News & Events

Our vision for the Tawa secondary provision is the same as all our Enrolled School provisions – “To educate and empower Deaf and Hard of Hearing learners for success”.

Our staff are working on a philosophy statement for the Enrolled School. We are currently sharing this with parents, their feedback will help us to shape this philosophy further.

The enrolment process for our Tawa College Provision will be the same as all our other primary and secondary provisions.

This will mean that families will need to enter into a section 37 agreement (Day Specialist School) with the local Wellington Ministry of Education to access this provision. Further enrolment information is available here. More details about entering into a specialist education agreement is available on the Ministry of Education website.

We teach using the New Zealand Curriculum and have strengthened this with our own local curriculum involving Deaf Studies and Ka Hikitia to acknowledge the unique context that Deaf education sits in within our New Zealand education system.

We will also be working closely with the curriculum that Tawa College has on offer. This will be accessible for our ākonga, with support from Ko Taku Reo teachers, teacher aides, and educational interpreters where needed.

Our programmes are highly individualised based around Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and based on learner needs including language of instruction.

In all Enrolled School provisions, we develop a partnership with the mainstream school to ensure that timetables are worked through, and our students have access to the same learning opportunities as those enrolled directly with the mainstream school.

We are working closely with Tawa College around providing accessible learning support, social, cultural and sporting opportunities for our learners.

Recruitment
We are recruiting for an experienced and qualified Teacher of the Deaf/New Zealand registered teacher to work in the secondary provision at Tawa College. This position is key in shaping the foundations that we are working on in partnership with Tawa College. Applications for this position closed on 30 September and further details around this will be available in term 4.

Staffing
In addition, our teachers will be supporting our Tawa provision teacher, setting strong collaborative practices within our Enrolled School and with Tawa College.

Staffing at Tawa provision will depend on the number of enrolments, we will be consistently assessing the needs of our learners and staff requirements.

Governance
The Board (currently the Commissioner, Mike Rondel) has overall responsibility for our school and assesses the level of need in our regions for staffing.

The overall governance of our school is the same as all schools across New Zealand, we are governed by legislation set by the Education and Training Act 2020 and reviewed by the Education Review Office.

Tawa College have identified a suitable teaching block (Block J) for 2025. To start with, one teaching space and one office have been allocated for the provision, with shared use of a second office. In future, the provision may expand and occupy the whole block if enrolment numbers support this.

Discussions are underway around installing visual fire alarms in the provision space and bathrooms. We will also work with Tawa College on setting up evacuation procedures when Deaf and hard of hearing students are at the main college site.

The next parent meeting will be held in term 4. Further details around this will be made available soon.