Specialist Learning, Engagement and Inclusion.

Sam is a UK-trained specialist teacher, registered with the Victorian Institute of Teaching, with over 30 years of experience supporting children and young people across mainstream, specialist, alternative and community education settings.

Her background includes teaching young people and teenagers presenting with layered emotional, neurodevelopmental, cognitive and engagement needs, including those who have found mainstream education difficult to access or sustain. She has also supported specialist schools for children with complex disabilities and worked for a local authority, providing specialist support, consultation, and training for schools, staff, and educators. Sam currently provides specialist support within school settings, alongside private assessments, student profiles and recommendations to support learning, engagement and inclusion.

Sam works from the view that the child or young person should remain at the heart of their support. This means seeing each child as a whole person, with their strengths, capabilities, diagnoses, learning profile and unique support needs understood together rather than as fragmented supports. Her approach values collaboration among educators, therapists, families and other professionals, while keeping the child or young person’s voice central. Learning, engagement and wellbeing are understood as shaped by many interconnected parts of a young person’s life. The aim is to understand what supports participation and to build support that is practical, inclusive and meaningful.

The ARC Initiative

The ARC Initiative is a developing school-based framework currently being piloted within a primary school setting on the Mornington Peninsula.

Standing for Attune, Respond, Connect, the ARC framework supports schools and staff in further understanding and responding to students whose learning, engagement, communication, or regulation needs may be complex, layered, or difficult to capture through standard classroom observation alone.

The aim is to build a clearer, more connected picture of the child or young person: their strengths, support needs, learning environment, relationships, communication, regulation and participation. This helps educators develop practical strategies that are respectful, realistic and useful within the school setting.

Student Learning, Engagement and Inclusion Profile

A Student Learning, Engagement and Inclusion Profile (SLEIP), provides a practical baseline picture of a child or young person’s strengths, support needs and barriers to participation.

The profile is designed to help families, educators and support teams better understand how a student learns, communicates, engages, regulates and participates across different environments. Rather than focusing on behaviour alone, the SLEIP considers the whole student: their learning profile, emotional needs, neurodevelopmental profile, sensory needs, relationships, environment, strengths and current support requirements.

A SLEIP may include observation, parent or carer consultation, educator input, review of existing reports, informal assessment, functional reflection and practical recommendations. The aim is to create a clear, useful profile that supports learning, engagement and inclusion in a way that is realistic, respectful and strengths-aware.

Recommendations may include classroom strategies, environmental adjustments, regulation supports, communication approaches, learning accommodations, participation goals and follow-up actions where required.

Referrals for a Student Learning, Engagement and Inclusion Profile can be made directly to HEARTH Therapy Studios by parents, carers, educators, or service providers seeking a clearer understanding of a child's or young person’s learning, engagement, and support needs.

Enquiries

The ARC Initiative is available for school-based consultation, specialist education support, student profiling, staff guidance, therapeutic input and art therapy in education settings. Enquiries are welcomed from parents, primary caregivers, schools and service providers seeking support for a child or young person’s learning, engagement, inclusion or wellbeing.

Please contact Sam to discuss school-based support, availability and suitability.