Your child’s wellbeing

Welcome to families new to the School and welcome back to more familiar families.

If you have external professional reports pertinent to your children, please ensure that copies of them are given to the School, as soon as possible. This information is used to ensure that teachers have a multi-faceted view of students, which in turn means that there is an opportunity to enable inclusion to the best of our abilities, within a mainstream environment.

We are aware that there is sometimes hesitation in providing information for fear of students being ‘labelled’, which in many minds means that their boundaries are automatically seen as limited. Given the professionalism and experience of Emanuel teachers and psychologists, this is not the case. What we are seeking is the full picture of a student so that we can meet her or his needs.

Paediatricians, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and external psychologists often ask parents to ask teachers to fill in forms of various sorts.

While we are happy to do that, please be aware that, in your child’s best interests, we need time to devote to this to provide the most meaningful information.

This being the case, at least two weeks’ notice is needed for completion of forms. We will ensure that completed forms are received by the relevant specialist.

The School procedure is that all external reports and requests for information should be directed in the first instance to myself in the case of all matters related to possible learning issues, possible ADHD, Dyslexia and social and emotional issues that seem to emanate from these. Reports on more general and specific psychological issues should be directed to Kim Slender or Belinda Gold, our School Counsellors.

It is important for your child’s wellbeing and safety at school that we are aware of any medication being taken, be it for physical, learning or psychological reasons. Please inform the nurse of any matters in this regard.

If you are reluctant to give any of the information about any of the above, please chat with one of us about your concerns.

We look forward to partnering with you in your child’s best interests.

Dr Lynn Joffe

Director of the Wolanski Family Specialist Learning Centre

Educational and Developmental Psychologist and Specialist Teacher

PhD (B’ham), COGE – Cert Gifted Ed (UNSW), Dip Teaching Dyslexic Students (UK)

Cert TfU 1 & 2 (Harvard)

Ms Kim Slender

School Counsellor

Psychologist 

BA Hons Psychology (UNISA)

MA CFT (UNSW)

Ms Belinda Gold

School Counsellor

BA Fine Arts (Sydney University)

Grad Dip Counselling (ACAP)

Cert Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy (ICAPP)

Ms Genevieve Radnan

 School Nurse

Registered Nurse (ACU)