Protocols for Conducting Individual Plan Meetings

Protocols for Conducting Individual Plans

At the beginning of the year …..

Identify IP date/s in school calendar. For targeted secondary school students, only one IP meeting per year is mandatory (although other meetings may be deemed necessary for students with high support needs). For targeted primary school students two IP meetings are mandatory – the first, scheduled early in the school year, to design the yearly IP, the second, scheduled in semester two, to review the IP.

Identify relevant stakeholders for each student undertaking IP process. These may include: parents, carers, other teachers, sensory support teacher, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, school counsellor, speech therapist. A timetable of IP meetings could be supplied to the school executive so that a representative could elect to attend one or several.

Arrange for a School Support Officer to be released from regular duties to attend each IP. The role of the SSO will be to act as recorder in the meeting. (If it a SSO has been identified as a stakeholder, then another SSO should act as recorder). This will allow the IP Facilitator to focus on conducting the meeting

Issue invitations to all stakeholders. (Please find invitation template attached). The invitation should include a “Parent Consultation for IP Meeting form” (also attached). This task could be undertaken by school office staff.

Ask parents/carers to bring to the IP meeting current and relevant documentation about their children (e.g. paediatrician’s report, CELF report, audiogram….)

In the week leading up to IP date …..

Print hard copy of current IP.

Review current IP with School Review Committee/ Special Education team.

Solicit input from other teachers regarding evidence of learning, future planning considerations and areas of concern for each targeted student by circulating “Teacher Consultation for IP Meeting” forms. Collate information from these prior to IP meetings.

Identify changes that need to be made in all relevant domains and note these on hard copy.

Upload identified changes to IP. (These have not been agreed to by stakeholders and have draft status until “signed off” by parents/carers and principal).

Note which stakeholders have accepted invitations and confirm meeting date/s by phone. (Again, this task can be undertaken by school office staff).

Book meeting venue and equipment that is needed for IP meeting (e.g. data projector, laptop). Ensure that the room is internet-capable.

Print a final list of IP meetings to be conducted on the day, who will attend each and what times each will take place.

On the day …..

Make sure that there is water on the table and that equipment is working.

Introduce participants to each other. Clarify the purpose of the meeting ( i.e. to design or revise the student’s Individual Plan) and ensure that all are aware of participants performing specific roles (i.e. facilitator, recorder)

Intermittently check that the SSO Recorder has accurately recorded all changes made to the IP and that participants agree to these changes (including the draft changes made prior to IP). Projecting the IP onto a screen will allow all participants to view changes as they are made.

Ask all participants to sign an attendance record.

Ideally, print off two copies of the completed IP. Ask parents/carers to sign both copies to indicate they agree with the contents. One of these copies is for them to take home. The IP Coordinator will also sign each copy and retain one. This school copy should be signed by the Principal and retained in the school files. The Principal’s signature is the indicator that this is the current (and legal) IP.

Retain a PDF version of the IP. Email this version to the Infopoint Storage Folder for your school. This procedure is required for funding accountability.

Stored IPs are to be labelled in the following way:

Only registered staff from your school will be able to store IPs or access archived IPs in this secured folder. (Your school may also have a policy of retaining IPs on a secure school database.)

N.B. Some IP meetings will be emotionally draining for parents/carers. It may be advisable to budget extra time for those meetings where it is envisaged thatextra “debriefing” time might be required. Alternatively, schedule another meeting at a convenient time when issues can be discussed at length.

Beyond ….

If IPs cannot be printed on the day they should be printed as soon as possible after the meeting. Three copies should be printed and IP attendees noted on each. The IP Coordinator and School Principal should sign each one. Two copies should be sent to the parents/carers – one to sign and return to the school, one to retain. Until the signed copy is returned the third copy retained by the school remains a draft. If parents/carers fail to return the signed IP in a timely fashion, a note should be sent by the principal indicating that unless the signed document is returned the retained IP will become the working plan for that student for the next year.

Revisit IPs regularly to ensure programs are being following and to make notes (on paper) relevant to the next IP.

Primary IP Coordinators only - Conduct IP review (using the steps described above) in Term 3.