Author(s): Sara James

Learning and Teaching Professional Development

An Extraordinary School: Re-modelling special education is the portrait of an innovative school that will challenge you to re-think how special education is taught. Port Phillip Specialist School has received national and international recognition as a best-practice model for using a unique three-pronged approach to education, where teachers and a range of health services professionals work collaboratively to deliver an arts-based curriculum that employs dance, drama, music and the visual arts to teach literacy, numeracy and living skills. The school has a unique threepronged approach to education. It uses: a fullservice school model, in which a wide-range of educational, medical, paramedical and mental health services operate collaboratively within the school; an integrated model of service delivery, in which teachers, specialists and therapists collaborate to address the specific needs of each student, embedding therapy in all classroom activities; and an arts-based curriculum that uses dance, drama, music and the visual arts to teach literacy, numeracy and living skills. An Extraordinary School will inspire those who want to re-model how special education can be taught and the story of Port Phillip Specialist School illustrates how effective the entire community can be in making change happen.