By Caroline Smith
Trinity College has released the first of three white papers on Inclusive Education, detailing how the school supports students with diverse abilities and needs, as guided by its grounding in the ethos of Edmund Rice.
The first paper discusses Educational Learning Support, which is one branch of Trinity’s Inclusive Education department, together with its Gifted and Talented Program and Vocational Education and Training (VET).
Headmaster Ivan Banks said the department’s approach to diverse needs was an offshoot of the school’s general philosophy towards education and pastoral care.
“Our ethos is that we have to provide the very best education to every student irrespective of their issues,” he said.
He added that students with intellectual or learning disabilities could receive specific support while remaining part of the wider class community.
“We’re working with boys who are benefiting from an inclusive education,” Mr Banks said.
“They can socialise and interact with boys of their own age, to play sport with them, to do an elective like art, which will often not be affected by their intellectual disability.
“But when it comes to literacy and numeracy, they’ll often need lots of support and extra scaffolding.”
He added that Trinity’s approach to education support had always been focused on inclusiveness, inspired by the teachings of the Blessed Edmund Rice, whose daughter Mary was said to have had a disability.
Director of Inclusive Education, Lissa Coleman, said the school culture as a whole would benefit from an inclusive approach, in which students respected each other’s abilities and differences.
“The more inclusive we are, the more understanding we can be of certain disabilities,” she said.
“It just becomes a matter of students saying ‘that’s that boy, he’s got that, he’s fine’.”
This was particularly important, Ms Coleman said, due to the growing range of factors that could affect a student’s learning and social experience at school.
“We often deal with learning disabilities that are hidden, such as dyslexia,” she said.
“We have a whole range of physical disabilities like cerebral palsy, acquired brain injuries, hearing issues, sight issues – all of which can be a barrier to learning.
“We’re also dealing with an increasing range of emotional issues – anxiety, for example.”
According to the white paper, each student in the Inclusive Education department has a support team with a teacher, school psychologist, the Head of Year teacher and a Deputy – together, the team would develop a plan to maximise the student’s learning and social experience at Trinity.
Mr Banks said that having such a team – with teachers and other support workers who remained constant throughout the student’s time at the school – is very beneficial.
“Our whole-school philosophy is one where we’re trying to build relationships with the boys and their parents to help provide stability,” he said.
“The Head of Year often moves up with the boys; that gives them that one constant. We might also have the psychologist looking after boys in Year 7 who will then move up the next year to Year 8, so that provides continuity and stability for the boys and their families.
“It adds to the whole pastoral care process of looking after the boys. And boys are relational – they like to know that somebody cares.”
The Inclusive Education Department currently supports around 300 students, with four teachers, seven education assistants, two school psychologists and one speech pathologist.