Inclusive Schools for Special Needs

2013 Support Offerings

Special Needs/ Learning Support is a group of students within schools that have been traditionally underserved by the system.  At Massey we have a solid foundation of professionals with research, personal and practical knowledge of how best to support parents, students and educational providers of this group, and we want use this to help you so your students are more able to learn to the best of their ability.

Networking
To address this, we are offering a series of networking sessions for Sencos and teachers working with learning support students.  These sessions started last year and a learning community is building steadily.  Participants are really happy that there is finally a way of collaborating with others and building knowledge around this priority area.
If you are interested in being part of this network, here are the registration details.  We start mid March.
Registration Form (link to google doc)
Flyer (link to Google Doc)


"I have held the SENCO portfolio for my school for the past 3 years and am extremely pleased that an opportunity has been given for me to meet with people in a similar role and discuss issues that surround the role.  It was really great having an open forum at my first hui where I had the opportunity to ask the other members of the group how they manage reporting on students on their SENCO registers and how this differs to the other students."  (Hana Netana, PN)

"I went to the Senco course because I had no idea of what I was meant to be doing in this role. Meeting with other T/A’s and Sencos who have so much knowledge that they freely share is amazing. Heather makes sure that we are focused and that we all share and gain from each other."  (Senco, NP)

School Review
Several schools have engaged us recently to audit the services they provide for their special needs students.  This provides a rich source of data from which to build a programme of professional learning targeted at specific school needs. Contact Heather Bell if you are interested in finding out more about this.

What we are offering:

Support could include:  

SCHOOLS           

• Audit of current school environment to understand the needs of Special Needs students, the aspirations of their families and the capabilities of teachers.  This will ensure we can design a professional development programme that will make the difference 
• Building knowledge of specific special needs.  E.g. autism, downs, obsessive compulsive disorder, ADHD.
• Monitoring progress and providing active school-based support to build on knowledge and skills of those involved
• Managing the personal concerns of having a special needs child in the classroom 
• Applying for support, funding, assistive technology, etc
• Writing effective Individual Education Plans
• strategies to support learning
• Creating a truly inclusive school
• Forming a SENCo network
• Developing roles and responsibilities with Teacher Aides
• Using The GSE Service Pathway effectively to target assistive technology

PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS

• Building knowledge of specific special needs: autism, downs, obsessive compulsive disorder, ADHD, etc
• Building a support network for parents
• Forming effective relationships with your child's school
• Accessing information 

BRAVE AND INTERESTED

• twitter conferences (1 hour of hysteria, hilarity and honest thought sharing :)

Format Options:
This will be designed in collaboration with you and your leadership team or whanau. Possible options could include;

• In-school support at dates and times to suit your school
• Cluster meetings for SENCos, RTLBs, Teacher Aides and teachers with SN students
• Twilight or breakfast sessions for parents and caregivers
• Whole day workshops for clusters of interested schools
• Virtual meetings through Skype / VLN / etc

Programme Investment:

By negotiation depending on the format

• Whole day workshop
• Twilight session
• Breakfast session
• In school support

Ideas on this page are flexible suggestions only.  If you have special needs students and would like some help for them, the support team around them or their parents / whanau, contact Heather Bell, to discuss your best way to build a programme to suit your needs.  

Please offer your suggestions in the comment box below so we can best meet your needs.