Services for Schools
Partnering to create inclusive education in New South Wales schools and childcare centres through building staff capability, supporting students and empowering parents and carers.
We currently operate out of eight offices across New South Wales and support over 10,000 children and young people each year; but Lifestart was originally born almost thirty years ago within a school setting, with our services first being delivered from Turramurra Public School. Ever since, as we have grown and broadened the work we do, Lifestart has continued to partner with schools and education centres to make sure students with disability and developmental concerns are reaching their full potential, no matter where they are on their education journey.
Our expert team of qualified clinicians includes Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and Behaviour Support Practitioners who specialise in child and adolescent development and are passionate about the right of every student to thrive at school. We believe that the success of our services lies in understanding that every school and centre has their own unique situation, challenges and needs. We recognise the skills, experience and knowledge that teachers and educators have of their classroom and students, and build on this through collaboration and joint learning.
We then create responsive tailored packages that respond to and address these individual needs and challenges – whether that includes building the capability of staff through professional development programs in disability; working directly with students to help them overcome social or academic barriers; equipping parents and carers to support their children in school life; or a combination of these approaches.
We can deliver programs and services online or face-to-face, individually or in group settings, suiting a variety of funding and resource needs (including using NDIS or government grant options).
Our hourly rate is guided by the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits so one hour for an Allied Health Professional would be $193.99 or a Behaviour Support Practitioner would be $222.99. We can negotiate a reasonable arrangement for travel costs based on your proximity to our offices and the level of support chosen. Click below to see what funding options other schools are using to secure this support for their school.
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Funding Options for schools
There are a range of funding options available for schools in NSW, including:
- Equity loadings – low level adjustment for disability – School principals manage equity loading funds to support students with disability as part of the management of their school budgets. There is no requirement for the funds to follow specific students. The equity loading can be combined with other school and local resources to support students who have additional learning and support needs. Schools must use the equity loading in the year for which it is provided. Schools for specific purposes (SSPs) do not get equity loading.
- Integration Funding Support – can be used if additional resources are called for to develop and provide adjustments to personalise learning and support for a student.
- SSP supplementary funding
- STEP – Specialist Technology Equipment Panel – used to purchase assistive technology for use in the classroom or school. Our therapists can assist with applications for STEP funding.
- Student Wellbeing Funding
- Health and Development Participation Grant Program (nsw.gov.au) – $2000 support allocated to capacity building following the developmental checks
- Fundraising
We have a range of packages available that can be customised to your individual needs.
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Setting up the Year for Success - Student Profile Creation
Term 1 is a time when educators are required to get to know a whole cohort of new students in their classroom within a short period of time. Our experienced therapists can support you to gather and collate all of the important information needed to support individual students. Having access to comprehensive information about your students will support their transition into the new school year and as a result will help classroom routines, childrens’ regulation and engagement in activities. This package may be best commenced in Term 4 to prepare for the new school year or we can also help at the beginning of Term 1. This may include:
- Gathering information from parents / families, external therapists, recent reports and previous teachers
- Putting together an ‘All About Me’ document or one-page profile of the student
- Presenting information on a student’s strengths, interests and how they are best supported
- Communicating information about a child’s self-care skills, play skills, communication strategies, support around behaviours and other important information
Packages customised to your needs. Suggested package hours 15 – 30 hours for the term.
Setting up the Year for Success – Positioning and Manual Handling
We understand that Term 1 is a busy time for schools. We can provide an experienced Physiotherapist or Occupational Therapist to help you to set up the manual handling, daily positioning plans and equipment for your students. We will listen to your staff and support the safety of students and staff in your school. This may include:
- Assessment of needs
- Manual handling / daily positioning plan updates for students
- Checking and adjustment of equipment including standing frames, walkers, wheelchairs, school seating and other equipment
- Input to support students who pose a manual handling risk due to unpredictable behaviours or physical disability
- Practical learning
Packages customised to your needs. Suggested package hours 15 – 30 hours for the term.
Setting up the Year for Success - Communication
Our skilled Speech Pathologists can support your teachers in meeting their students’ communication needs. This can involve:
- Providing visual schedules and other visual resources to support classroom routines
- Setting up low-tech communication systems, such as choice boards, picture symbols, PODDs
- Creating Communication Profiles so that all classroom educators can understand and support that student’s expressive and receptive communication needs
- Customising Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices
- Training for teachers and SLSOs in the use of communication systems
- Liaison between home and school regarding a student’s communication skills
Packages customised to your needs. Suggested package hours 15 – 30 hours for the term.
Individual Supports
Not all students have their own NDIS package and, for those students who do have individual funding outside of school, we know that this does not always translate to seamless supports across both home and school settings. We can provide Allied Health and/or Behaviour Support clinicians to support any of your students who may not have individual funding or whose individual funding is not covering the needs you have identified at school.
- Liaison with NDIS funded therapists involved with your students
- Communication between home, school and external therapists
- Collaboration to support implementation of individual strategies into your classroom routines
- Inclusion support for individual students
- Equipment prescription
- Supporting individualised learning goal-setting and planning
Contact us to talk about your needs and we can tailor a package for you.
