Inclusive Education – Supporting our Diverse Learners
Our school welcomes a diverse range of learners to be a part of our learning community. We believe that every child can learn and our focus on student wellbeing, personalised learning strategies, differentiation within curriculum and assessment and evidence based practice for learning support interventions are a winning combination for student success.
Over 40% of students have a language background other than English. Students are regularly tested so that we know what levels of support they need in their classes.
There are students with a range of disabilities in the school including students who are deaf/hearing impaired, intellectually disabled, Developmental Language Delay, physically impaired and students with Autism. Students with disabilities are in the same classes as their same aged peers but are sometimes supported with additional intervention programs.
Students with other learning disabilities and wellbeing needs such as auditory processing disorders, dyslexia, anxiety and other mental health issues are able to access support as required with a team of teachers who consider students’ needs and existing resources.
We have almost 5% indigenous students and as a group they are beginning to develop a stronger and more visible identity in the school and student leadership in this group is being guided and supported.
While we have always had a range of programs that offer acceleration opportunities, we are currently developing an identification process for gifted and talented students. We believe that knowing these learners better will help us continue to enhance our services for these students.
Inclusive Education in our school is led by our Deputy Principal, Head of Special Education Services, Heads of Department, and our Wellbeing team. We have a range of staff with specialist skills to support student learning needs. We employ an evidence-based approach and adapted this specifically to Runcorn SHS. The basic principles of this approach are outlined in the
Personalised Learning at Runcorn SHS document.