Your Role in Assisting Students As a teacher or staff member interacting daily with students, you are in an excellent position to recognize behavior changes that characterizes students in need. A student's behavior, especially if it is inconsistent with your previous observations, could well constitute an attempt to draw attention to his/her plight"cry for help." A change in an individual's behavior could also be caused by a change in his/her home circumstances, medication or failure to take medication. While asking about a student's emotional well being or confronting problematic behavior can sometimes be tricky, it is better to find ways to craft a thoughtful intervention than fail to respond to the behavior. Students often perceive teacher and student Supports staff as the first point of contact in obtaining advice and support, so an early alert online Alert is the first step, and the best way to draw attention to students in need.
How to Seek Consultation on Student Concerns Consultation with the staff in the Student Support Center is available on an as-needed basis. We encourage you to involve your Head of Year, Year-Level Coordinator or Department Head if you are ever unsure of how to proceed with a student concern or whether to consider the behavior a discipline, special needs, or a mental health problem. In Primary, the teacher should immediately submit an online Alert on the UISGZ “Early Alert” E-Alert System when they are troubled by a student's behavior or academic progress. In Secondary, the Heads of Year and Department Heads will make the Alert to the Student Support Center after early intervention attempts are unsuccessful. In a crisis situation, calling the Student Support Center (or the counselors directly) and asking for assistance is the fastest way to obtain a consultation. If appropriate, a plan can be developed to intervene with the student. Heads of Year, Year-Level Coordinators, Heads of Departments, or others can be involved in this process as needed.
How Alerts are Made The UISGZ “Student Concerns Early Alert” System (http://www.uisgreferrals.com/) is designed to identify students of concern with academic, social/emotional, SEN/learning support or crisis issues. It allows all staff and faculty to alert the Student Support Centre of any student who is not making satisfactory progress and/or is exhibiting behaviors (e.g., non-attendance, bullying, etc.) that may lead to academic or emotional difficulty. All Alerts to the Student Support Center should go through the Student Concerns Early Alert” System. During the process of submitting an alert, the teacher or appropriate secondary administrative head completes a checklist of tasks and makes a detailed comment so that all who are alerted will know exactly what has already been done prior to the Alert. The Primary “Student Concerns Early Alert” System” alerts on two levels of intervention; Level of Adjustment One (LOA1), and Level of Adjustment Two (LOA2). The Secondary “Student Concerns Early Alert” System” alerts only on Level of Adjustment Two (LOA2).
Assessment and Progress Monitoring Timeline: Level of Adjustment One (LOA1) - includes everything that can and should be done to remedy the student’s social-emotional concerns, attention difficulties and academic needs with in the classroom. Most initial Alerts will fall in this category and the online system will forward the Alert directly to the relevant grade-level supervisor, heads of department and student Support center staff. Once an Alert is received by the pastoral team they initiate a resolution forming a “Team around the Child” that will meet to Prepared by: Noel Roberts Student Welfare Coordinator
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