Our new title and how we cater for the needs of ALL Claremont College students.
This week the Learning Support Team launched their new name at the Parent Information Evening - The Learning Enrichment Team. Why did we need a new name? The word "support" unfortunately has negative connotations, and whilst it comes from a good place, it doesn't include the breadth of what we do. Learning Support has long been connected to the notion of assisting students with additional learning needs, and whilst this is one part of the team’s functions, our role has changed over the past few years to an inclusive form of enrichment for all students, so the name did not reflect the nature of our work.
Learning Enrichment encompasses students of all abilities – including our High Potential Learners, as well as students with disabilities and learning difficulties. It removes that stigma of "needing help" and focuses on developing and enriching learning for each student, no matter where students are on the spectrum of learning.
At Claremont College, all educators are required to undertake reasonable steps to ensure that a student with a disability is able to participate, ‘on the same basis’ as a student without a disability and that high potential learners are provided with opportunities to reach their full potential. The teaching teams support all students to learn, at their point of need within a fully integrated, collaborative, co-teaching model of teaching, within the classroom, wherever possible. The teaching teams inside the classroom include the Classroom Teachers, the Learning Enrichment Team (including the School Counsellor, the Head of Learning Enrichment and Learning Enrichment Teachers) the Teaching and Learning Assistants (TLAs), and the Specialist teachers, and they all play a vital role in supporting the implementation of reasonable adjustments, as identified in classroom teaching programs and where necessary in students’ individual plans. These adjustments relate not only to underperforming students but also to students who have been identified as gifted and also those students identified as ‘gifted under-performers’ (Twice Exceptional Learners). This change in Learning Enrichment means that all students receive Learning Enrichment across the entire continuum of learning.
At Claremont College we recognise our responsibility to identify not only those students who are underperforming (as the direct or indirect result of a disability or learning difficulty) but also those children who may be underperforming and are High Potential Learners and to provide them with an education that is appropriate to their needs, by optimising the strengths of all learners. “Gifted and talented students are found in all communities regardless of their ethnic, cultural or socio-economic characteristics. The gifted population includes students who are underachieving and who have disabilities.” (NSW Dept Ed.)
Since 2012 Claremont has been on a journey of transformation. A key driver has been to create a fully integrated co-teaching model that places equal value on learner qualities and academic success; valuing and utilising all the possible expertise from within the school. The Classroom Teachers and Learning Enrichment Staff, the creativity and curiosity of our students, the input from and partnerships with our parents, plus the application of effective communication, feedback, dialogue, and co-planning, are all essential elements for celebrating and fostering diversity.
The main role of the ‘Learning Enrichment Team’ is to work alongside the classroom teachers to enable all students to access and participate in the curriculum through quality differentiation. Effective communication, in the initial planning phase between Learning Enrichment Staff and the Classroom Teachers is essential and functions as a means of facilitating collaboration. During the planning phase the entire team is planning for the needs of all students across their continuum of learning, including catering for High Potential Learners.
The current Learning Enrichment Team:
Miss Lisa Tyson - Learning Enrichment Teacher - working in Kindergarten and Year 1 teams
Miss Sinéad Kelly - Learning Enrichment Teacher - working in Year 3, 4 and 5 teams
Mrs Nicola Breakspear - Learning Enrichment Teacher - working in Year 2 and Year 6 teams
Mrs Anna Robinson - Learning Enrichment Administration
Miss Catherine McKersie (School Counsellor)
Mrs Brenda Dalheim - Head of Learning Enrichment – supporting all K-6 Teaching Teams
If you would like to know more about Learning Enrichment at Claremont, please speak to one of the team.
Mrs Brenda Dalheim
Head of Learning Enrichment
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