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Health Care:
Health Care services exist to provide immediate first aid care, ongoing support, education and advice to students, parents and staff at DCC. First Aid care is available for injuries and illnesses that occur during a school day. First aid requirements for excursions and camps are provided for, including medical forms and comprehensive first aid kits. For students who have chronic or ongoing medical conditions that require support at school, Health Care nurses will spend time with their parents discussing individual requirements and care needs, and formulating an appropriate support or management plan.
Health Education takes place in a variety of ways, including informal advice on health issues, staff education on specific medical conditions and first aid care, classroom involvement in health-related topics, and school community awareness via the Networks or letters to parents.
Counselling
Students can access the School Counsellor to provide one-to-one or group sessions. Students who may experience difficult situations or emotional issues are catered for in both primary and secondary school as part of DCC's ongoing care for the whole student.
The Counsellor is an integral member of the Student Services team. Their primary role is to collaborate and engage with teachers, parents and management to create a safe, healthy and supportive learning environment for all students. They are also responsible for addressing student behavioural issues, including bullying, suggesting strategies to enhance classroom management, and be a resource on parenting, and socialisation strategies.
Gifted Education at Donvale Christian College
God has blessed students in our school with many different talents. It is the goal of our school to assist our students to discover and develop their own God given abilities in providing a variety of creative and challenging learning experiences.
What can Donvale Christian College offer your child?
The philosophy behind our gifted education program is that some students require specific intervention if they are to maintain their curiosity, creativity and motivation. They need to be taught skills such as innovative thinking, problem solving and research as they are extended in areas of the general curriculum. DCC recognise such diversity of talent and encourages extension programs that are linked with mainstream schooling.
Students' needs are met in individual programs, small groups, whole class and whole school activities. This program monitors students whilst offering opportunities to accelerate in both class levels and individual subject areas and individual research projects.
- In curriculum areas provision is made in mainstream subjects with advanced groupings in some subject areas especially Maths and English
- Students participate in many competitions and talent quests in areas including Maths, Science and SOSE.
- Flexibility of timetabling allows the establishment of vertical groups
Extra programs for Primary:
Sarah Thorne coordinates our Primary program which involves:
- G.A.T.E.WAYS programs: for students who have a love for learning, have a great intellectual curiosity, have the ability to reason through complex problems and deal with abstractions. Students are offered -School based sequential programs as well as “on location” programs on a wide variety of topics and areas of interest.
- Weekly Small project lessons: for students in year 3- 6
- Individual programs: designed to meet students specific interests and talents
- Chess club: with weekly coaching and competitions
- Provision in the classroom: using a differentiated curriculum.
The differentiated curriculum in the classroom focuses on individual pursuits, enquiry based learning, open-ended tasks, pacing, the speed of delivery of the curriculum, personal reflection and self selected learning.
Extra Programs for Secondary:
Dianne Thomson coordinates our secondary program which involves small group sessions in years 7 and 8 where students are given the opportunity to develop skills of inquiry, question, explore and research their areas of interest, themes with like minded peers.
Tim Hunter runs our chess club where a group of talented and enthusiastic students compete in inter school tournaments.
Year 12 English Extension Program:
Each year a group of highly able students are invited by Senior English staff to participate in the English Extension Program. Students attend a series of ‘lecture and tutorial’ style sessions aimed at honing their writing skills and developing the depth and creativity of their responses to literature as set by the VCE study design. The program aims to maximise study scores and further enhance student performance. In 2009 the English Extension Program will be run by English Consultant and Writer, Elizabeth Tulloh.
English as a second language (ESL)
The English as a Second Language (ESL) course at DCC is designed to assist students with a non-English speaking background.
The students who qualify for ESL assistance and ESL as a VCE subject are those who have been in Australia for less than 7 years and have undertaken less than 7 years of English language training prior to arrival in Australia . Documentation from the country of origin regarding the students' English language experience is required to confirm their ESL status.
ESL students participate in mainstream English classes which are supplemented by regular ESL classes. It is very important that ESL students are provided the resources to build their confidence so that they can maximise their potential at both the educational and social levels. ESL sessions are aimed at addressing the students' individual needs in the areas of reading, writing, listening and speaking. This enhances their English proficiency and competence in their mainstream subjects to a level where they are able to function in the mainstream classroom and undertake their assessments without disadvantage.
Special Educational needs
As a school with an inclusive enrolment policy, Donvale embraces students with a wide range of abilities. At any given time, the school population includes a number of students who require specialist intervention and provision beyond the classroom.
Special Needs Education at Donvale Christian College is committed to discovering and providing the best learning conditions for all students with special needs, in an environment that promotes intellectual, social, emotional, physical and, most importantly, spiritual wellbeing.
All classes include students with a wide diversity of educational needs. The core objectives of our Special Education Teachers are to facilitate the students' access to the curriculum and to meet the unique needs that arise out of their specific learning challenges. Our team provides consultation and advice to teachers, shares teaching resources, as well as providing individual and group intervention to build students' learning skills.
Our exceptional children are those students who require specialist intervention or provision beyond the resources of the classroom.
This includes students who:
- Are academically highly able (gifted and talented) and who may benefit from extension and enrichment of the normal curriculum
- Have a language processing disability
- Have Learning disabilities
- Meet the Commonwealth criteria as having a disability in the area of, physical, social, emotional, visual, hearing. Aspergers/Autism, chronic health or sensory difficulties
- Fall behind the general progress of their class
- And those who have behavioural or emotional difficulties which may impact on their learning processes
SSS Staff:
Special Education Teachers provide support and assistance to classroom teachers and parents so that these students are properly nurtured and guided through their school journey. As this journey may be quite challenging, providing a sense of God's love and care is seen as a special calling for these specialists. They include:
- Dianne Thomson (Head of Student Support Services)
- Ros Butcher (Special Education Teacher: Secondary School),
- Kerryn Keffreys - Special Education (Primary),
- Kathy Szallasi (Secondary: Special Ed and ESL),
- Sarah Thorne (Primary) offering opportunities for extension and enrichment for students who thrive with this type of program.
- Carol Devenish
- Both Secondary and Primary have individual support from a outstanding team of Integration Aides. Karin Elenius in Secondary School and in Primary school a team including: Ruth Bentley, Alison Morrow, Helen McConnell, Carolyn Screen, Kate Scott, Rosemary Wookey, Linda Holland.
Our external consultants are:
- Louise Rowland – Speech Pathologist
- Physiotherapist - Cathy Kefford
- Occupational Therapy – Penny Hendrie
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