Attendance and Counselling Services

Attendance and counselling services promote student success through regular school attendance and mental health counselling. These services are available to students who are at risk or in crisis during their school years. Counsellors provide a broad range of services in the schools including the following:

Mental Health Clinicians

• Assess and treat school refusal behaviours
• Identify attendance barriers
• Develop return-to-school and transition-to-work plans
• Develop temporary alternatives to school programs (e.g. Supervised Alternative Learning (SAL))
• Provide counselling services for grief, loss, separation and divorce, self-harm and substance abuse
• Intervention plans to address suicide risk, crisis, trauma and critical school incidents
• Participation on multi-discipline teams that provide direct and integrated behaviour and mental health intervention

Supervised Alternative Learning Program

At Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, we recognize that not all students benefit from a formal classroom setting. The Supervised Alternative Learning Program (SAL) provides a supervised educational alternative for students aged 14 to 17. SAL allows students to experience a range of educational choices. These may include working at a full-time job, working part-time while doing schoolwork part-time, or doing schoolwork in an alternative setting.

What is the purpose of SAL?

• provides life experiences to help students gain knowledge and skills for problem-solving and decision-making
• increase opportunities for personal growth, self-esteem, independence and self-discipline

• make students more aware of the realities and opportunities in the world of work

• helps students, parents and guardians determine whether returning to regular school is in the student's best interests.

Reasons to consider SAL

Some reasons for considering SAL for a student include:

• inability to cope with the traditional, structured schooling

• significant absence from school for various reasons, including health problems

• inability to benefit from regular school attendance

Parents/Guardians responsibilities

As the parent or guardian of a SAL student, you are expected to:

• work with the school and school board counsellor to help determine an alternative program that is appropriate for your teen

• inform the SAL committee if your teen does not follow the alternative program contract

• let the school know of any change in your address or phone number

• write a letter to the committee, on behalf of your teen, if you feel the alternative program needs to change.

While participating in the SAL program, the student continues to receive educational services, such as guidance and counselling. These services are outlined in the alternative program designed for each student. The Board also encourages students to maintain connections with their home school and participate in extra-curricular activities that interest them. We hope most students will be able to return to the regular school environment and complete their Ontario Secondary School Diploma.