The Monty Way
At Montague School, we specialise in delivering a vocational curriculum program for students with mild intellectual disability. This involves tailoring education to meet their specific needs, abilities, and interests while preparing them for open employment opportunities and independent living. Our framework follows this process:
- Assessment and Individualised Education Plan (IEP) Development:
- We conduct comprehensive assessments to identify each student’s strengths, interests, and areas for growth.
- We develop Individualised Education Plans (IEPs) that outline specific vocational goals, objectives, and strategies tailored to each student’s needs.
- Functional Academics:
- We provide instruction in functional literacy, numeracy, and basic life skills relevant to daily living and employment settings.
- We focus on skills such as reading job-related materials, understanding work schedules, and managing money.
- Vocational Exploration and Career Development:
- We offer opportunities for students to explore various vocational interests through hands-on experiences, job shadowing, and career assessments.
- We introduce students to different career options, industries, and workplace expectations.
- We facilitate career counseling and guidance to help students set realistic vocational goals aligned with their interests and abilities.
- Job Skills Training:
- We teach job-specific skills based on students’ career interests and aptitudes.
- We provide training in areas such as basic computer skills, customer service, communication, time management, and workplace safety.
- We offer opportunities for students to practice these skills in simulated work environments or through internships and job placements.
- Independent Living Skills:
- We provide instruction in essential life skills necessary for independent living, such as cooking, cleaning, personal hygiene, and transportation.
- We teach skills related to managing finances, shopping for groceries, and accessing community resources and services.
- Social Skills Development:
- We offer social skills training to help students develop effective communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and conflict resolution skills.
- We provide opportunities for students to practice social skills in various settings, including workplace scenarios and community interactions.
- Transition Planning:
- We collaborate with families, educators, and community agencies to develop transition plans that support students’ successful transition from school to post-school activities, including employment, further education, and independent living.
- We provide transition services such as job placement assistance, resume building, interview preparation, and ongoing support after graduation.
- Community-Based Instruction:
- We incorporate community-based instruction to provide real-world learning opportunities in authentic settings.
- We partner with local businesses and organisations to create internships, job shadowing experiences, and volunteer opportunities for students to apply their skills in real work environments.
- Assistive Technology and Accommodations:
- We identify and utilise assistive technology and accommodations to support students’ learning and employment goals.
- We provide training and support in using assistive devices, adaptive tools, and technology platforms to enhance accessibility and independence in the classroom and workplace.
- Ongoing Monitoring and Support:
- We regularly monitor students’ progress towards vocational goals and adjust instruction and support as needed.
- We provide ongoing coaching, mentoring, and feedback to help students develop confidence, resilience, and self-advocacy skills.
- We collaborate with employers and community partners to ensure successful transitions and ongoing support for students in the workplace.
Connecting Learning to Work
At Montague School we believe that effective, healthy learning occurs in relationship to school and community. That is, learning is not restricted to school, it occurs in communities and workplaces just as frequently. If a student has the skills to navigate the relational elements of the learning experience, they can carry those skills from classroom to classroom, to non-traditional learning environments, to work, and to the larger community with success and confidence as well as the ability to function in the current world of increasing change and challenge.
George Otero
Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO)
Montague School uses the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO) which has been developed to help increase the focus on student learning in schools. The key elements of the framework are an Improvement Cycle for continuous improvement, an Improvement Model that incorporates four state-wide priorities, and Improvement Measures to enable us to measure our success.
Our teachers know their students well and engage them in building supportive, inclusive and stimulating learning environments. They motivate and empower students to manage their own learning and develop agency.
Our teachers present challenging tasks to support students in generating and investigating questions, gathering relevant information and developing ideas. They help students expand their perspectives and preconceptions, understand learning tasks and prepare to navigate their own learning.
Our teachers explicitly teach relevant knowledge, concepts and skills in multiple ways to connect new and existing knowledge. They monitor student progress in learning and provide structured opportunities for practising new skills and developing agency.
Our teachers challenge students to move from surface to deep learning, building student ability to transfer and generalise their learning. They support students to be reflective, questioning and selfmonitoring learners.
Our teachers use multiple forms of assessment and feedback to help students improve their learning and develop agency. They monitor student progress and analyse data to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of their teaching practices, identify areas for improvement and address student individual needs.
