The staff, students, families and therapists at The Ponds School value literacy and communication for all students. We work together to prioritise teaching in these areas for every student, each and every day. All students at our school access the K-10 English Syllabus through differentiation, the application of the principles of Universal Design for Learning and the implementation of a range of quality, evidence-based practices.
On a daily basis, our students are engaged in learning about the alphabet, practising their phonological awareness skills, listening to and communicating about a variety of texts through shared-reading and self-selected reading lessons, learning to read texts for themselves through guided-reading lessons and learning to write for a variety of personally relevant purposes.
The staff and therapists at The Ponds School share a wealth of knowledge about quality literacy instruction for students with complex communication and learning needs and use a range of assessment strategies to determine student's current level of skills and to prioritise areas for learning. Staff take an individualised approach to literacy and communication instruction, which includes identifying both outcomes and content from the syllabus and individualised learning goals for students.
The staff, therapists, families and students at The Ponds School hold a strong belief that communication is central to both literacy learning and to the inclusion of our student's as valued members of their community, both now and in the future. Staff, speech pathologists and families work together to actively teach students to communicate their needs and thoughts, listen to and understand others and learn new vocabulary, through the application of the principles of Aided Language Stimulation and the integration of a variety of comprehensive communication systems, including Pragmatic Organised Dynamic Display (PODD) communication books, picture exchange communication system (PECS), visual supports and the use of a range of speech generating devices.