A childhood cancer diagnosis may result in a child not being able to attend school for a period of time. We recognise the challenges that this may create for the child’s educational development and offer two programs to assist.
Home Tutor Scheme
Established in 1989, the Home Tutor Scheme (HTS) provides home based educational support for school aged children who are currently receiving treatment for cancer and are unable to attend school full time as a result of their diagnosis/treatment. The HTS aims to help maintain and/or continue children's education, to assist with their transition back to the school environment. The HTS is fully funded by the Childhood Cancer Association, and reimburses the cost of one hour of tutoring per week.
Who can access the Home Tutor Scheme?
Children undertaking primary or secondary schooling who have been diagnosed with cancer and who are:
- Unable to attend school full time due to intensive treatment demands and/or because of their immuno-suppressed status.
- Receiving palliative care and as such are unable to attend school.
How are children referred?
If you are interested in your child accessing home tutoring, please speak with one of the Childhood Cancer Association's Family Service Counsellors, who will then complete a referral for the child.
What happens next?
- Once the application for tutoring has been received, a letter will be forwarded to the parents/caregiver informing them of how to proceed. This will include asking the child's school to complete some paperwork to help identify the child's learning needs and if the school have any tutoring support available.
- If the school does not have any available tutors. A tutor may be sourced from a private tutoring company.
- The Childhood Cancer Association will liaise with the parents/caregivers during this process and throughout the child's involvement with the HTS.
- The Childhood Cancer Association will also work with Hospital Schools SA, where permission is given, to enable a coordinated approach to the child's learning.
Who are the tutors?
Tutors are registered teachers, who in some instances may be from the child's school, or work for a registered tutoring company.
Further information
If you are interested in accessing the Home Tutor Scheme, or would like any further information, please contact the Family Service Team on (08) 8239 2211 or via the Contact Us page.
Oncology Kids Early Intervention Playgroup
The Early Intervention Playgroup is for children aged 1-5 years who are undergoing treatment and/or are unable to attend regular early education settings (e.g. playgroup, kindy,). The Playgroup is registered with Playgroup SA.
This is also available to siblings who are not able to attend early learning settings due to their sibling's diagnosis.
The playgroup is facilitated by an early childhood trainer teacher and is based on the Early Years Learning Framework and developed around the individual strengths of each child.
The fun, interactive sessions provide opportunities for socialisation, development of language and listening skills and sensory integration, as well as providing tools to parents to engage their child in playing to learn at home.
This session is held on Friday mornings 9.30am-11.30am at 19 On Green Community Centre, 19 Green Street, Brompton.
Meet Penny, Oncology Playgroup Teacher
The Early Intervention Playgroup teacher, Penny is a qualified Early Childhood Teacher. She has extensive experience with play-based learning, assessment and reporting for preschool children.
Penny is passionate about working with young children and their families in an environment that allows children the opportunity to discover, socialise, build confidence and communicate.
Penny believes play is the foundation of Playgroup learning for optimum cognitive, physical, social and well-being development. Building trusting relationships and developing a sense of belonging and security is one of many skills developed attending Playgroup.
For any enquiries please don't hesitate to contact:
The Family Service Team at the Childhood Cancer Association on (08) 8239 2211 or via the Contact Us page.