Rock Solid was written especially for Aboriginal families. It is the companion resource for Learning Together – a resource for all families of children and young people with special needs in school. This page summarises what’s in each section of Learning Together.
Schools vary a great deal. Finding the best available school for your child can be a challenge. This section explains all the options, and talks about issues to consider and how to research schools. It includes a short video with captioning for Deaf and hard of hearing viewers.
There are many ways that schools can support students with special needs. This section explains how your child’s school can support them, and resources that school can use to meet their students’ needs.
This section explains how your child’s school should work with you to plan your child’s learning and supports, throughout their years at school.
The best outcomes are possible for students when families and schools work together. This section has information and tips about building a strong relationship with your child’s school. It includes a short video with captioning for Deaf and hard of hearing viewers.
This section is about how to speak up for your child at school, especially if you have a concern. It includes tips about how to raise issues so that you are most likely to get a positive response from the school, and what support you can get to speak up for your child at school. It includes a short video with captioning for Deaf and hard of hearing viewers.
You have the right to raise a concern or a complaint about your child’s education. This section explains the process, including making a complaint to the school, to the Department of Education and Training, or to a complaints body like the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. This section also explains what support you can get to make a complaint.
Knowing about your child’s rights will help, if you have concerns about your child’s learning or supports, or their experiences at school. This section explains the law and your child’s rights and school – and your rights as a parent or carer.
In this section we share some common concerns of families who contact our support team, and offer suggestions for how you might be able to deal with similar issues, if they are affecting your child. You can always ring our support team for assistance.
This section provides summaries of some of the key tips shared by other parents and carers throughout Learning Together. It also includes planners for the change from kindergarten to primary school, primary to secondary and secondary to post-school education.
Learning Together is filled with the stories, ideas and experiences of parents and carers of students with disabilities. It also draws on the knowledge of ACD’s staff, which comes from our years of supporting families, from our own lived experiences as parents and carers, and from our detailed knowledge of the system. We can learn from each other, and each other’s journeys. But in the end, every family needs to make the right decisions for their children and family.
This section includes summary information and subtitled videos for parents and carers of students with a disability in Victorian schools in Arabic, Chinese, Punjabi, Tagalog and Vietnamese.