'He waka eke noa' - 'We're all in this together'
STILL TO BE Updated
SWiS
Counsellor
ACES
HERO??
2022 has once again been a challenging year! We currently have ??? students on our Special Needs Register. This is a higher number than usual despite a lower roll number.
We had a number of high needs children arrive at school once again and have worked hard with MOE to ensure a smooth transition, with a clear plan in place for these students. This is an area that still needs support and development to ensure that we have the right resources in place to give our tamariki the best start to Primary School.
This year we have not had anyone in an official capacity as Home Visiting and Pastoral role, particularly for the Senior School which maintains the crucial link between home and school while building those critical relationships. Chris Bush (RTLB) has once again worked tirelessly to support many of our whānau and is an integral part of the Team, liaising with both whānau and agencies. We were lucky enough to receive some more COVID response funding which we applied to another Home Visiting role so that after Term 1 Lockdown we could chase up a number of learners who were still hesitant and or anxious to return to school. Haare Kutia filled this role which was a great success. And she was able to maintain and build on these connections while she was on placement with TCDT.
We took in to Lockdown the lessons we had learnt in 2020 and were quick to stand up our Schoolwide monitoring systems. This proved effective for most of our whanau however once again some of our more vulnerable children remained hard to reach. We revised the monitoring system to identify those learners that teachers were struggling to make contact with and flagged these learners. Our Office Admin Staff then took a Team each and made follow up phone calls, sent emails or enquired via other whanau to check in and identify any needs that required attention. So whilst not necessarily arriving on people’s doorsteps there has been ongoing connection and monitoring and this has served to develop and strengthen lasting home-school connectivity.
On return to school a great deal of thought, discussion and effort was put in, to ensure that we were well equipped to provide for the safety and wellbeing of both children and staff on their return to school after lockdown. ‘Bubble School’ once again served a small number of children that had parents delivering essential services.
We have been lucky enough to be one of 3 schools that have benefitted from the new MOE Counsellor in Schools Programme and we now share a Counsellor with these schools. This means we will have a Counsellor on site with us for 3 days a week and although she has been unable to start prior to the year end we are looking forward to having this service available to further support our tamariki and become part of the 'Village'.
Throughout the year absences have continued to be a huge issue. We hoped that post Lockdowns and the ending of the 'Traffic Light Restrictions' that we would see the retuen of most of our students. Despite making school as inviting as possible we have had only 70 - 80% of our learners return to school. So this will continue to be an area of focus as we return in 2023.
This has been a really tricky space to work with. With the large number of children absent we have had to rely on teachers being the first point of call again. When this hasn't worked we have had the Office and myself calling and Jordan Tino our SWis has been great support with transporting a number of children to and from school. Our local Police Youth Support Team have taken this on for a number of families as well. We have referred more children than ever before for follow up with ACES.
The Child Support Workers have provided much needed support for some of our children returning to school after long periods of absence and this will need to continue in 2023.
This has once again been an extraordinary year and we will continue to be guided by the principles of 'Te Whare Tapa Wha' as we move forward in this space to ensure that each and every one of our tauira and their whanau feel well supported and connected at school.
’It takes a Village’
To ensure our new staff are aware of the importance of connecting with our whanau and encouraging and empowering them to be the first point of contact walking alongside them with this as necessary.
To continue to create connections with our local Pre-School providers so that we can identify needs early and have the necessary supports in place when they arrive at school.
Continue to ensure that the ‘highest needs’ children are monitored effectively and early contact is made with whanau to involve them in the partnership.
Continue to be proactive rather than reactive.
We need to have a person with a portion of their job dedicated to chasing up on absenteeism
Toni Nua
December 2023