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Kidman Park Primary School

External Providers

EXTERNAL PROVIDERS

We value working in partnership with families to support each child’s learning, wellbeing, and individual needs. We understand that some families may wish to engage Private Providers (such as therapists or specialist services) to support their child. Where appropriate, we can accommodate these services on site during school hours, provided the support aligns with the child’s needs and does not interfere with their learning program.

All requests are carefully considered in line with the Non-Education Service Providers in Schools policy. This includes:

  1. Parent engages with private provider service & discusses benefit of service during school hours versus out of school time.
  2. Availability of day / time / frequency is discussed between parent & service.
  3. Parent contacts school – dl.0996.admin@schools.sa.edu.au to request permission for a Non-Education service provider to enter an agreement with the site.
  4. School forwards to parents “Parent / Guardian request for Non-Education Service Provider” form and “permission to exchange information form” between the site and service.
  5. Admin and Leadership fill out “Record of Decision Making Process Checklist” to deem whether the service is appropriate for the day, time, frequency suggested. School to also investigate whether an appropriate space, within DfE staff line of sight is available at this time.
  6. If approved:
    1. “Licence Agreement PART A” is created by school & sent to provider.
    2. “Services Schedule (Licence Agreement PART B)” is created by school and sent to provider.
  7. All registration documents, insurance details of provider, along with above forms, are returned to school signed.
  8. A space is booked by the school and an ongoing schedule is locked in and adhered to.
  9. This process may take weeks to establish depending on staffing and number of new requests.
  10. Parents are responsible for communicating Pupil Free Days, student absence, upcoming excursions etc with Private Providers.

Procedure for Non Education Service Providers

 Administration

  • 1:1 private provider support will not begin until week 3, term 1, unless negotiated with Leadership.
  • This process may take weeks to establish depending on staffing and number of new requests.
  • Private Providers must have all documentation submitted and a confirmation email from our admin team outlining the day, time, frequency and space booked, as per service agreement, before commencing their service at site.
  • Providers to sign in and out at front office and only work with the child they are booked to see.
  • Provider and student must remain in line of site of DfE staff in agreed area. Sometimes, booked areas will be required by the school site for other purposes, in which case an alternate space will be arranged.
  • Collect the student and return them back to their teacher at the end of their session.
  • Private Providers to respect the role of the class teacher and adhere to communication procedure below.

Communication

  • All communication via admin dl.0996.admin@schools.sa.edu.au
  • Weekly session notes to be sent to admin. These will be forwarded to class teachers and filed to be referred to where required.
  • If there is an urgent, pressing matter that requires a class teacher meeting – KPPS leadership team will organise at a time that suits the school, where the class teacher is able to be released from their duties.
  • Parents are responsible for communicating Pupil Free Days, student absence, upcoming excursions etc with Private Providers.

Rationale

At Kidman Park Primary School, we may allow Non-Education Service Providers onsite for therapeutic support. While the NDIS funds specialised supports, it does not replace educational responsibilities. Clear processes between providers and staff ensures professional roles and responsibilities are maintained. Site leaders manage daily instruction and decide on provider access.

Duty of Care

A department employee must always maintain line-of-sight supervision of the provider and their interactions with the student. Providers are to stay in agreed areas negotiated with teachers and leadership to maintain line of sight.

Communication

We welcome providers to share updated information about the child or student’s disability (for example, new communication strategies being used by a speech pathologist) which staff will consider when making reasonable adjustments to support participation within the site context.

Non-education Service Providers are the professionals of their field. Providers may share progress of therapeutic goals to leaders through the channels of formal written assessments, therapy session reports, or invitational Team Around the Child meetings. All correspondence should be written and directed to dl.0996.admin@schools.sa.edu.au  so admin and leadership can send to relevant staff members. Staff are the professionals of a classroom and the site context. Staff will determine what are reasonable, practical and feasible adjustments to support the student to access learning in the site environment.

Direct Services

Providers should focus on delivering direct support to children with functional needs, such as one-to-one sessions for occupational therapy goals. They must not engage in activities beyond their specific duties unless invited by staff. The department offers services to support learners with additional needs, which is the primary pathway for assistance available to the site.

  • Unless invited by staff, it is not the role of providers to conduct observations of staff, or facilitate performance management and development processes (for example, giving feedback on an individual staff member’s performance)
  • Providers are required to limit their communication with families to matters directly related to the services provided to their specific client. Discussions about school and staff practices that do not pertain to the direct service of the client are prohibited to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of other students and staff.

Sensitive Information

Any disclosures from students to Non-Education Service Providers (requiring notification from the provider) should also be communicated immediately by the provider to staff so that the site can take appropriate action and implement all relevant welfare supports and, if appropriate, discharge its mandatory reporting obligations.

Behaviour Management

Staff are responsible for managing student behaviour. Non-Education Service Providers should use their professional judgement to decide whether to continue a session if a student is dysregulated and unable to participate. While on the premises, providers must follow all staff instructions and assess whether the school environment is suitable for therapy.

Requesting a Service

  1. As per the parent procedure, the child’s family submits a request to the site leader.
  2. Site leadership review the request and communicates next steps with the provider. To preserve cumulative learning from the educational program, there is no access during certain times of the day. All bookings are subject to space availability.
  3. The provider enters a licence agreement with the site. The service provider must provide all required documentation to the site outlined on the Department website and await confirmation from the site prior to service commencement.
  4. Please note it may take a few weeks to finalise depending on volume of requests at the time and staffing.

Organising sessions at School:

Sessions are organised at the beginning of each year. Due to new teachers and changes to timetables sessions from the previous year need to be re-negotiated at the start of each year. This includes resending DfE required documents for all providers.

There are no sessions in the first two weeks of school due to beginning of year program, learning new processes and routines and establishment of relationships with Teachers, SSOs and peers.

During the last two weeks of the school year, sessions are negotiated as there can be alternate programs.

Expectations while on site:

Non-education service providers are required to complete the steps below as an induction to work on-site.:

  1. Review school map and safety procedures from the office
  2. Staff facilities are in the Administration building.
  3. Parking is in the school car park. Entry to the school is via Dean Avenue.
  4. Sign in and Sign out at the Front Office kiosk and display your badge.
  5. Read this ‘Non-Education Service Providers Policy.’
  6. Provide services in the designated location.
  7. It is a responsibility of the provider and parent/guardian to communicate student absences and special school events.
  8. To support consistency and routines, there are no amendments to direct service schedules once confirmed.
  9. Avoid using school resources unless arranged.
  10. All correspondence must be written and directed to the school leader not the teacher.
  11. Always follow site leader and staff directions.

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