Dear

Principal,

My name is Diana Nguyen, I am a social worker from Centrelink writing you this
letter on behalf of Mrs Tran who is unable to compose a formal letter due to her
illness and inability to speak fluent English. I have been working with Mrs. Tran
and her family for over 5 years and I have watched her daughter Ngoc and two
sons Anh and Diep grow up into caring, respectful and kind children during this
time.

I am writing you this letter in response to your very detailed letter explaining the
reasons why Ngoc Tran would not be suitable for your primary school, McKinley
Primary School.

Ngoc is a very enthusiastic learner, although her memory and attention may be
low, your school should not be suggesting other schools to us because you do not
have the right resources to help Ngoc. It is within a graduate teachers national
standard to differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of the
students across the full range of abilities (Australian Institute for Teaching and
School Leadership, 2014) and if they do not have the strategies to do so, then it is
within the teachers responsibilities to identify these requirements and seek
professional learning in order to improve their practices (Australian Institute for
Teaching and School Leadership, 2014). There are many children in the world
who test lower in their neurodevelopment functions than Ngoc, all of these
children still need an education and will not be able to learn without feeling
excluded in the classroom if teachers are not willing to learn to improve their
practices when having children with these different needs in the classroom.

Her mother has taken ill and she is now being looked after by her grandparents
who do not speak English, her primary school years is where she will learn about
the world, different cultures, beliefs and values. This is when she will develop
her own set of personal values (B. V. Hill, 2009. Pg.120). The Australian
Government: Department of Education, Science and Training (2005) states that
education should include a childs community and family. Although you believe

that due to Mrs Trans illness, Ngoc would not have the support she needs at
home to balance her education and home, she has the support of her older
siblings and the community that she lives in where there are free homework
clubs at the local library and social workers such as myself who are available
when her family are facing difficulties. The National Frameworks values for
Australian education includes giving students a fair go and understanding,
tolerance and inclusion (Australian Government: Department of Education,
Science and Training, 2005, pg. 4), so what kind of values are you teaching your
current students by rejecting a child for not having enough support at home?

Article 3 of the United Nations Convention on the rights of a child states all

Diana Nguyen 22/5/16 8:45 PM

Comment [1]: Focus area 1.6: This
demonstrates my understanding of
legislative requirements to support
participation and learning of students with
disability.

organisations concerned with children should work towards what is best for
each child (UNICEF, 1996). McKinley Primary School should be making sure
that they give all children equal opportunities to learn, as it is a right of a child to
receive these opportunities. Australia has signed the treaty to commit to these
rights in 1990 (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 2007), this
treaty means that Ngoc has the right to access all of the rights of a child without
any discrimination of any kind, whether it is from her low socio-economic
background or her less than average memory and attention span. Therefore, it is
your role as an Australian educator to carry out this treaty to the best of your
ability and this starts by accepting her enrolment into your school.

Ngocs grandparents moved to this country after the Vietnam War so that their
children and grandchildren would be able to receive the better opportunities,
where public schooling is free and there is a universal health care system. The
public education system all strive to be safe and supportive schools so that their
students feel as though they are receiving a great education where the learning
environment is a place that they can strive and grow. The National Safe Schools
Framework defines a safe and supportive school to have minimal risk of harm,
there is no discrimination against diversity and where a student can feel
included and supported by their school community (Education Services
Australia, 2010, pg.2). The letter rejecting Ngocs enrolment into your school is
definitely not a form of inclusion, teachers and staff should be modelling good

Diana Nguyen 22/5/16 8:44 PM

Comment [2]: Focus area 1.6: This
demonstrates my understanding of
legislative requirements to support
participation and learning of students with
disability.

values such as responsibility, fairness and citizenship (Josephson Institute, 2015)

and accepting Ngoc would be the first step of her entering into a safe and
supportive school.
The National Safe Schools Framework (2015) also states that schools should
continuously evaluate their resources and capabilities in order to improve
strategies when teaching children with special needs and learning difficulties. So,
instead of Ngoc moving to a different school with better resources, McKinley
Primary School should be training their teachers and working out different
strategies to make their resources work for the children who would like to use
their right for equal opportunity just like the current students at McKinley
Primary School. This way, you will not only be accepting the responsibility for
the development and maintenance of a safe, supportive and respectful learning
and working environment (Education Services Australia, 2010, pg. 3) but you
will be setting a standard for all schools in the community. Your primary school
can lead other schools into educating their teachers and evaluating how they
could improve to bring in more children with learning difficulties and special
needs so that all children have the freedom to use their right for an education
and equal opportunity.

I sincerely hope you reconsider Ngoc Trans enrolment into McKinley Primary
School. Thank you.

Kind regards,
Diana Nguyen

References
Australian Governement: Department of Education, Employment and Worksafe
Relations, & Hill, B. V. (2009). Supporting students wellbeing through
values education.
Australian Government: Department of Education, Science and Training.
(2005). The National Framework for Values Education in Australian

Diana Nguyen 22/5/16 8:43 PM

Comment [3]: Focus area 1.6: This
demonstrates my understanding that
teachers need to use different strategies in
order to teach children with disabilities.

Schools. Retrieved from

http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/Framework_PDF_vers
ion_for_the_web.pdf
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2014). Australian
professional standards for teachers. Retrieved from
http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-
teachers/standards/list?c=graduate
Education Services Australia. (2010). National Safe Schools Framework.
Retrieved from
http://www.safeschoolshub.edu.au/documents/nationalsafeschoolsfra
mework.pdf
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. (2007). Australias
commitment to childrens rights and reporting to the UN. Retrieved from
https://leocontent.acu.edu.au/file/17ca8785-80c7-c04c-5d0f-
64f71cd102b2/1/HREOC%20Human%20Rights.pdf
Josephson Institute. (2015). The six pillars of character. Retrieved from
https://charactercounts.org/sixpillars.html
UNICEF. (1996). A simplified version of the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of a Child. Retrieved from
https://www.unicef.org.au/Discover/What-we-do/Convention-on-the-

Rights-of-the-Child/childfriendlycrc.aspx