Learning Support
Faculty Vision And Rationale
The Learning Support Team at Al Amanah College aims to facilitate processes and strategies to cater for the needs of all students within the school. Such needs could include physical, social, emotional, behavioural and academic concerns.
The team is a decision making body that’s purpose is to maximise the use of school resources and personnel in order to have a more coordinated and efficient structure to improve learning conditions for students and staff.
The aim of the Learning Support team is to optimise the teaching and learning process in order to enable pupils with learning difficulties to achieve adequate levels of literacy and numeracy, develop positive self-esteem and attitudes to school and learning, enhance educational opportunities of all students , ensure the successful inclusion of students with individual special needs, develop a partnership with parents/carers so that their knowledge, views and experiences can assist us in assessing and providing for their children and to assist classroom teachers to differentiate programs, and ensure strategies and activities are utilised to ensure an inclusive approach towards learning.
Programs And Supports Offered
Interventions are delivered in a manner that best meets the needs of a class or student. These interventions include collaborations between support and classroom teachers, support in class setting, pull out small group support, or individual one to one teaching. Students are supported within a range of literacy and numeracy programs:
Pre-Lit
Pre-Lit is a systematic skills-based early literacy preparation program for our Kindergarten students. Pre-literacy skills and concepts are presented in an explicit, systematic and hierarchical sequence to provide the framework necessary for children to progress at their own pace and developmental level. Kindergarten students begin developing the necessary skills to become skilled readers; phonics, phonological awareness, vocabulary, comprehension and fluency.
Mini-Lit
Mini-Lit is an early intervention reading program which assists our younger students who find reading difficult. Students are catered for within a small group as they attend four sessions per week. Mini Lit incorporates the key elements of early reading programs; phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Within their sessions, students engage in ‘Sounds and Words Activities’, text readers as students utilise their newly acquired phonological skills and shared book reading session.
Multi-Lit
MULTI LIT is an intensive, systematic reading program whereby students focus on sight word knowledge, phonemic awareness and supported reading. Students receive three sessions per week, at forty minutes per session.
LIEN And LIN
LIEN and LIN is an intensive, inclusive Numeracy program whereby students focus on developing sound knowledge and strategies in four domains; counting, place value, addition and subtraction, and multiplication and division.
IP Support
An Individual Plan (IP) is both a process and a product. It is a teaching tool used to deliver appropriate programs and strategies for those students with specific learning needs. It is a commitment of services and resources the school and the parents agree to provide for students.
Behaviour & Social Skill Support
Behaviour & Social Skill Support is offered to those students who require extra support and learning appropriate behaviour. These students must be referred by mainstream teachers. Their level of support is dependent on the needs they present. This may include personalised behaviour charts, Individual Behaviour Management Plans, behaviour contracts, social skill programs, social stories and anger management programs.
An Individual Plan (IP)
An Individual Plan (IP) is both a process and a product. It is a teaching tool used to deliver appropriate programs and strategies for those students with specific learning needs. It is a commitment of services and resources the school and the parents agree to provide for students.
Team Teaching
Team Teaching may take many forms within the mainstream classroom. It caters for all student abilities using in class support. Team teaching is offered to all mainstream classes within the school, dependent on screening assessment results.
Collaboration (IP)
Collaboration is crucial to have clear communication and to build a strong team. Learning Support collaborates with teachers regularly to provide a variety of academic, behavioural and differentiated strategies to implement for all students.
Parent Partnership
Parents are extremely valuable to the learning support team and Al Amanah College. Parents, the learning support team and classroom teachers work together to help students reach their full potential. As a team we aim to support and collaborate with parents to implement strategies to enhance learning at home and in the classroom. Please provide any information you may think will assist us in helping your child reach their full potential or contact us if you need strategies to implement at home.
Links To Ideas To Practice At Home
Learn, Grow, Succeed
Learning Support
Purpose
The Learning Support Department at Al Amanah College ensures that all students, including those with diverse learning needs, have equitable access to high-quality education. The department provides tailored support to enable students to reach their full potential through inclusive and individualised learning experiences.
Learning Support assists students requiring specific adjustments to engage with the curriculum. These adjustments are delivered by classroom and subject teachers, in collaboration with the Learning Support Department, to provide effective support within the educational setting.
Inclusive education is a shared responsibility at Al Amanah College. Teachers differentiate instruction, modify curriculum content, and deliver individualised support. A whole-school, collaborative approach ensures all students achieve academic success within a safe and inclusive environment.
Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Framework
The Learning Support Team at Al Amanah College adopts a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework that focuses on providing a continuum of support addressing students’ academic, behavioural, social, and emotional needs. This framework assists students struggling with foundational literacy and numeracy, focusing on early identification, intervention, and progress tracking through data-driven, tiered support as follows:
- Tier 1: Universal Support – High-quality teaching for all students.
- Tier 2: Targeted Intervention – Small-group or specific strategies to support identified areas of difficulty.
- Tier 3: Intensive Individualised Support – Tailored programs for students with more significant challenges.
Students transition between tiers as their progress is assessed and needs evolve. This fluid approach ensures flexibility and responsiveness to changing dynamics.
Intervention Support Offered
At Al Amanah College, intervention support encompasses a variety of strategies tailored to meet individual student needs. This includes one-on-one intensive assistance, small group instruction, task modification, utilisation of assistive technologies, and provision of emotional support. The Learning Support Department works to identify each student’s unique learning profile and deliver targeted interventions accordingly.
Individualised Support – Individual Plan (IP)
Individualised Support – Learner Profiles
Small Group Instruction
In-Class Support
Team Teaching
Collaboration
The Learning Support Department collaborates with teachers, families, and allied professionals to design and implement effective learning plans. Parent partnerships are essential to maintain consistency between home and school. All learning adjustments are reviewed regularly in alignment with the Disability Standards for Education (2005).
Differentiated Instruction
Using a Response to Intervention (RtI) model, the department ensures access to the full curriculum for all students, including those with additional needs. Teachers differentiate instruction by adapting learning tasks and adjusting the level of support to accommodate diverse learning profiles.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Student progress is continuously monitored using classroom observations, formal assessments, and data tracking to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions and make responsive adjustments.
Professional Development
Staff in the Learning Support Department engage in ongoing professional development to enhance their ability to support students with diverse learning needs using current evidence-based practices.
Wellbeing
In addition to academic support, the department addresses the social, emotional, and behavioural wellbeing of students with additional needs. Support strategies include:
- Personalised behaviour charts
- Individual Behaviour Management Plans
- Behaviour contracts
- Communication books
- Social skills programsA
- Social stories
- Anger management strategies
Direct Instruction Intervention Programs
Our Direct Instruction (DI) literacy intervention programs ensure a consistent, school-wide approach to early literacy instruction and intervention, to support children at every step of their reading journey. These programs are evidence-based, explicit and effective for teaching reading skills designed for struggling readers that follows a prescriptive, systematic, and synthetic phonics approach within a Response to Intervention (RtI) model.
- Pre-Lit (Kindergarten): This is a systematic skills-based early literacy preparation program that lays the foundation for our Kindergarten students. Pre-literacy skills and concepts are presented in an explicit, systematic and hierarchical sequence to provide the framework necessary for children to progress at their own pace and developmental level. This is used in the initial weeks to transition Kindergarten students to school.
- Mini-Lit Sage (Year 1 & 2): MiniLit is a Tier 2 small group reading program for students in the bottom 25% of the expected range for their age group in Year 1 and 2. Students are catered for within a small group as they attend 4 sessions per week. The program provides explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, systematic synthetic phonics for reading and spelling, letter formation, and connected text reading. MiniLit Sage represents the latest scientific research and evidence base on effective reading instruction and intervention. The program aligns with the K-2 English InitiaLit scope and sequence, whole-class initial literacy instruction program for Foundation to Year 2. This ensures a coherent connection between whole-class instruction and intervention, as students master both the basic and extended alphabetic code.
- MULTILIT (Years 2 & 3): The MultiLit Reading Tutor Program (RTP) caters for students who have not acquired the basic skills needed to become functional readers. This is an intensive and systematic reading instruction to avoid struggling readers from falling further behind.
MACQLIT (Years 3-6): MacqLit is an explicit and systematic reading intervention program for small groups of older low-progress readers, specifically aimed at struggling readers in Year 3 through to High School. It is ideal for students who fall in the bottom 25% of a standardised reading test or curriculum-based measure, and who have particular difficulties in the area of word recognition. It provides teachers with a comprehensive sequence of lessons that includes all the key components necessary for effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Students receive three sessions per week at 40 minutes per session during which they focus on effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
Parent Partnership
Strong partnerships between families and the school are vital for supporting each child’s learning and development. Al Amanah College encourages collaboration to enhance academic outcomes, engagement, and social-emotional wellbeing.
Supporting your Child to Learn from Home:
Families are encouraged to access the following resources to support learning at home: