​​​​​ As a Catholic Christian community we educate all to live the gospel of Jesus Christ as successful, creative and confident,active and informed learners empowered to shape and enrich our world. We believe:

• Every learner is created in the image and likeness of God and inspired by the Spirit, responds with passion and creativity to life.
• Every learner seeks to find meaning in life and learning and in the Catholic Christian Tradition we find meaning in the person and teachings of Jesus to grow as pilgrim people.
• Every learner is a lifelong learner, with a desire to search for truth and do what is right; accountable for choices and responsible for actions.
• Every learner is in some respect, like all others, like some others, like no other and we respond creatively, flexibly and with a futures orientation to ensure dignity and justice for all.
• Every learner can achieve success in life and learning where diversity is valued and shared wisdom contributes to decision-making that enriches and enlivens our world.
• Every learner brings to the learning experience their own richly diverse life journey to contribute to a community in communion, empowered by the Spirit to be at the service of others.

Inclusive education ensures that schools are supportive and engaging places for all students, teachers, and caregivers. Inclusion is about building communities that value, celebrate and respond to diversity underpinned by respectful relationships between learners, teachers, and caregivers. It is supported by collaborative relationships with communities and governments and shapes the society in which we live and the type of society to which we aspire (Slee, 2005).  

Brisbane Catholic Education schools cater for students who have a diverse range of personal characteristics and experiences. These characteristics and experiences may be attributable to physical, religious, cultural, personal health or wellbeing, intellectual, psychological, socio-economic or life experiences including:

• Students with disability
• Students with gifts and talents
• Students who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander 
• Students with English as an additional language or dialect 
• Students in out-of-home-care
• Students of refugee background

Brisbane Catholic Education provides a range of personnel and resources to support access to, and participation in, learning for all students. 

Governing Documents:

• Disability Discrimination Act  (DDA) 1992
• Disability Standards for Education (2005) 

​Enrolment Support and Transitions:

Enrolment Application and Support Process (EASP)

This process seeks to reveal and clarify the needs of the student and to identify the educational adjustments required to accessing learning. Adjustments are made for students with a disability to enable them to access the curriculum, achieve curriculum outcomes and participate in school life on the same basis as their peers. An adjustment is any change made to help a student participate at school, learn, and be comfortable and safe.

The Enrolment Application and Support Process may also be used to support the enrolment of students who have been identified as gifted.

Transitions occur when a student has to move from or into a new educational setting. Transitions may occur when students are moving:

• Into prep
• From one year level to another
• From one phase of learning to another
• From primary to secondary school, or
• To prepare for the most appropriate career pathway throughout life

Before a transition process commences, parents/legal guardians are encouraged to take time to visit all possible educational settings when considering a placement for a student with a disability. The Enrolment Application and Support Process (EASP) is one way of collaboratively identifying the support and personnel required to make the transition as smooth as possible.

​EASP Flow chart.pdf​

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Dual Enrolment

A dual enrolment occurs through a negotiation between a student's legal guardian, the proposed Brisbane Catholic Education school and a specialist education provider. A dual enrolment may occur when a parent requests enrolment in a Brisbane Catholic Education school and concurrently in another setting. This usually occurs when a student is on a pathway to a full time primary or secondary school enrolment, but currently requires significant support with learning from a specialist education setting. During the Enrolment Application and Support Process (EASP) for an enrolling student the option of a dual placement may be investigated. Parents and the school team discuss and document the purpose, management and review process of a proposed dual environment.

Education Adjustment Program:

The Education Adjustment Program (EAP) is a process for identifying and responding to the educational needs of students from Prep – Year 12 who meet criteria for one or more of the EAP disability categories (see Table below). Educational adjustments are made for students to enable them to access the curriculum, achieve curriculum outcomes and participate in school life. The EAP process initiates an ongoing cycle of documented data collection, planning, program development, intervention, evaluation and review.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD):

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (the national data collection) is an annual collection that counts the number of school students receiving an adjustment due to disability and the level of reasonable adjustment they are receiving.

The national data collection counts students who have been identified by a school team as receiving an adjustment to address a disability as defined under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (the DDA). A Brief Guide to the DDA is available on the Australian Human Rights Commission website. 

For further information regarding the NCCD vi​sit the NCCD website or the NCCD Fact Sheet for Parents.​

Personnel:

The Support Teacher: Inclusive Education works in collaborative partnership with school/college leadership, teachers, parents, consultants and other professionals, in fostering a school/college culture that enhances the educational outcomes for all students.

The Guidance Counsellor: focuses on the relations and interactions between students and their school environment to reduce the effects of environmental and institutional barriers that impede student academic and life success. Guidance counsellors foster educational equality, equity, access and academic success in a curriculum to assist in the development of students and to ensure that all students are happy, confident and faith-filled young people and successful learners who will use their knowledge and their gifts for the good of all.

The Visiting Teacher: Hearing Impairment has key partnership responsibilities with school/college leadership, teachers, and other professionals to maximise access for students with a hearing impairment in the development of listening, language and social competencies.

The ​Education Officer: Inclusive Education has key partnership responsibilities with the school/college leadership, teachers, parents, and other professionals, in fostering a culture that enhances the education outcomes for all students in the area of inclusive education.

The Speech Pathologist has key partnership responsibilities with the school/college leadership, teachers and other professionals to enhance spoken and written language skills of students. The Speech Pathologist supports school communities to identify students with significant educational needs arising from Speech Language Impairment and/or significant communication disorders.