Inclusive Experiences Helping Students Learn, Grow and Succeed

Written by Mrs Josie Russo (Primary) and Mrs Sumiran Jyot (Secondary): Heads of Learning Support

04 June 2026

At Aitken College we believe that every student should be able to learn, grow, and succeed. Providing inclusive learning experiences that enable our students to access the curriculum and demonstrate understanding in ways that align with their strengths and needs.

Primary and Secondary Learning Support teams make reasonable adjustments so all students can participate on the same basis as their peers. We aim to provide targeted help to students from Prep through Year 12, who may need extra guidance in addition to support provided by the classroom teacher.

Meet the team

Secondary: Sumiran Jyot, Margaret McCarthy, Jake Smith, and Vicky Loukas

Primary: Robbie Edwards, Josie Russo, Emma Pedersen, John Clampitt, Raida Lancaster and Natasha Radley.

What does support look like?

Individualised support-Adjustments or tailored instruction for students who learn at a different pace or in a different way.

Small group intervention- Focused sessions for literacy, numeracy, and/or other skills.

Specialist services -Support from speech pathologists, psychologists, occupational therapists, or learning support teachers.

Classroom adjustments -Modified tasks, extra time, assistive technology, or alternative assessments.

Behaviour and wellbeing support -Strategies to help students regulate emotions, stay engaged, and participate positively.

We value student agency voice, choice, and ownership.

In Primary, the Literacy programs include: MinLit, Macqlit and Nessy. They target reading, spelling, phonics, vocabulary and comprehension and help develop agency by:

building foundational skills that increase independence
offering choices in reading and writing tasks
supporting self-regulation and goal-setting

In the Secondary setting, we offer in-class support, study sessions and support students to complete the assessment tasks offering the assessment provisions in line with the VCAA recommendations:

developing independence- moving away from heavily scaffolded work toward self-directed tools and critical thinking frameworks.
Multi-modal delivery- ensuring instructions are spoken, projected on the board, broken down into checklists, and paired with visual icons or video exemplars to support all learners.
Supporting self-regulation and goal-setting