The NSW Department of Education has developed a series of optional templates to assist community preschools to make observations. Community preschools may wish to use the templates to support an application for High Learning Support Needs (HLSN) Funding under the Disability and Inclusion Program. Use of the templates does not determine the application outcome nor eligibility for funding.

Templates are available for the following types of observations:

1. Antecedent, Behaviour, Consequences (ABC) recording (PDF 52KB)
2. Anecdotal observations (PDF 46KB)
3. Frequency tally (PDF 49KB)
4. Language sample (DF 43KB)
5. Running record (PDF 43KB)
6. Scatterplot (PDF 116KB)
7. Time sample (PDF 93KB).

You can also download a Word document with all the observations templates (DOC 60KB).

The NSW Department of Education will individually assess all applications. To be eligible for HLSN funding, an application must meet the requirements outlined in the 2026 High Learning Support Needs Funding Program Guidelines. Under the 2026 guidelines, children have high learning support needs as defined in these guidelines, namely, the child must:

• have constant and ongoing support needs and require significant adjustments, or a temporary illness or injury that requires short term adjustment, to enable participation in the educational program on the same basis as their peers
• require an ILP that identifies individual goals and the specific teaching strategies and adjustments required to enable participation in the education program on the same basis as their peers
• require consistent support and guidance to engage at the same level as their peers.

The templates have been adapted from a webinar delivered by STaR which has been funded through the NSW Department of Education’s Sector Development Program, which is now known as the Safety and Quality Practice Program from financial year 2023–24.