Support to non-state schools

The department is committed to ensuring all Queensland students with disability can access and participate fully in high quality education.

The department, Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ) and the Queensland Catholic Education Commission (QCEC) have a voluntary agreement to cooperate and/or collaborate in activities related to students with disability for the mutual benefit of all sectors.

This agreement is outlined in the Memorandum of Agreement—Special Education Services and Dual Enrolment 2023–2025 (the Agreement) which provides a number of support services and resources by departmental staff to support non-state schools.

The department provides supports and services to non-state schools as outlined in the Agreement.

Supports and services available to non-state schools to access, for students with blindness and vision impairment, deafness and hearing loss or physical impairment, include:

• Advisory Visiting Teachers (AVT)—are departmental teachers with specialist knowledge and skills in the above disability areas. The main role of the AVT is to support school staff to make reasonable adjustments to support the student's education program so they access, participate and achieve.
• Students with disability equipment loan and trial service—provides a collection of specialised equipment that schools can loan to support students to access and participate at school.
• Vision impairment services—provide expert, advisory and direct services to schools to support the educational achievement of students with blindness and vision impairment. Non-state schools can access
  • Alternative Format Library service—produces and loans a range of alternative format learning materials to support students with blindness and vision impairment to access and participate in their learning. This includes providing learning materials in braille, large print and audio; tactile kits and picture books for literacy; and tactile resources for science, mathematics, music, and humanities and social sciences
  • Education Low Vision Assessment Centre (ELVAC)—assists school teams to understand a student's functional use of their vision in educational environments and determine appropriate reasonable adjustments.

Other services, program options and resources available to non-state schools are:

• Dual enrolment program options—in particular circumstances, a student may have a dual enrolment between a non-state school and a Queensland state special school or state primary/secondary school. There are eligibility requirements for these program options.
• Hospital education service—students enrolled in a state or non-state school may be eligible to attend a hospital education program. School staff and parents/carers can access further information about eligibility requirements by visiting the Queensland Children's Hospital School website.
• Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) on School Students with Disability Cross-sector moderation—the department, ISQ and QCEC coordinate the delivery of cross-sector moderation sessions to provide opportunities for staff across Queensland to engage in cross-sector moderation.
• Funding specialist support for students with disability to improve access and participation in curriculum, and supporting educational outcomes:
• Students with disability program
• Specialist Disability Support in Schools Program
• Non-State Special Needs Organisations Program
• Non-State Schools Transport Assistance Scheme—financial assistance with school transport to non-state schools in Queensland.

For more information about the processes involved in accessing and/or managing these services and resources, refer to the 'forms and support materials for non-state schools' tab.