Work Type: Fixed-term - Part-time
Salary: Salary not specified
Grade: Education Support - Level 1, Range 4
Occupation: Health and allied health
Location: Melbourne - Northern suburbs
Reference: 1515603
VISION
The vision of the Concord School community encompasses a commitment to excellence in education for all students. Our school recognises the strong link between home and school. This partnership is encouraged and valued. We aim to be a family friendly school that focuses on the whole child. Student achievement, engagement and wellbeing are the fundamental pursuits of our school. We aspire to engage our students, with the support of the greater community, to develop the requisite skills and strategies to be able to encounter the world with independence, confidence and a positive mindset.
VALUES
Belong: Everyone is accepted, valued, and can be themselves.
Connect: Positive relationships are central to how we learn and grow together.
Grow: Learning and growth are ongoing, celebrated and supported throughout all stages of development.
CONTEXT
Located in Bundoora, a northern suburb of Melbourne, on two campuses, Concord School is a specialist school which caters for students with mild intellectual disability between the ages of 5 and 18 years. Students come from a wide geographical area and a diverse socio-economic background. The Watsonia Campus caters for students aged between 5 and 9 years of age. The Bundoora Campus caters for 9 to 18 year old students. Both campuses are situated in attractive, well maintained grounds with excellent facilities which include:
- Discovery Centre
- Fully equipped gymnasium
- Food Technology Centre
- Art and Craft room
- Well-resourced library
- Physical Education & Performing Arts Centre
- Six school excursion buses
- Comprehensive and innovative eLearning facilities and resources
- Modern playground equipment
- Shaded outdoor playing areas
The school, with 160 teaching and ancillary staff, has a current enrolment of 420 students. Enrolment is dependent on eligibility criteria as determined by the Department of Education. Concord School supports integration into or from mainstream schools. Support services available to parent/carers and students include access to educational psychologists, speech therapists, occupational therapists and visiting teacher services. Intensive social competency programs also form part of the core curriculum across the school
Concord School is focused on student achievement and learning. Concord School is recognised as being a leader in the provision of education for students with additional learning needs and, as a specialist school, is highly regarded for its curriculum, learning technology programs and educational leadership.
The students are taught the mainstream Victorian Curriculum (Prep-Year 10) and VPC (Year 11-12) curriculum however the educational pathway of each student is specifically tailored, through the use of Individual Learning Plans, to meet their targeted learning needs. The students are supported through extensive resourcing, small class sizes of 8-12, education support staff in each classroom and specialised staff including a school nurse, occupational therapists, speech pathologists and student wellbeing coordinators.
Concord School has a high level of commitment to a curriculum which integrates learning technologies with best practice in teaching and learning in order to enhance educational outcomes for our students. The Discovery Centre, a technology rich learning environment, has facilitated opportunities for our students, our staff and for staff from neighbouring schools. The Physical Education/Performing Arts Centre, Food Technology Centre and Library ensures our students have access to outstanding facilities and resources in these areas.
Staff members place a high priority on communication and work with parent/carers in Student Support Groups to communicate and discuss individual Student Learning Plans. These plans focus on the development of learning outcomes based on the course content of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards. Student progress is closely monitored against these learning targets through extensive formal and informal assessment.
Student achievement is celebrated to promote increased self-esteem and self-confidence to assist students to become independent in their work and acknowledge participation at school. At Concord we expect that students will develop respect for others and achieve personal excellence.
The values of the school are promoted through all curriculum areas and emphasised through student responsibility areas such as the Student Representative Council and other student leadership programs.
Concord School provides many enrichment programs such as:
- Work Experience
- Travel Education
- Excursion / camping programs
- Swimming programs
- Inter school sport
- Electives
- Presentation Ball
- Perceptual motor program
- Annual Christmas concert, performing arts concerts and incursions
- Bike education
- Footy Day
The school looks forward to continuing to meet the challenge of educating our students so that each can continue `To be The Best I Can Be'.
1. Capacity as a Speech Pathologist to deliver a comprehensive Speech Pathology service within the classroom to students from 5-18 years of age in a specialist educational environment.
2. Highly developed communication and interpersonal skills to act as a resource person in the areas of Speech Pathology (including literacy and communication) and severe language disorder.
3. Demonstrated capacity to reflect critically upon personal professional practice, evaluate and instigate further personal professional development to continually improve their professional competence.
4. Excellent problem solving and interpersonal skills to adapt to the situation.
5. Excellent time management skills including prioritisation of responsibilities to ensure an effective service delivery.
- Implement speech pathology programs with a neuroaffirming lens and trauma informed practices.
- Work in collaboration with the occupational therapists, behaviour support staff and wellbeing staff to understand behaviours and sensory processing needs.
- Work in collaboration with teachers to support student engagement in the classroom and the language used.
- Work with teachers to implement whole class sessions and small groups working in the classrooms e.g. Little Learners Love Literacy, Sounds-Write, Colourful Semantics, AAC.
- Complete informal assessments and write program notes to support Disability Inclusion applications for funding.
- Provide evidence based approaches within the classroom and in small groups.
- Evaluate interventions regularly and report outcomes of interventions for students.
- Work collaboratively with teachers, specialist staff, multi-disciplinary team and leadership .
- Transfer literacy, language and social communication across a range experiences.
- Provide professional learning opportunities to school staff as required.
- Participate in SSG meetings as required.
- Complete speech pathology progress comments in school reports twice a year
- Support and model AAC (including KWS) to advocate for students with complex communication needs.
- Speech Pathologists with a positive attitude for learning and working with teachers to deliver a holistic program to support student¿s literacy, language and social communication skills.
- Experience in a special school is not essential
- Part timers are welcome to apply
The department is committed to diversity and inclusion and developing a workforce that is representative of the community we service. We value diversity and inclusion in all forms - culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQA+, disability and neurodiversity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for roles within the Department. The Department recognises that the provision of safe, respectful and inclusive workplaces is essential to high performance and promotes flexible work and diversity across all schools and Department workplaces. It is our policy to provide reasonable adjustments for staff with disability (see Workplace adjustment guidelines).
Additional support and advice on the recruitment process is available to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander candidates from the Koorie Outcomes Division (KOD) via [email protected]
Applicants seeking part-time employment are encouraged to apply for any teaching service position and, if they are the successful candidate, request a reduced time fraction. Such requests will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis and will be subject to the operational requirements of the school.
Victorian government schools are child safe environments. Our schools actively promote the safety and wellbeing of all students, and all school staff are committed to protecting students from abuse or harm in the school environment, in accordance with their legal obligations including child safe standards. All schools have a Child Safety Code of Conduct consistent with the department's exemplar available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/child-safe-standards/policy
The department's employees commit to upholding the department's Values: Responsiveness, Integrity, Impartiality, Accountability, Respect, Leadership and Human Rights. The department's Values complement each school's own values and underpin the behaviours the community expects of Victorian public sector employees, including those who work in Victorian Government Schools. Information on the department values is available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/values-department-vps-school-employees/overview
- Negotiable start date
- Laptop and iPad provided
- Shared allied health office