Intervention

Learning programs at our school
At different times throughout a child’s education they may need extra support or practise at specific skills. They may also need to be provided with challenges and activities to extend their learning. Most children will need both extension and support at some stage in their schooling as they engage with a wide range of curriculum areas which each require their own concepts and skillsets.
In every class there is a broad scope of abilities, and classroom teachers gather data and evidence from each individual child to cater for their personal needs. The majority of interventions occur in class on a daily basis, and are determined by the class teacher as new content and skills are introduced and covered. These interventions are referred to as WAVE 1 Interventions.

Whole school data is also collected to enable us to track students across year level cohorts and classes. The tracking of all students enables us to make decisions about our programs, and assists us to target our teaching to meet student requirements. As a staff, we analyse both individual class and whole school data regularly to ensure we are addressing the diverse range of student needs

The data we collect as a whole site is also used to target WAVE 2 and 3 Intervention Programs. These programs have been carefully selected based on educational research ensuring that we are targeting students at the right time, and also targeting the right skills. Willunga Primary School runs four intervention programs

Our Programs

Willunga Primary School runs four intervention programs:

EARLY INTERVENTION - Phonics Fun
Reading is a fundamental skill across all curriculum areas. As students move through education the demands change from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn’. By the time students enter high school, it is expected that they have the skills to research topics and understand new content independently – reading is no longer taught. The first hurdle students often face in reading is an understanding of phonics (the correlation between sounds and the written form).

At Willunga Primary we commit to targeting students who are in the bottom 25% of their year level cohort, using sounds to read and write. All students R-2 are screened using a phonological spelling test. This does not necessarily mean that they are experiencing difficulty reading at this early age as students use a range of strategies to read. An ability to use phonics fluently to both decode and write are areas that often contribute to reading difficulties and reading fluency later in schooling. Students in this program attend four sessions a week in a small group, participating in targeted phonics instruction, learning to blend and segment sounds. Students may spend a Term, two Terms, or even a year in the program. Progress is tracked and participation in the program is decided upon in consultation with the classroom teacher. At this early stage in schooling, confidence plays an important role in these decisions

MULTILIT- Reading Tutor Program
At Willunga Primary School, this program targets students who are 9 years and older. Students who qualify for this program are identified in our bottom 25% for reading comprehension in their year level cohort. This program also targets phonics instruction, reading fluency, and comprehension.  Students work individually with a Student Support Officer 3 to 4 times a week, practising word attack skills with a focus on both accuracy and fluency. They may also undertake a sight word component. Each session culminates with a reading session in which they apply learnt strategies with an emphasis on building comprehension. Students usually take between one and two Terms to complete this Multilit program. Some students may return for a second round at a later date. Only ten students can participate in the program at any given time due to the intense nature of this intervention.
MATHS INTERVENTION – QuickSmart
This program has been developed by the University of New England and is designed to accelerate student’s aptitude with number facts. Participants are selected using whole school Math testing. Ten year 5 students are selected to participate in this program

Students participating in this program build on their number skills to develop fluency with all four operations. Students learn strategies to remember their ‘focus facts’ apply these strategies to larger numbers and develop recall within 2 seconds. A problem solving component is introduced as they become more confident with operations. Students attend 3 half hour sessions per week over the course of the year.

MATHS INTERVENTION – TooSmart
This program is similar in format and lesson components as QuickSmart. Ten year 2 students are selected using whole school testing to participate in 3 half hour session per week. The program focuses on building automaticity of number facts and developing concepts of place value ensuring that students have a solid foundation to build upon.
INTEROCEPTION INTERVENTION

Interoception is a wellbeing, social-emotional intervention used by the school to support students to be self-aware, to understand their emotions and cope with stress.

Interoception is one of the 8 senses; including sight, smell, touch, hearing, taste, vestibular and proprioception. Interoception is our ability to feel and interpret internal bodily states, and forms part of how we physically feel emotions. Interoceptive awareness is what we need in order to self-regulate and manage strong emotions. If we have good interoceptive awareness, we can read the signals our body sends us to tell us we are getting angry, thirsty, tired, hot and we can do things to help us fix the unpleasant feeling. For example: my body feels tense, I am clenching my teeth and the blood is rushing to my face. I feel angry. I need to take a deep breath and walk away from this situation. Unfortunately, we don’t always respond in an appropriate manner to the signals our body sends us or know how to read them.

Through interoception intervention, our bodies can be trained to be mindfully present in the moment and in this way, our children can learn to self-regulate and manage their strong emotions. When referred by an adult, or self-referred to our Interoception Room, students talk through their difficulty and undertake an exercise that has been proven to encourage awareness of bodily signals. They participate in a short sensory activity, re-engage with their learning task supported by an adult, then move back to the class space reconnected to their body, emotions and ready to learn.

WHAT'S THE BUZZ?

What’s the Buzz is a social skills enrichment program for primary students that explicitly teaches them the skills to belong and work within a group. This is undertaken in small groups with support from an SSO.


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