Learning Support

Learning and support resources are available in every mainstream school to help any student experiencing difficulties in learning in a mainstream class, regardless of the cause.

This includes support for students with:

Identifying learning and support needs

For some children, additional learning and support needs are identified from early childhood.

For other children, the need for extra support may not become clear until some way into their schooling.

Most students do not need a formal diagnosis of disability to receive extra support in mainstream classes. Every NSW public school has a learning and support team that works with students, parents and carers, classroom teachers and other professionals to identify students who need extra support – at any stage of a student's school life.

However, some students have complex support needs that require targeted assistance. This can be provided in mainstream classes through Integration Funding Support.

How learning and support works

Schools use their allocations of learning and support resources to personalise the learning for the individual needs of their students. Teaching and learning can be adjusted in many ways, based on every student's unique needs, to enable students with disability and additional learning and support needs to enjoy the same opportunities and choices in their education as their peers.

Adjustments are made in close consultation with students and their parents and carers and are regularly reviewed to assess their effectiveness and to identify any need for changes.

The first point of contact is the school's learning and support team. Learning and support teams include key personnel involved in supporting students with disability and additional and learning and support needs.

Children with Disabilities

Specialist advice and support are available to parents and caregivers of children with disabilities to help them access appropriate educational services. Talk to the school as early as possible about these services. Support can begin prior to school in some circumstances.

Across NSW, the Department of Education and Communities (DEC) provides a wide range of services to support students who have special needs.

 As a parent or carer of a child with a confirmed disability you can consider the following educational options: