Student Services
College Counseling
The role of the college counselor at DAS is to help students explore their talents and skills, develop their career choices, and set up their learning plans accordingly. The college counselor will be coaching students in the process of preparing for college applications, and will be taking care of providing relevant data and recommendations for this purpose. The college counselor does not only work with the grade 11and 12 students in preparing for college, but also raises the awareness of grades 9 and 10 students towards the different available majors at universities, provides students with adequate information about college and career options, and helps them design the learning paths that is most relevant to students’ interests and choices.
Tips for students on college counseling:
Always talk to the college counselor before making decisions regarding universities, career and courses’ choices.
Make sure you inform the college counselor of the subject of your meeting with him or her when you take an appointment for this.
Make sure you talk to the college counselor when you are making choices about your courses.
Make sure you talk to the college counselor and inform them about what you are currently doing, what you are planning on doing, and so on.
Make sure your talk to the college counselor way ahead of time before asking them for help in anything.
Make sure you get the college counselor to know you very well, as they might be in a position to write a recommendation about you.
Make sure to inform the college counselor of any concerns you have way ahead of the time these concerns become problematic.
Make sure you involve the college counselor in your achievements: curricular achievements, extra-curricular achievements, or personal achievements.
Make sure to keep documentation (notes, journals…etc.) of the meetings you have with the college counselor; these notes should highlight the topics you discussed and the things you agreed on.
This is not an exclusive list; please feel free to improvise and benefit from the core work of the college counselor in helping you optimize your chances of being accepted at the majors you would like to get in the universities you would like to attend.
Student Support Unit
The Student support Services model at DAS is based on the philosophy that all students can learn and have unique abilities, learning styles and interests. These differences are valued, as they add to the richness and diversity of our school. Learners respond best to instructionally appropriate strategies designed to develop their strengths and provide for their individual needs through differentiated instruction. The goal for all students is to meet or surpass grade level standards in the DAS curriculum. In order to reach these goals, students must engage in positive learning experiences that emphasize academic, behavioral and personal commitments.
The Student Support Unit is a multi-tiered support system designed to address the needs of all students for academic concerns, at multiple levels. We provide support for grades 1-7 in English, Arabic and Math and follow both a push in and pull out system. We also support students either in a one-on-one setting or in small groups. A specific referral process is used to identify students who may be in need of extra support at various levels. Based on a student’s specific needs, a support plan or individual intervention plan is developed with evidence based interventions guiding the instruction. This plan is regularly monitored for progress and the plan in adjusted accordingly.
For further information refer to inclusion policy.
Student Counselling
Counseling approach in DAS aims to provide students with an opportunity to talk through their difficulties in a supportive environment. It can be implemented through prevention and intervention programs as a comprehensive school counseling program such as Positive Behavior Support (PBS). By one-to-one basis, counselors can help students to find out their own ways of addressing their issues and expressing their feelings
Guidance counseling program is a child-centered, developmental and proactive program. It is an integral-interrelated part of the educational program that is implemented from Pre-K till Grade 12. Counselors efficiently collaborate with learners, teachers, administrators, and parents to create a comfortable environment that is based on care to help and support learners’ social-emotional development. There is a wide range of areas in which the counseling support can be provided such as academic, behavioral, psychological and social emotional development.
Counselors help students move towards their personal goals and follow up by bringing about improvements and support their wellbeing. To assure learners’ holistic progress, the counselors offer consultations, interventions, and follow up to learners who face changes and challenges in their lives; such as, divorce of parents, transition, death, and problems with peers, bullying, study habits, and others.
They approach learners through various activities related to their problems, concerns, developmental issues, or other sudden arisen conflicts. The counselors reflect through observations from activities’ outcomes to detect the learners who may need immediate support to overcome a certain crisis. The counselor interferes immediately by interviewing the learner individually and contacting their parents for further support. The counselor plays a vital role by raising awareness through guiding learners and helping them believe in their abilities in order to overcome their challenges; and their physical and social emotional changes. Emotional and behavioral concerns can be identified by counseling department at an early stage.
The counselling process aims at helping the students in solving their problems, furthering their self-knowledge, and self-satisfaction. These goals of school counseling are to support students’ learning and help them succeed and achieve their personal goals under the umbrella of the general goals of Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the recently transformation of education which will be aligned with Saudi Vision 2030.
The counselor closely mentors them to become problem solvers, independent learners, believers in their capabilities, and encourages them to always have the willingness to offer help and support to their classmates, siblings, and other people in the world. The counselor helps them learn how to share ideas clearly and respectfully, accept others’ perspectives, understand cultural diversity and empower their willingness to develop as global and productive citizens.