By Irene Pekaar.
American School of The Hague is dedicated to supporting both a culturally and an educationally diverse student population. Offering a broad range of learning support services to its students, the school is one of the most well renowned international schools globally in terms of their approach to Inclusion.
As a member of the Next Frontier Inclusion (NFI), the School has dedicated itself to the belief that international schools should be inclusive and admit and provide programs for students with a range of learning abilities. American School of The Hague has allocated the resources necessary for the provision of these services, offering students with Special Needs through to the Gifted and Talented, the support and guidance needed to learn effectively and reach their own individual goals. Embracing each student’s differences and unique abilities adds greatly to the rich diversity of a school community.
Providing learning support to their culturally and educationally diverse population (with students from close to 80 nationalities) is something that the School has always undertaken – offering remediation and academic support within the grade level curriculum – enabling students to access the curriculum more easily. More recently, the School established dedicated Special Needs programs for the Elementary, Middle and High School from Grade 2 through to Grade 12 where students who have an identified intellectual/cognitive disability are taught by Special Education teachers in dedicated classrooms.
The curriculum focuses on functional academics and life skills taught in combination with the grade level curriculum. Throughout the day and depending on the interest and strengths of the individual, each student is encouraged to integrate into regular classes with their peers and also to learn to socialize with their peers at break times, over lunch, on school trips and away days.
Understanding the complexity of providing support for students with learning differences is something that needs thoughtful management and the student population at the school should be reflective of the wide range of learning abilities (mild, moderate and intensive) that is the makeup of our society.
The Learning Support team at American School of The Hague includes experienced professionals with specialized expertise in learning and intellectual disabilities, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, and evaluation and assessment.
These specialist teachers develop and guide student programs, modify the curriculum to make it accessible to each child, and ensure that students have the support needed for gaining greater independence and functional academic skills. In a small classroom environment students receive both individualized support as well as the maximum opportunities to be integrated into mainstream classes.
Looking at the full continuum of learning needs, the School also offers a Gifted and Talented program that aims to identify and support students with a demonstrated ‘gifted’ learning profile. Students identified as gifted have unique and challenging needs that are not easily met through differentiated instruction in the classroom and require a modified curriculum tailored to their individual academic abilities.
Learning Support teachers work in collaboration with classroom teachers to extend the curriculum through projects and advanced assignments and the Learning Support teachers meet regularly with students to facilitate planning of projects and skill development. Each student in the Gifted program has a Learning Support Plan that details the student’s present level of performance, recommended classroom accommodations and/or modifications, and learning goals. The School is currently expanding this Gifted and Talented program.
The commitment to being an Inclusive School is something that American School of The Hague prides itself on and it continues to dedicate the resources in terms of facilities and teaching specialists to further develop the services to all eligible students.
A quote from a student in mainstream classes: “We don’t notice who goes to special education class. We are all accepting everyone.”
