At Bayswater Primary School, we are continuing to build and strengthen our Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) – a school-wide, evidence-informed approach designed to ensure that every student receives the right teaching and support, at the right time.
Our approach aligns with the Victorian Department of Education’s Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM 2.0) and brings together the way we support students across learning, behaviour and wellbeing.
In literacy and numeracy, our approach aligns with Victoria’s Literacy and Numeracy Position Statements. In behaviour and wellbeing, our work is supported by School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) and the Department’s Positive Classroom Management Strategies (PCMS).
Together, these approaches help us build a consistent school-wide system that starts with high-quality teaching and support for every student, identifies needs early, and provides additional support when it is needed.
Our aim is simple: to identify needs early, respond quickly and continually check whether the support we provide is working.
Source: Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO), Introduction to a multi-tiered system of supports, 2024.
Our MTSS brings together support for learning, behaviour and wellbeing within one school-wide framework.
MTSS is often represented using three tiers. The tiers describe the level of support a student receives. As a student's needs change, the amount and type of support they receive can change too.
Tier 1 is the foundation of our approach and includes the teaching and support provided to every student.
All students receive high-quality, evidence-informed teaching aligned with the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model (VTLM 2.0). We explicitly teach new knowledge and skills, provide plenty of opportunities for students to practise what they are learning, and support them to use their learning in different situations.
For behaviour and wellbeing, our School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) approach helps us establish clear and consistent expectations and routines across the school. Teachers also use Positive Classroom Management Strategies (PCMS) to create safe, predictable and engaging classrooms where students are supported to learn and succeed.
Regular school-wide assessment helps us understand how well our teaching and supports are working for all students and identify students who may need some additional help.
Some students need additional teaching and support to help them make progress. This is provided alongside the high-quality teaching and support they continue to receive at Tier 1.
In literacy and numeracy, this may include targeted small-group intervention and additional opportunities to learn and practise particular skills.
For behaviour and wellbeing, students may receive additional teaching and support to develop specific social, emotional, self-regulation or behavioural skills. This includes opportunities to learn, practise and receive positive feedback for using these skills successfully.
We regularly monitor how students are progressing so that we can see whether the additional support is working and make changes when needed.
A smaller number of students may need more intensive and individualised support.
In literacy and numeracy, we use detailed assessment to understand exactly where a student is experiencing difficulty and identify the specific skills they need to develop. This helps us carefully match teaching and intervention to each student's needs.
At Bayswater Primary School, we use Precision Teaching approaches as part of our intensive intervention. This means frequently measuring a student's progress so that we can see how they are learning over time. If the data shows that something is not working as well as we would like, we can quickly adjust the teaching, practice or level of support.
For students with significant or ongoing behavioural needs, we use function-based behaviour support planning. This means carefully looking at why a behaviour may be occurring and what the student may be communicating or trying to achieve. We can then teach helpful new skills and develop individualised supports that better meet the student's needs.
At Tier 3, families are important members of the team. Families, teachers and relevant professionals work together to understand the student's needs, develop appropriate supports, monitor progress and make changes when needed.
Regular assessment is an important part of MTSS because it helps us make decisions based on what students actually need and how they are progressing.
We use universal screening assessments at key points throughout the year to check the progress of all students. These assessments help us identify strengths and needs early, understand how well our teaching is working and identify students who may benefit from additional support.
Students receiving additional intervention are monitored more frequently. Teachers and school leaders use this information to determine what is working, what may need to change and what each student needs next.
As students make progress, their support can change. Some students may need more intensive support for a period of time, while others may need less as their skills and confidence grow.
Strong support for students starts with knowledgeable and skilled teachers.
Ongoing professional learning, coaching and collaboration are important parts of our MTSS approach. Our staff work together to strengthen their teaching, use assessment information effectively and develop the knowledge and skills needed to respond to the different learning, behaviour and wellbeing needs of our students.
We also regularly review and improve our school-wide approaches so that students experience consistent, high-quality teaching and support across our school.
