Schools Disability Program

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SHFPACT’s Sexual Health Education Program promotes and supports the delivery of comprehensive sexuality and relationships education and social safety skills to children and young people with a disability in the Canberra community.

SHFPACT understands this works best when schools, family and community work together to the needs of the school age children and young people they care for.

While previously SHFPACT educators have provided a high degree of in-class education directly to groups of students with disabilities in schools, the service is now focused on supporting and assisting teachers, LSAs and other assistants, parents, carers, youth workers, support and welfare staff through the provision of a range of professional development and support activities that provide positive and useful support in developing and delivering effective education programs about relationships, sexuality, reproductive and sexual health, and social safety. We encourage this partnership approach so that new knowledge and skills can be reinforced holistically in all areas of students’ lives.

This program, previously funded by ACT Government Education Directorate, is now delivered either as fee for service paid for by schools or families, or can also be delivered where a student has an NDIS Package. More information about NDIS services provided by SHFPACT is available on our website.

Program Vision

People with disabilities attain the maximum sexual and reproductive health possible, within a framework that promotes and protects their human rights, supports community participation and inclusion.

Program Aim

Deliver a high quality suite of responsive services for children and young people with a disability in ACT Schools, and their parents, teachers, teaching assistants, and carers in the areas of sexuality and relationships, sexual health and development, and social safety education.

Fees and Costs

Funded service availability is highly demanded and limited. Please contact SHFPACT with your request and we can provide a quote.

Program Requirements

Where program support is requested, the ultimate beneficiaries of the service must be the children or young people with a disability. SHFPACT educators will seek information about the range of student needs, including relevant diagnosis information where available, in assessing this criterion. The service is available for students in Special Schools, Learning Support Units, Integration Programs and Autism-specific Units, and is open to all ACT schools.

The program focuses on supporting teachers to deliver comprehensive sexuality and respectful relationships education to their students. Materials and outlines of your schools/classrooms current sexuality education curriculum, if there is one, may be requested by SHFPACT educators to help shape the best service support (draft format is sufficient).
Evaluation is essential to any successful program so that it can improve and become more successful. The Program will require brief reflection/evaluation by teachers after each session, as well as at the 3, 6 or 12 months after completing the program to assess the continuing impact. Session evaluations should take no more than 5 minutes while post-program evaluations may take 45 minutes to an hour.

All programs are tailored to the need of those making the request.

SHFPACT offers the following service options:

Curriculum Support

Face to face planning with an educator around the core content of a sexuality and relationships education program that aims to be both developmentally supportive to the needs of the student as well as supporting the expectations of the ACT National Curriculum. SHFPACT educators can showcase resources, provide session examples and discuss any questions or concerns that may come up along the way.

Teacher Professional Development

SHFPACT educators can deliver training and education for teachers in the ACT on a range of content topics that come under the umbrella of Sexuality and Relationships Education. This can be tailored to the request of the school or based on existing programs that SHFPACT delivers in the community (for example the ‘Pimples and Periods’ or ‘Whiskers and Wet Dreams’ programs about Puberty).

Individual Sessions

One-on-one sessions are available with an educator for a student who needs additional support and information in regards to sexuality and respectful relationships education. These sessions can take place on school campus (during school term) or at SHFPACT.

Co-Facilitated Group Education

(Only available after Curriculum Support and/or Teacher PD session)
SHFPACT educators collaboratively develop and co-facilitate classroom learning activities with students together with teachers/assistants. Over the course of delivery of a program developed collaborative, teachers/assistants will progresses from co-facilitated sessions to solely delivering lessons to their students.

In Class Sessions

SHFPACT can deliver sessions in the classroom to students in class groups. These sessions do incur a fee. Please contact SHFPACT for further information.

Parent Information Session

An open discussion covering topics such as

What is Sexuality and Relationships education?
Why does Sexuality and Relationships education matter?
How to talk to your child about Sexuality and Relationships topics such as respectful relationships and consent
Hints and tips on where to go for further advice and information

Topics covered in the program

Comprehensive sexuality and relationships education covers a broad range of different topics including, but not limited to -

Body Awareness
Public & Private - body parts, places and behaviours
Friendships & Relationships
Puberty Issues
Managing Menstruation
Managing Wet Dreams
Social Safety
Sexual Responsibility
Decision-Making
Safe Sex & Contraception
Consent
The Law (including harassment and assault)
Gender
Personal care
STIs
Asking for help
Pregnancy

SHFPACT identifies students with a disability as a priority group for services due to increased needs for adapted/modified information resources and learning experiences to ensure the same or similar educational outcomes as their peers without disability; and because of the increased vulnerability to social exclusion, sexual exploitation and abuse experienced by many people with a disability.

Due to the large number of requests for services, SHFPACT has developed a system of prioritising the work we do in order to give maximum overall benefit to the community.

The two main functions are to support schools to effectively deliver sexual health and relationships education through provision of curriculum development support and co-facilitated group education, and to support individual students with one-on-one support.

For more information on the SHFPACT School’s Disability Program phone (02) 6247 3077 or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Disability Request Form