Learning Enhancements
Allied Health
The Warringa Park School Allied Health team works collaboratively with leadership, teaching and support staff to create a positive and happy environment to engage, inspire and encourage our students in their learning and support them to optimise their school experience. Our team is comprised of Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists, a Physiotherapist and a Movement Therapist, and our therapy programs are supported by three Allied Health assistants.
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Occupational Therapy
The overall goal of Occupational Therapy (OT) is to maximize a student’s ability and potential to independently participate in a variety of activities across the school day. These activities may be academic, such as writing skills, as well as non-academic, including the development of social skills, sensory integration and self-care skills.
OTs work consultatively throughout the school, working on a referral and priority needs basis. The OTs provide recommendations in consultation with classroom staff to address areas of concern including:
- Activities of daily living: Such as dressing, toileting, eating
- Motor planning: developing the ability to organise, plan and complete new and unpractised skills such balancing,
skipping and handling objects - Sensory processing and sensory integration: Managing student sensory processing within the school environment,
including oral motor (e.g. blowing bubbles), visual, tactile (e.g. touching and manipulating different objects) and
proprioceptive activities (e.g. movement-based games such as climbing, kicking balls and using scooter boards) - Fine motor skills: Using hands and fingers to manipulate smaller object
- Perceptual motor/ gross motor: the acquisition of large scale movements such as walking, running, jumping, climbing, swimming.
Speech Therapy
School speech pathologists assess and treat people who have a communication disability. Speech pathologists are trained in all aspects of communication including speech, writing, reading, signs, symbols and gestures. Speech pathologists also work with people who have difficulties swallowing food and drink.
The speech pathologists at Warringa Park School have a goal to equip every student at the school with an ability to communicate. This may include using Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). AAC assists children with little or no speech by supplementing or augmenting the speech a person may already have. Alternative communication is used where speech is not possible. AAC includes all forms of communication, other than speech (e.g. gesture, signing, communication books and speech generating devices).
AAC is used to aid students in:
- expressing their needs, wants, thoughts, and emotions;
- reducing frustration and behaviour difficulties;
- turn taking, initiation and requesting skills;
- understanding the meaning of words;
- developing more complex thinking skills;
- developing spoken language;
- using socially appropriate behavior;
- supporting comprehension;
Speech pathologists work consultatively throughout the school, supporting classroom staff to implement strategies to support communication development and assisting classroom teams to implement literacy lessons.
Physiotherapy
The physiotherapist at Warringa Park School assesses and treats a variety of conditions that affect the physical function of students through enhancing learning in a fun way by encouraging movement.
Key areas of focus include: exercise programs, gait aids such as walkers and wheelchairs, manual handling, transfers and staff and student education.
Café 11 | Warringa Crescent Campus
Café 11 is a school based café, designed to provide work experience for students in the Bethany Road Campus. It provides
learning outcomes for students in Literacy, Numeracy, Personal Development and Work Education.
Students practice skill development in the areas of:
- Food handling
- Kitchen hand duties
- Customer service
- Waiting on tables
- Money handling
- Work safety
Café 11 is a pathway to the hospitality certificate in years 11 and 12 and provides opportunities for students to seek employment. Café 11 is self-funded.
Families are encouraged to use the café and see their child at work.
Opening Hours
Monday – Thursday
10:30 – 12:00
12:30 – 2:00
Muffins and hot food available
Friday
10:30 – 12:00
12:30 – 1:00
Biscuits and toasted sandwiches available.
Delicious daily specials are on offer every day.
Please book for afternoon visits.
Café 10 | Cayleys Road Campus
Café 10 is a student based Cafe run by students, providing work experience for students at the Cayleys Road Campus. It provides Literacy, Numeracy, Personal Development and Work Education.
Students practice skill development in the areas of:
- Food handling
- Customer service
- Waiting on tables
- Money handling
- Work safety
Café 10 prepares students who choose hospitality certificate in years 11 and 12 and provides opportunities for students to seek employment. Café 10 is a self-funded.
Families will be invited to use the café and see their child at work.
Opening Hours
Monday – Thursday
10:30 – 12:00
12:30 – 2:00
Savoury muffins, toasties, hot and cold drinks
Friday
Lunch orders – Orders sent home weekly.
All food cooked and prepared at Cayleys Road Campus.
Student Wellbeing
The Student Wellbeing Team at Warringa Park School are dedicated to creating a positive and engaging school environment that promotes the health, wellbeing and learning of all students. Our team assist and empower students to achieve their full potential through the provision of personal development opportunities and support services including:
- Counselling & Mentoring
- Social and Emotional Learning
- Support with mental health and wellbeing
- Family Information and Referrals
- Health Provision & Education
- Transitions & Pathways
- Events
These school services can help students learn the competencies and skills they need to build resilience and effectively manage their emotions, behaviour and relationships with others. In turn, these support opportunities and programs optimise the wellbeing of students through all stages of their development so they can be healthy, happy, engaged and successful.
