Narbethong State Special School

Principal’s Welcome

As the Principal of Narbethong State Special School it is my pleasure to welcome you to the community of Narbethong which includes the School and our Early Childhood Development Program.

This school community consists of a dedicated professional group of educators, therapists, teacher-aides, school nurse and guidance officer who all work closely with families and carers to achieve the best possible education and quality of life outcomes for students with high support needs.  The school actively recruits volunteers to assist with our programming options, and I would like to acknowledge the efforts of this core group of people for their work supporting our school.

Every member of our partnerships will tell you, “We are here for the students.”

We are very proud to be a State Special School and have a campus that allows for the many diverse programs we offer.  The school also has an indoor hydrotherapy pool and uniquely constructed playgrounds.  We use 2 school buses to ensure our students have access to the wider community and teachers include these activities in the student IEPs.

Our EDCP program can offer a full-time alternative option for students of Prep age who would be likely to require a special school placement for their formal education in the future.  The EDCP is also able to offer dual placements to support students who may be attending their regular school setting part-time.

Parents and Carers have consistently given the school very high ratings within our school opinion survey and are extremely pleased with the programming on offer here.  I believe that this strength has been achieved by the dedicated working relationships built between school and home and encourage this shared partnership.

Ann Nystrom – Principal

Our 2010 Annual Report is now available. Click to view »

The ordered equipment from the USA has been cleared through customs and arrived at the school.  We are currently organising a stocktake of what  equipment the school has and the suitability for current students.  As is often the case we may have equipment but it could be the wrong Continue Reading »

We have rolled over to the new computer program this term.  This program is to replace SMS which has been used in schools throughout the state for many years.  As it is very different to the current program we may experience some ‘teething’ problems as have other schools, but we Continue Reading »

This year has seen us presented with a number of challenges around staffing for the school. Pam injured her back and has required time away from work. She has been replaced by Deb for the entire time which has given consistency to the class and program. Pam has started a gradual return to work – 3 part days per week – with a number of restrictions, and the Region has provided an over-allocation of Deb’s contract during these days to aid their support for Pam.

Continue Reading »

Parents/Carers are required to inform their transport drivers if their child is not requiring transport on a particular day. Please ensure you have current mobile contact numbers for your driver and their assistant. A reminder that any/all changes to the transport application takes 7 – 10 working days and we ask parents to let us know of any changes as soon as possible so we can limit the disruption to this service. If your child is not attending school for 5 consecutive days or longer we need to be informed as the transport needs to be temporarily stopped.
Currently 2 of our staff are trained as Transport Assessors, which requires them to collect information, complete necessary paperwork and have these signed by all parties involved. These applications then go to Regional Office for approval and onto the Transport Department. Our staff are able to document extreme circumstances or hardship within the applications but do not have the authority to approve transport under any circumstance.