Mountain Creek State High School has an innovative and highly regarded Special Education Program (SEP) for students with disabilities. Located within the school community, this program operates from a modern purpose-built facility known as the skill centre.
Two fundamental principles guide the skill centre’s delivery of support services:
- Developing the personal independence of students though individualised support and guidance.
- Encouraging students to use their independence skills to reach their individual potential at school and beyond.
The SKILL Centre offers a range of supports and programs, including:
- BEST Program – this program focuses on developing interpersonal and strengthening friendships in years 7-9. This semester long subject is lead by our SKILL Centre staff in a small classroom environment.
- CATAPULT Program – is an innovative Senior Pathways program that brings together a wide range of industry experts to work cooperatively towards a single goal – to support the transition of students with disabilities from high school to a sustainable and engaged post-schooling future. Students have opportunities to sample or commence work experience, traineeships, part-time employment, tertiary education, lifestyle and learning programs, and other pathway options before they leave school.
- Work Skills Program – as part of the Catapult program the SKILL Centre runs a nationally-recognised certificate course preparing students for vocational pathways. Students work towards practical and theoretical competency in either horticultural or hospitality strands of the course. Both strands of the course operate as small businesses; the hospitality strand operates a healthy, takeaway food business, while the horticulture strand runs an organic, herb business. These students also have responsibility for small construction projects, landscaping and maintenance of the grounds around the SKILL Centre.
- In-class support - SKILL Centre staff assist students in a wide range of core academic and elective classes with organisational, social interaction and academic support strategies. Support is mainly focused on Year 7-9 students to consolidate the knowledge and skills needed to successfully negotiate sustainable, appropriate pathways in the senior years of schooling.
- Individual learning centre - individualised courses of functional and academic literacy and numeracy to meet the unique needs and aspirations of students. The program follows the ACARA guidelines but has the unique ability to be more student paced and has close monitoring of student progress to ensure identified learning needs are being met.
- Co-Teaching model – MCSHS runs co-taught classes in year 7 and 8 in Science and Humanities. This see two qualified teachers sharing the responsibility of the classroom setting in order to provide as much tailored support as possible to all their students not just students with diverse needs.
- Tutorials – in some cases tutorial sessions are offered to senior students to ensure success with senior pathways programs. These are usually on a Monday in session 2 and 3 and don’t impact classes. These tutorials are negotiated with the DP Inclusion.
To be considered for SKILL Centre support students must have a medical diagnosis in one of the six domains.
- Physical Impairment
- Hearing Impairment
- Sight Impairment
- Developmental Language Disorder
- Autism Spectrum
- Intellectual Impairment
Any enquiries can be directed to the DP Inclusion.