We know that there are strong links between wellbeing and school excellence. Not only can the provision of support services increase student mental health and wellbeing, but the impact can also be correlated to positive learning engagement, outcomes and future success. When a student is supported in their development they can connect, thrive and succeed in their learning to achieve their goals and prepare for future.
Our Student Wellbeing Team
The Student Wellbeing team work collaboratively with students, families, teachers, allied health and external community agencies to provide support services and personal developmental programs across all Warringa Park School campuses.
Kelly Botha
Assistant Principal | Curriculum Accountability & Reporting
Jo Kelly
Assistant Principal | Inclusion & Wellbeing
Lindsey Delooze
Assistant Principal | Wellbeing – Curriculum
Kimberley Zammit
Assistant Principal | Later Years Curriculum & Pathways
Tim Hilton
Assistant Principal | Community Engagement
Samantha Mahoney
Wellbeing Coordinator Later Years
Paige Heald & Jamie Dubowik
Wellbeing Coordinators Lower, Middle and Upper Primary Years
Emma Armstrong
Mental Health Practitioner Later Years
Amy Reid
Career Pathways
Jimmy Mathieson
Youth Worker
Natalie Roksandic & Rachael Whitehead
School Nurses
Greer Whitworth
Enrolments Officer
Cieran Barter & Irene Kerr
NDIS Coordinators
Kerstin Barter
Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator
Karen Garner
Inclusion
Innovation
Vision
We have established an Innovation Team of teachers and leaders from across our three campuses, who regularly meet and support the various teams within our school to develop their practice in line with our school values of Respect, Learning and Working together; as well as the team’s vision:
At Warringa Park, we want to empower our learners with essential skills to communicate, create and collaborate through unique and authentic learning experiences. Our students will become digital citizens who can navigate a rapidly changing world by recording, investigating, experimenting and risk taking by using multiple technologies.
Our instructional pedagogy is evidence based, our practices utilise meta studies such as the High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS) and Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports (PBIS) programs that support student understanding via multiple exposure and authentic learning experiences.
Success
The staff of Warringa Park are reflective practitioners who use data and evidence-based pedagogy to inform practice and identify future steps. The Apple Learning Technologies Survey results allowed us to identify a snapshot of how our staff use technologies in their classrooms. It highlighted that there are 96% of Teachers who feel moderately to very prepared for teaching with Apple technology. It also showed that there has also been an increase in our staff’s confidence to personalise student learning in the last 6 months, this timeframe coincides with the implementation of the WPS Innovation Team. The survey also noted that 85% of teachers have completed their Apple Teacher status, with another 9% working towards this currently. This successful data has led to the consolidation of the work the Innovation Team does, as well as allowing the team to start thinking about how they can continue to make positive impacts.
Learning
Warringa Park School promotes and values excellence in education for every student. We have strong beliefs amongst our teaching staff that all students in our school can learn and want to learn and by working together we can make a difference to their learning achievements. The school provides a balanced and personalised curriculum where improved learning outcomes in English, Mathematics, Science and Technology are seen as integral to the achievement of successful post school options. A high level of student engagement and improved student learning is achieved through a one to one iPad program.
iPad technology has allowed all of our students access to the Victorian Curriculum by providing a way to communicate their learning, ask questions to extend their thinking and record their wonderings. Our educators continue to use the iPad to capture students’ interactions with learning through photos, videos, and recordings. iPad has allowed our additional needs students a voice and the opportunity to interact with their peers both in their classroom, other classrooms, and peers from around the world. We have used Apple technology to FaceTime international schools and share how we are making a difference to water conservation, climate change and wildlife conservation. The iPad has allowed our parent community access to the classroom and allows parents to see, in real time, the learning their child is undertaking. This allows learning to be extended beyond the classroom and assists to bridge the gap between home and school.
What’s next
Warringa Park will contribute in growing knowledge, improving confidence and increasing the capacity of teachers in using Apple technology in the classroom by equipping them with skills and capabilities. The Innovation Team will continue to drive sustainable improvements and enhance the teaching of Literacy, Numeracy, Science and other subject areas that will benefit our students of all ages and abilities. The ongoing collection of data will inform the school’s decision to create new learning opportunities and generate fresh ideas and effective strategies to ensure the success and sustainability of the use of Apple technology in school programs.
Warringa Park School will continue to grow the Innovation Team to ensure a wider reach within the school. As a result of the amazing outcomes we have seen with some students trialing Apple Pencils, we will also continue to explore and implement these in our learning programs in more classrooms. We aim to document and share the fantastic work our students create through our social media platform and the #ImagineThePossibilities.
Please click here to view our latest project.