Hi Ladies,

Im after some advice. We are thinking of changing our son to the local catholic school next year, as the local state school he is in at the moment is a joke. At present he recieves 5 hours aide time per week, we are in Vic. Is there a catagory for applying for additional assistance through the catholic system. We would be applying based on the fact he has Autism as well as a severe language delay in the areas of comprehension. Could someone please point me in the right direction. Just as iv'e learnt the DEECD model, now i need to learn a new one? oh well keep me on my toes

Christie

Hi Christie,

have you had a look at the Catholic Education website? It's www.ceomelb.catholic.edu.au/

I think the category most children with ASD apply under is called "Social and Emotional" There isn't a dedicated ASD category.

I've never had a child at school in the Catholic system so can't speak of what it's like, but do have a child with ASD who is funded in the government system.

Good luck with the move

Mel

My son starts kindy in a Government school NSW, next year and we got 20hrs aide. It was a long process to get it, but the questions they asked us about what DS could and couldn't do was long. We were lucky we had our physcologist, speechie & OT come to the interview with us.

Miss Pru, you're getting 20 hours for JD because you're a super mum, and those education staff wouldn't want to mess with you .

Seriously though, in the Catholic system your child needs to be ascertained as per the public system. They then get allocated a base number of hours, and then the local catholic education office needs to apply for extra hours. Have you already met with the school to discuss what your son needs? If not, it may be many months before he gets extra hours.

We choose for my son to go Catholic opposed to public as at the public school he would not have qualified for anything at public.

We had no problems with filling out the paperwork etc. It was all done by the school and signed by me.

As we were late getting into school we only applied 2 weeks ago im yet to know the outcome but they said he will still get an aide until the funding is approved so I guess that means its good.

Im in Vic Too.

A lot of it will depend on the school and the Principal, we have spent the past 2 terms looking at public schools and would have no hesitation in sending my girls to them as the assistance they offer compared to our current Catholic School is far superior.

Having said that we have decided on a more specialised school as we think its more intensive and a better option for our girls.

I have over 20 years experience teaching in Catholic schools so read into that what you will :-)

Good luck with your decision if you want to reveal what area you are looking in someone might know about the Catholic school on offer.

PS we get hardly any aide time as the funds are channeled in other areas ....we have lovely new building though hmmmmmmm