for the most successful outcomes for our students.
Inclusive approach
Bucasia State School has an inclusive approach and focuses on the use of differentiated instruction and curriculum modification, where students work alongside their peers where possible, rather than relying on teaching assistants.
Through access to different styles of learning more suited to their individual needs, students are provided with quality experiences to help develop academic and living skills important to their independence and social development in the school setting and within the wider community. This in turn offers important opportunity to members of the whole school community to value difference and celebrate diversity, through developing the values of understanding, tolerance and acceptance that can be carried with them throughout their lives.
The Bucasia State School Special Education Program (BSS SEP) works flexibly to promote inclusion rather than facilitating systematic withdrawal, focusing on positive input from experienced teacher aides within regular classrooms that will assist students to participate in regular educational services.
Students are supported in class when necessary, through modified curriculum and Teacher Aide support, enabling them to be with their same age peers and to enjoy the same learning experiences alongside them, with adjusted expectations of outcomes corresponding to their individual ability.
At Bucasia we recognise that relationships are more likely when children spend time together, over extended periods of time, in shared activities, with support for this to happen.
To achieve academic, communication, social, work, emotional, leisure and home skills of students, programs sometimes extend outside of school to include community access, these programs are linked to the curriculum.
Resources
For more information on the range of special education programs available in Queensland including autism spectrum disorder view the following sites:
Contact
Please contact us if you would like more information about our program.