School Organisation

Students at Jacana School for Autism are grouped into primary, middle and secondary sub schools, each lead by a leading teacher and support by the whole school leadership team. Most classrooms consist of eight students, one teacher and two teacher aides. There are also some selected classrooms which are larger and are led by two teachers.

Jacana School for Autism has a distributive leadership model to ensure the whole school community have access to leadership support on a day to day basis.

The leadership team consists of three (3) Principal Class Officers who lead learning and teaching and manage all supporting operational aspects of the school.

Seven (7) Leading Teachers lead four sub schools and oversee capital works projects, transitions and school operations.

Six (6) Learning Specialists and our Inclusion Outreach Coach provide coaching and mentoring autism strategies and positive behaviour support and manage student transitions, integration, well-being and enrolments.

Learning and teaching activities are supported by the Therapy Team Leader and operational activities supported by the Human Resources and Finance Managers.

The school participates in educational networks beyond the school including, Principals Association of Specialist Schools (PASS) and Hume Moreland Network.

The Principals Association of Specialist Schools Victoria Inc. (PASS) is the professional body for the principals of the 83 specialist schools in the Victorian Department of Education Training (DET).

The aim of PASS is “Leading Excellence and Innovation in Victorian Specialist Education“.

We endeavour to do this through:

• the promotion of the role and status of specialist education leaders;
• advocating for a range of educational services for students with disabilities;
• the provision of topical and relevant professional development for specialist educators;
• the provision of study grants to support professional growth in the area of students with disabilities;
• the promotion of research and excellence in education support;
• the formal recognition of excellence by individuals and teams in specialist education;
• the provision of opportunities for members and their teams to collaborate on individual, network and state matters;
• informing the DET and other professional organisations in matters and policy that affect students with disabilities and their schools.