The Liberal Government is delivering on its commitment to improve support for students with disabilities, with an autism-specific unit to be piloted at a Southern primary school.
Established at Geilston Bay’s Lindisfarne North Primary School, the unit will provide the information that we require to make longer term decisions about the best ways to support students with autism to learn and reach their full potential.
Up to 10 full-time equivalent students with autism will be catered for when the unit opens, which is expected to be by the beginning of Term 2 next year.
To support the unit, a full-time equivalent teacher and a full-time equivalent teacher assistant will be added to Lindisfarne North Primary School’s staff.
The Government is also investing up to $100,000 to provide for tailor-made facilities, with an autism consultant and senior disability officers from the Department working with school and Facilities staff to develop the ideal physical environment.
Lindisfarne North was chosen for the autism-specific pilot as it has an excellent program in place supporting students with disabilities and has embraced the opportunity to complement and build on this program.
All staff at the school will undertake a professional learning program to build their understanding and capacity to support students with autism.
Today’s announcement follows the Government’s move in June to establish an independent Ministerial taskforce on meeting the needs of students with disabilities and the establishment of an expert panel on autism, and shows how serious we are about improving education outcomes for all students.
Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Education and Training
