Supporting Autistic Students with Transition (Part 1) Echuca College
[Jess Sargeant, Principal, Echuca College]
The transition from primary to secondary school for a student is probably one of the most significant transitions they'll go through.
Secondary school provides a whole different ballgame when you've got students that you don't know. So they're coming from different schools, moving from classroom to classroom, having multiple teachers so they could go from two or three teachers to maybe eight. All those little changes are significant.
At Echuca College I think over the last twelve to eighteen months we've done a lot of work to really build the relationships with our feeder primaries, to develop a really comprehensive transition program that supports the students. And so when we talk about making adjustments for students, it's a personalised approach. So we can't say all students are going to have this adjustment because every student is different. And we look at the learner who they are and what they need to make them happy and successful at learning, at Echuca.
[Carlie Jones, Inclusion Support Leader and Transitions Coordinator, Echuca College]
The transition team at Echuca College, is formed from the Disability Inclusion Team, the transition or orientation team themselves and our community leaders who head up each of the year seven to nine hubs here at school.
For a teenager or young adult, transition from primary school to high school is probably the most significant transition they'll make in their young lives. So it's really important that we support all students, but particularly those with additional needs like our autistic kids, to give them the best possible start. So they still foster that love of learning for school and the social connections that they can make.
[Zali, Student, Echuca College]
Yeah, I was worried that I wasn't going to have any friends or like I wasn’t going to fit in or anything. I had nowhere to go if I needed a break or something.
[Lexi, Student, Echuca College]
There's more learning and shorter days and the school's way bigger. There's loads more kids. I've had a bunch friends. They would help me get through, like things if I was feeling angry for a day for some reason, or I was sad. They’d help me feel happy again.
[Carlie Jones, Inclusion Support Leader and Transitions Coordinator, Echuca College]
Part of our transition journey to support our autistic students is to do small transition windows. So in addition to our state wide transition program or transition day in December, we have small group workshops where the students can come across and have a taster of a class. We also have lots of lunch clubs that happen at lunchtime so students can gather with similar interests, and it's more than just going down to the gym and playing organised sport.
We have Wacky Wednesday and Mad Mondays where we can play Dungeons and Dragons and Witches and Warlocks and different card games. So it's really catering for all students needs and interests and providing those opportunities to develop new connections and social interactions.
The most popular lunchtime clubs that we have is our dog training clubs, where our students work with our therapy dogs and learn a range of different tricks. So Ralphie, he can now jump through hoops, literally.
[Jacob, Student, Echuca College]
I started lawn balls when I was eight and my nan and pop got me into that when I was younger. When I joined the college there was two people that I knew that were also interested in it, and we ended up winning the state title.
[Zali, Student, Echuca College]
The advice I give to all the year sixes coming into high school is to just be yourself if you want to make friends because people like you for who you are, not who you pretend to be.
[On-screen text]
Disability Inclusion, Education for All
Education State / Victoria State Government / Education logo
Authorised by the Victorian Government, Melbourne.
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Updated