Nobody needs to miss out
Celebrating 10 years of Health Schools in New Zealand, and raising awareness for this essential education service
he three regional health schools are celebrating their tenth birthday this year, and also aim to raise their profile.
Since 2000, children suffering from long-term illness or injury have been entitled to continue their education through the three New Zealand health schools. But some are still missing out on their education due to a lack of awareness of the health school system.
As part of the Special Education 2000 initiative, the Northern Health School based in Auckland has just finished 14 parties: one for each site.
That’s a lot of cake. The Central Regional Health School is based in Wellington, and principal Ken McIntosh says after a decade of support for students too ill to attend their regular school, health school teachers have become experts in teaching students wherever they are and whatever their health and education needs are.
“For the past 10 years health school teachers have been working with students wherever they happen to be and supporting their education until they are able to return to school,” Ken says.
“To be admitted to the health school roll, they have to meet clear Ministry criteria. The criteria are about absence from school, not about the medical condition.” Ken says a medical practitioner, specialising in the condition, has to provide a medical certificate stating the condition, the treatment regime and, most importantly, how these are preventing the student attending their regular school.
The three regional centres are Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, covering the whole country with a team of experienced teachers working from more than 20 locations.
These teachers work with students from Year 0 to 13, providing an education programme tailored to meet the students’ education needs while also fitting with their medical condition and treatment. This may mean a focus on literacy and numeracy only, or possibly selected NCEA courses.
“It all depends on the student and their illness,” Ken says.
“With the progress in medical treatment, student patients spend less and less time in hospital. Many don’t go to hospital at all, so most of the health school teacher’s work is community-based. Dogs, toddlers, Year 13 physics and road rage are all in a day’s work for a health school teacher,” he says.
The schools have also become innovation leaders. This includes a pioneering city school for students with mental health issues in Wellington, web-based video tutoring and online systems and support centres where students can spend time with their teacher in a school-like environment.
Health schools are also leaders in providing genuinely individualised learning for students. An individual learning plan (ILP) is developed for each student in consultation with their regular school, parents, and other agencies working with the student. The ILP aims to replicate what the student would have been doing in their regular school.
“Ten years on and we are much better at finding students who are entitled to our support,” Southern Regional Health School principal Chris Parsons says.
“But there are still too many who are not being referred to us,” he adds.
Northern Health School principal Richard Winder agrees. He says the most common response in the recent parent satisfaction survey was: “If only we had known about your service earlier.”
Richard cites cases where students spent months at home, too unwell to attend school, while their regular school just marked them absent.
Concerned parents will try their regular school, the Ministry and Te Kura Pounamu (formerly the Correspondence School) before someone suggests the health schools, and this is something the three schools are working hard to change.
Andrew’s story
Andrew’s story gives some insight into both the modern face of health school education and the issues around students accessing the service.
A Northern Health School student, Andrew is 17 and had been home suffering from mental ill health for about a year before coming to the attention of the health school.
From being unable to leave the house or communicate directly with his health school teacher, Andrew has progressed to the point where he took part in an online meeting with Associate Minister of Education Heather Roy, and is now travelling in to the support centre to meet with his teacher. All this has been accomplished in the space of three months.
Andrew’s story is replicated many times across the three schools and there are an unknown number of others who are not referred. While the number of eligible students being referred to the three schools is increasing, there are still some who miss out.
The primary aim at this stage for the three health school principals is to raise awareness in regular schools so students like Andrew receive the education support to which they are entitled.
“The previous 10 years have been very positive for the health school system and while there is much to celebrate, there is still more to be done,” Richard says.
Northern Health School
www.nhs.school.nz
Central Regional Health School
www.centralregionalhealth.school.nz
Southern Regional Health School
www.southernhealth.school.nz