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The Austin School
Overview
The Austin School is a P-12 school setting located within the grounds of the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg. The school provides specialised educational services to young people, both inpatient and outpatient, who have significant emotional, physical and psychiatric problems. They are patients of the Austin Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), the Paediatric Ward (2 West), or Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Hospital.
The Adolescent Inpatient Unit currently accepts referrals of young people (13 to 17 years) from the North Western sector of the state. Younger children (0 to 12 years) from across Victoria can be referred to the Child Inpatient Program called ‘The Eagle Unit”. This is the only mental health inpatient unit for young children in Victoria. Patients from the Paediatric Ward and Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Hospital, whose stay in hospital is considered long enough to affect their learning, can be referred to the Wards Teaching Program.
Outpatients of CAMHS can be offered placements in short term programs designed to support their social education or to facilitate a return to an educational or vocational setting especially if they are either not attending school or are identified as being at risk of exclusion from schooling. There are programs for primary aged students, secondary aged students, and group programs focussing on development of appropriate social skills.
The school also provides a consultancy service to schools of students on the waiting list and educational assessments as requested by inpatient and outpatient departments. The capacity of staff members to work effectively with some of the most troubled young people in our community and to assist them to reintegrate into their local educational community evidences the commitment of our teachers, many of whom are trained special educators. In particular, the patience and competence of teachers in managing the particularly disturbed behaviour of our students is widely acknowledged. To then be able to communicate with others in the community about ways that they can also manage these students requires high level consultancy and liaison skills. The feedback from parents on the work teachers in the school have done with their child is consistently high. Mainstream schools also express their appreciation of the support.
The workforce plan has remained relatively stable over the past ten years with 14 EFT teachers, 1.6 EFT admin staff and a music therapist employed for 0.4 time fraction.
The school has places for 38 full time students, however many students attend in a part time capacity. Student participation was 321 in 2007.
The school’s modified curriculum is based upon the Victorian Essential Learning Standards for students up to an equivalent of Year 10. VCE students and those undertaking alternative courses such as VET, VCAL and the International Baccalaureate are also supported in their learning. Of course it is not possible to provide all subjects in this school so close contact is maintained with home school teachers throughout the admission. Work from the home school is undertaken by the students here to try to maintain their year levels and not disadvantage progress.
The school’s facilities are located in an attractive garden setting where students have access to an outdoor area for recreation and socialisation. Most programs take place within the relocatable school buildings provided by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development; however teachers also work with students within the Paediatric Ward and the inpatient units within the Marion Drummond Building.
Values
Understanding, acceptance and inclusion
Care, compassion and respect
Open and supportive interaction
Responsibilities and rights
Pursuit of personal best
Purpose
The Austin School provides an educationally based intervention for students who are patients of CAMHS and Austin Health.
Students are supported to improve their wellbeing, to make positive changes, and to be successfully reintegrated into education or vocation.