[Amy Kerr]

I would also like to know what other schools do.

We currently have a referral process where the students need to have been learning English at school for at least 1 year before we’re able to refer a child for learning support services, to allow time to settle into our school and to gain access to more of the language. However, sometimes there is an obvious need for learning support before that time.
We also have to prove that we have done several interventions before a referral process, but what our interventions are would look very different from teacher to teacher.
Every week, there is a rotation of ‘kid chats’ on a Monday after school, where the homeroom, EAL, learning support teacher, counselor and admin come together for 30 minutes to discuss a child who is in the learning support system. This is to keep everyone on the same page with strategies that work/don’t work, updates on any interventions, and often includes a pre-meeting before we meet altogether with parents. Notes are always taken and kept on PowerSchool for these meetings. However, due to the number of students that are in the system, we often don’t have time to meet altogether more than twice a year. We keep up-to-date through daily corridor chats and our shares anecdotal notes sytems.