Programs and Resources

• ESL Targeted Support Program
• ESL New Arrivals Program
• Secondary Intensive English Program
• Rural and regional schools
• Enrolling in school
• Temporary visa holders
• Professional Learning
• Resources for Schools

The ESL Targeted Support Program provides specialist ESL teachers, in addition to the school's normal staffing allocation, to primary schools, high schools and schools for specific purposes which have sufficient numbers of identified ESL students.

In planning and programming for ESL instruction, the school prioritises the needs of the ESL students and determines the most effective way to manage the program within the available teaching resources.

The ESL New Arrivals Program provides short term ESL teacher support for eligible newly arrived students in schools that do not have an ESL Targeted Support Program and where students do not have access to an Intensive English Centre or Intensive English High School.

The ESL New Arrivals Program also provides support for newly-arrived students through the Secondary Intensive English Program. Intensive English Centres (IECs) and the Intensive English High School (IEHS) provide intensive ESL tuition to high school-aged students whose first language is not English.

There are 14 IECs and 1 IEHS located in metropolitan Sydney and Wollongong. Newly arrived secondary students in other parts of NSW enrol directly in high school and receive ESL support there.
 
The IECs and IEHS provide English language, orientation, settlement and welfare programs to prepare students for study in a NSW high school.

When a newly arrived ESL student enrols in a rural or regional school that does not have an ESL program, the school can apply for additional teaching support for a limited period. These schools also receive support from a specialist ESL New Arrivals Program consultant. This includes advice on ESL program organisation and delivery including assessment, teaching and reporting and teaching resource kits for schools.

Parents of newly-arrived students should apply at their local school to enrol their children. In rural and regional schools, if the student needs ESL support, the school will apply to the Multicultural Programs Unit for ESL New Arrivals Program support. For high school students in Sydney and Wollongong, the school may refer the students to an IEC for an assessment of their English language skills.

Students who have entered Australia on temporary visas may enrol in school but most temporary visa holders are required to pay the Temporary Visa Holders Education Fee. Some visa sub-classes are exempt from the fee and individual requests for exemption are considered on a case by case basis. Holders of some sub-classes of temporary visas are not eligible for ESL New Arrivals Program support. Temporary visa holder students should apply to enrol at their local school. The school will refer them to the Temporary Visa Holders Unit for an Authority to Enrol.

For more information, refer to Conditions and procedures for the enrolment of temporary visa holders in NSW government schools.