Whole School Approach
Teachers have the challenging task of understanding and meeting the individual needs of their students, differentiating the curriculum, delivering reasonable adjustments and teaching approaches for each individual and collaborating with a range of services including allied health, specialist, community and parents/carers, while meeting the needs of the group and classroom as a whole. We can collaborate with your teachers and SLSOs to support all that you are doing to build inclusive practices in the classroom and school. This could include:
- Supporting implementation of a ‘Universal design for learning’ approach
- An Allied Health or Behaviour Support Practitioner to work within the whole school or in identified classrooms to support teachers and students
- Mentoring and coaching for school staff in specific areas
- Being the link between external therapists, family and school to interpret individual recommendations and bring them together into a classroom strategy that meets the needs of the group
- Supporting classroom IEP implementation
Our hourly rate is guided by the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits so one day (5.5 hours) of an Allied Health Professional would be $1066 or a Behaviour Support Practitioner would be $1226. We can negotiate a reasonable arrangement for travel costs based on your proximity to our offices and the level of support chosen. Click above to see what funding options other schools are using to secure this support for their school.
Group Programs
Learning in groups can be an efficient way to meet the needs of students with similar goals. We have a range of group programs already available or we can develop a program customised to your needs . These include, but are not limited to:
- Transition to School
- Transition to High School
- Transition to Post-school options
- Social Skills programs e.g. Secret Agent Society, or custom-designed for specific school needs
- So Safe – a program promoting social safety and relationships for people with intellectual disabilities
- Fine motor and handwriting
- Toilet training workshops for parents and/or educators
- Gross motor
- Balance and Coordination
- Sensory or Emotional Regulation
- Communication and Language groups
- Literacy groups
The group programs can be individualised and designed to your school’s specific requirements.
Specialised Programs
Our therapists have a range of specialised skills that may address specific needs that are arising at your school or programs that would add additional learning experiences for your students.
- Hydrotherapy program – delivering in-pool programs for your students or coaching/training for your staff
- Assistive technology – managing equipment loan pools, monitoring and adjusting specialist equipment, prescribing equipment for use by individual or multiple students within school setting, assisting with funding applications (STEP applications)
- Sensory Room – assistance to plan, design, apply for funding and set up a sensory room or space within a school
- Mealtime assessment and recommendations
- Manual handling assessments and recommendations
- Environmental assessment – assessment of the physical school environment and recommendations to enable access for an individual student or group of students
- AAC assessment and/or implementation
Contact us to talk about your needs and we can tailor a package for you.
Professional Learning
With an increased number of Staff Development Days allocated to most schools in the new year, we can contribute to the professional learning and development of your staff. We can offer the following workshops or presentations:
- Introduction to Neurodiversity and Autism
- Learning through Play
- Positive Behaviour Support
- Cool, Calm and Connected – supporting anxiety
- Supporting Communication in the classroom – expressive and receptive
- TechTalkers – school-specific training program for communication partners of AAC users
- Safe Feeding and Mealtimes
- Hydrotherapy
- Manual Handling
- Physical development – gross motor, balance and coordination
- Making Sense of Sensory Processing
- Just right for learning
- Fitting sensory experiences into classroom routines
- Emotional Regulation
- Fine motor and Handwriting Skills
- Toilet training
- Steps to Self-Care
- Supporting Everyday Routines
- Transitioning to High School
Please contact us to discuss whether we can develop customised training to your particular needs.
We’d love to talk to you about the unique strengths and needs of your school and how we can work collaboratively with you, your staff and your students to increase the inclusion, participation and engagement of children and young people with disabilities and developmental delays.
To speak to us about how we can support your school fill out our simple enquiry form below and a School support specialist will be in touch.
Working with State or Catholic Disability Frameworks
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State Schools
Our work directly addresses each of the principles of Inclusive Education Statement for students with disability:
| Department of Education | Principles | TaBS packages |
| Student agency and self-determination |
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Individual Supports Group Programs
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| Parent and carer inclusion |
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Setting up the Year for Success Individual Supports Group Programs Specialised Programs
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| Social and cultural inclusion |
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Setting up the Year for Success Individual Supports Whole School Approach Group Programs Specialised Programs
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| Curriculum inclusion |
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Setting up the Year for Success Individual Supports Whole School Approach Group Programs Specialised Programs
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| Workforce capability for inclusion |
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Professional Learning Whole School Approach
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| System inclusion |
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Professional Learning Whole School Approach
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Catholic Schools
For Catholic schools, our packages can directly support the Diverse Learning Framework:
| Catholic Education | Principles | TaBS packages |
| Identification |
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Individual Supports
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| Consultation and Collaboration |
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Individual Supports Whole School Approach Specialised Programs
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| Effective Provision |
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Setting up the Year for Success Individual Supports Whole School Approach Group Programs Specialised Programs Professional Learning
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| Assessment |
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Individual Supports Group Programs
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| Leadership and Professional Learning |
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Professional Learning Whole School Approach
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| Engaging Families , School Communities and Beyond |
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Group Programs Professional Learning Whole School Approach
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We’ve supported a wide variety of schools, including: Tallowood School; Blacktown South Public School; Karonga School; The Ponds School; Bourke High School; Caringbah North Public School; Peel High School and Rivendell School.
If you would like to enquire about Lifestart’s tailored options to help you better support students with disability or developmental concerns, fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch.