The Special Education Department is designed to support students with their unique learning needs and to support staff in assisting identified students in their classroom.  Students are supported throughout the year by Special Education Resource Teachers (SERTs) who provide strategies to be used in programming and in assisting student learning.  SERTs can assist students with goal setting, self-advocacy, and development of learning skills.  They work closely with students to help them understand their individual learner profile and to recognize which accommodations and resources will help them to achieve the best results.

The support can be offered through:

• The Learning Strategies (GLE) course;
• access to assistive technology, including laptops (for word processing), Premier (text-to-voice) software, and Dragon Naturally Speaking (voice-to-text) software;
• homework support in the Resource Room (Room 103) from the SERT or Educational Assistant (EA);
  
• accommodations for tests and exams, including writing in an alternative location;
• development of an Individual Education Plan (IEP).

An Individual Education Plan (IEP) is a written plan describing the special education program and/or services required by particular students, based on the student's strengths and needs and their affect on the student's ability to learn and to demonstrate learning.  The IEP may include a record of the particular accommodations needs to help the student achieve his/her learning expectations, learning expectations that are modified from the expectations for the age-appropriate grade level in a particular subject or course,k as outlined in the Ministry of Education's curriculum policy documents and or alternative expectations in program areas not represented in the Ontario curriculum.