Support at school

Education and Training Act 2020:
All students can attend their local school for the hours it is open, regardless of a disability or additional needs.
Schools can't tell parents that their child can only attend part days or that they should go to a different school
If parents feel that a child needs  to attend shorted days, they can suggest this .
Section 33 – right to free enrolment & free education 5 yrs to 19 yrs old; right to attend full time or all the hours school is open for instruction.
Section 34 – those with special educational needs (whether because of disability or otherwise), have same rights to enrol, attend and receive education as those who do not.
Section 42 – allows for exceptions to attendance because of well-being or transitional plan, when it is in the best interests of the student. For transitions at 5/6 years - plan can be for no more than six months duration with a set date for full time attendance, must be agreed upon by family/parent, school, and Secretary of Education. For mental health & wellbeing – plan needs to be supported by a medical practitioner/ psychologist; plan can be renewed for one more 6-month period if requested by parents and agreed to by school and Secretary of education.
Section 127 – School board objectives require schools to be inclusive of students with differing needs, in addition to being physically & emotionally safe for all; giving effect to relevant student rights, Human Rights Act & NZ Bill of Rights Act; taking reasonable steps to eliminate all discrimination; & giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. 

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD):
Children with disabilities must have access to inclusive, quality and free primary and secondary education in the communities where they live.
All students should be able to have access to buildings, playgrounds, hygiene and toilets facilities, communications, curriculum, education materials, teaching methods, and assessment and support services that meet their needs.

Article 24: Right to inclusive education • inclusive education at all levels, including pre-school, primary, secondary and postsecondary. • available to everyone, in the communities in which they live; ie. mainstream options • right to quality education on the same basis as others. Must offer reasonable accommodation and adaptation as needed. • achieving this involves changing the whole education system, including culture, policy and practice and all aspects of education need to be looked at and changed where necessary, such as legislation, funding, design, delivery, and monitoring. 

New Zealand Disability Strategy 2016-2026:
All local schools and education services need to be welcoming and provide a great inclusive education.
Students are treated with respect and dignity by those in the education system, including our peers and those who teach and support us.
Outcome 1: Full accessibility to all mainstream services, alongside targeted specialist and individualised supports.
Disabled people & whanau are consulted and involved in development and implementation of policies, legislation about education .
Access to mainstream education must be inclusive - policy, practice and pedagogy .
Right to high quality, accessible and available services.
Inclusive education must be a core competency for all teachers.
Decision making must be based on data and good evidence 

Students who don't generate their own funding rely on the school to provide additional support.  This usually comes from the school's inclusion funding (which was previously called the special education grant). This is used for additional classroom support for learners.

Other supports that may be available to learners in schools include.

Family Works Social Workers in Schools (SWiS)

Mana Ake

Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB)

Ministry of Education Learning Support

Stand Social Workers in Schools (SWiS)

Altogether Autism

Every school has a different person responsible for learning support, which includes ensuring all students receive an inclusive education.

This may be a:
Learning support coordinator.
Pastoral care leader.
SENCO.
Co-ordinator of wellbeing or additional support.
Tūhono kaiwhakahaere or kaitiaki.

Ask the classroom teacher or at the school office if you're unsure about 

Research shows that ongoing 1:1 support is strongly linked to poor learning and wellbeing outcomes. Learners with support needs have better wellbeing and learning outcomes when they have a mixture of times working with a TA, working with a teacher, working with their peers, and working by themselves. (ERO. 2022)

Support available depends on the needs of the individual student.  Every child has a right to access education and the school is responsible for ensuring this.  Not all support will need to be funded, a lot of support comes from inclusive learning spaces.  Funding streams are detailed below:

The general expectation is that you attend the school you are in zone for. School zones are particularly tight in Christchurch.
You may apply out of zone to schools that are more preferable to you, but acceptance depends on the current role and the number of spaces available.

Rarely, if it is in the best interests of a student, the Ministry will direct a school to enrol an out-of-zone student under schedule 20, clause 14 of the Education and Training Act. This overrides the home zone requirement. Directed enrolments are made by the Ministry only in exceptional circumstances. To protect the privacy of students we do not share reasons for directed enrolments.

For the Ministry to approve a directed enrolment, a parent or caregiver must provide specialist medical, psychological or other expert opinion that supports the reasoning a student would be disadvantaged by not attending a particular school, and that no other school can meet their needs.

They need to be satisfied that:

• there would be genuine disadvantage to the student

• the disadvantage would be of a significant degree

• the disadvantage could be objectively or reasonably substantiated

• the disadvantage can be remedied only by enrolment at the school in question.

Ministry of Education (2022) - enrolment Process - https://www.education.govt.nz/school/new-zealands-network-of-schools/about-enrolment-schemes/pre-enrolment-processes/#Directed

Always start off by talking to the school if you're unhappy.  Teachers can't fix problems they don't know about.

Schools will have a process to follow if you're unhappy with how things are going.  This will be in the school policy documents that are available for all enrolled whānau to view. 

Ministry of Education is very clear about what inclusive education should look like.