Torbay presses govt to save successful remedial program

Member for Northern Tablelands Richard Torbay will make direct representations to the Premier and Education Minister during Parliament this week to retain the expertise of the Dalwood Assessment Centre and Palm Avenue School in Sydney for needy regional students.
He said the government’s plans to disband the expert assessment and teaching team, restrict eligibility criteria, remove the residential component and merge the service with other programs operating at Westmead Children’s Hospital was short sighted.
“The loss of this program will be felt across regional NSW,” Mr Torbay said. “It is unique, it is highly successful and effective and its record is so excellent the government should be expanding it not compromising or abolishing it.” The Dalwood Centre has been operating at Seaforth since 1972 to provide assessment, outreach and intensive residential programs for regional students whose school progress is significantly delayed by severe learning disorders, despite their often having strong intellectual abilities.
Mr Torbay said angry and distressed parents, teachers and school principals had approached him to press for a reprieve for the unique service and the expert team that drives it. He had also been represented at the recent meeting of the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association of NSW in Sydney where deep concerns over the closure were raised. The service is open to regional students with literacy disorders who do not respond to standard remedial programs and have exhausted all resources available locally. It provides services for around 200 students a year and has a waiting list of more than 100 for next year’s program.
“Parents and teachers value the unique blend of expertise at Dalwood,” Mr Torbay said. “Without this specialised early intervention, these young people would lose the opportunity to fulfill their learning potential and the loss to NSW would be huge. The government’s plans to merge this program with those at Westmead are unsuitable and would destroy this highly regarded program.”
One of the strongest local advocates for the service is TAS Headmaster Murray Guest who held talks with Mr Torbay on the issue this week. “The students who enter this program generally face high level learning disorders in literacy, but have the intelligence to achieve well with the right intervention at an early age,” he said. “The results I have seen through the Dalwood program have been immediate and dramatic in all literacy measures and have also offered children benefits in raising self esteem and promoting a love of learning that this state would ignore at its peril.
“No regional community has the same combination of professional expertise and experience as Dalwood to offer these students and it would be a tragedy to see it dissolved.” Mr Guest said it was essential to retain all elements of the program, including the residential component, if it is to retain its effectiveness.