Students at Educational Risk

At Burrendah Primary School, individual needs are met by providing specialised programs for students at educational risk (SAER), gifted and talented (GAT) or have a language background other than English (EAL/D). The aim is to ensure that all students achieve their full potential in a safe and supportive learning environment.

Early Intervention

Early intervention is crucial for students to successfully access the curriculum in all learning areas. At Burrendah Primary School, we have an experienced SAER Team who provides support, resources and expertise to teachers and students who require adjustments to their learning programs through either an individual education plan (IEP), group education plan (GEP) or individual behaviour management plan (IBMP).  

Within the dedicated SAER Team, we have a teacher who is currently undergoing training to become our Key Autism Support Teacher, as well as other members of the SAER Team who have experience with developing individual student planning matrix’s to support students with a diagnosis of autism.  We also have very knowledgeable staff on the SAER Team who are trained in providing support for both teachers and students with a diagnosis of ADHD, specific language disorders (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia) and a range of other learning disorders .  We pride ourselves on our partnership with parents/carers and value the essential and ongoing communication with them to discuss programs, strategies, plans and progress for their child.

Outside Student Service Teams

For students with more complex needs, specialised support is also sought through outside student service teams. These include psychologists, social workers and/or visiting teachers for learning difficulties and disabilities.

Outside Therapy Providers (ie Speech Pathologists and Occupational Therapists

As part of our Burrendah Primary School SAER policies, please note that we are unable to support requests for therapists to withdraw students during the school day to provide one on one therapy on site.

Gifted and Talented Students

Burrendah Primary School’s Rigorous Academic Classroom Extension (BRACE) Program caters for identified GAT students in Year 5. The BRACE program specialises in developing student’s critical and creative thinking skills. The Critical and Creative General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum forms the basis for this program.

Regional Primary Extension and Challenge (PEAC) programs catering for select Years 5 and 6 gifted and talented students operate within the school network. PEAC provides challenge and extension based around critical and creative thinking in the courses offered.

EAL/D students

Students with a language background other than English may require a specialised program. EAL/D Progress Maps are used to inform individual student progress to indicate acquisition of Standard Australian English. Programs are delivered by the classroom teacher, EAL/D teacher and education assistants. Students who have limited English are withdrawn for intensive literacy support or may be referred to the Intensive English Centre for short term placement.

Literacy Support Programs

Specific literacy programs are offered to students who require support as an individual or within small group settings. Students may participate in Alpha to Omega, Heggerty Phonemic Awareness and/or Letters and Sounds, which are targeted small group programs, that engage students in an explicit phonetic approach for the teaching of reading and spelling. MULTILIT is used as an individual program used in Years 1 – 5 to assist individual students with reading acquisition which targets phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

Additional Literacy Support groups for Years 1-3 (Junior Literacy Support) and Years 4-5 (Senior Literacy Support) also offer additional support to build literacy independence for targeted students.