Kia ora e te whānau

As our extraordinarily challenging second term ended, I concluded a Road Trip to fourteen regions, meeting up with approximately 800 of you. Thank you for your wonderful hospitality and for your insightful feedback.

You have given me clarity on the critical challenges you face every day and offered numerous practical and achievable solutions.  I am now taking your ideas forward, through my role as your national advocate. 

Top of the list is the provision of improved support for violent and dysfunctional students.

The serious nature of what we confront in our schools is documented in an excellent research study by the Otago Primary Principals’ Association in collaboration with Otago University on Physical and Verbal Assaults and Threats on Staff in Schools.

This research took place in term 1 of this year, across 15 schools, over a 5-week period.

Here are the findings.

Over the five-week period teachers reported 35 instances of striking (hitting, slapping), 17 instances of being punched, 24 instances of being pushed, 5 instances of biting, 12 instances of being kicked, 2 instances of being spat at, 27 instances of having an object thrown at them, 32 instances of physical intimidation, and 15 instances of having an object used as a weapon. That totals 169 incidents of violence within a 5-week period.

This reality is not unique to Otago schools. It is true of every region I have just visited.  Teachers and principals tolerate this behaviour because they have no resources to address it. Learning to cope with these dangerous and threatening situations has become normalised. 

The recently released NZCER national survey backs up the Otago findings. The NZCER study reports that 25% of teachers said student behaviour caused serious disruption in class and 25% of teachers said they felt unsafe.

Let’s be clear. Teachers and principals do not come to school, our place of work, to be physically hurt and abused. Nor do the young people in our care.

Finding solutions for young people in crisis is our number one, urgent priority.

NZPF is advocating for student counselling services in schools, to address the mental health and wellbeing of our young people. We are asking for a reduction in the ratio of counsellors to pupils in secondary schools to 1:400 and the introduction of counselling services for students south of Year 9.

We want the Te Tupu Managed Moves programme extended to every region in New Zealand. This is a venue-based service within a cluster of schools that catches young people at risk of suspension and caters for them across schools or in the venue-based service alongside specialist staff.  

We have asked for easier access to residential schools for our most troubled youth.

I am pleased to report that a new approach to enrol in residential schools has now been announced, beginning in term 3. This approach allows the three residential schools, Westbridge, Halswell and Salisbury to form their own enrolment groups with minimal Ministry input. Every application made is reviewed by these school-based enrolment groups. This enrolment process is called the RSS pathway.

This is excellent news! For too long the Ministry of Education has been a gatekeeper to our residential schools and the process to enrol students in crisis has been arduous.  Residential schools play an important role in meeting national learning support needs. Sadly, the Ministry of Education has historically viewed residential schools as a resource of last resort. NZPF sees residential schools playing a much more effective role in early intervention and is a good option for young people struggling in conventional school settings, who need specialist staffing to deal with behaviour and dysfunction.

All three residential schools are well below capacity. Let’s change that!

There are four criteria for enrolment at a residential special school:

• The young person is aged 8 to 15 years old (Year 3–10).
• The young person has behaviour, social and/or learning needs that are highly complex and challenging (and may have associated intellectual difficulty) and requires support at school.
• Local learning support services have been fully utilised for the young person and family and are unable to meet needs.
• The young person does not need an intervention in the home or community (the child/young person does not need intensive services such as Te Kahu Tōī - Intensive Wraparound Service (IWS), Oranga Tamariki or High and Complex Needs). Access to residential schools through IWS is still possible but not through this direct enrolment model.

The direct enrolment pathway (RSS pathway) requires:

• an application for approval by the young person’s learning support provider in their home region. This could be a Resource Teacher Learning and Behaviour (RTLB), or a Ministry specialist. The application is made for a specific school through the relevant Ministry email address and all applications made are forwarded to that school’s Enrolment group for consideration.
• Enrolment groups for the relevant school will review the application and each school’s Enrolment group will make final decisions for their school. 

The enrolment forms can be found here.

There are two intakes per term.

Our residential specialist schools add incredible value. They have critical tools for helping schools and young people deal with complex and challenging behaviour. It is a tragedy that entry has been so difficult and young people in crisis have not been able to experience the high level of expertise these schools offer.

Let’s change that. The enrolment pathway is clear. The invitation is there. Let’s get cracking!

Ngā manaakitanga

Perry Rush
perry@nzpf.ac.nz