Kia ora koutou

Te Kura Whaiora ki te Tonga | Southern Health School operates very differently to a regular school in that students and families are generally only with us for a relatively short period of time. If your child has recently enrolled with us, this will be your first SHS newsletter – so welcome!

Even if you have been with us for a while, there are a number of changes in how we operate as a school that I wanted you to be aware of and I have outlined a number of these below.

We are very aware of the stress and challenge that comes with having a child who is too unwell to attend regular school. Navigating our health and education systems can be frustrating and difficult, especially when services are limited due to lack of funding. There are many supports available through the school and I would encourage you to check out our website, where you will find parent resources and student support resources. The website is a work in progress and additional resources will be added as they are developed thanks to the outstanding work of our administration team.

In addition to website enhancements, we have also changed our student management system. As a result, online application forms are now an option for any new enrolments coming through to us.

Term 2 has seen us shift our school policies to the SchoolDocs platform. This is the culmination of a lot of work by Allan Robertson who consulted, updated and aligned our old policies with SchoolDocs. If you want to check out any of our policies, you can do so through our school website or through the following url: https://southernhealth.schooldocs.co.nz Our username is southernhealth and password whaiora. Each term certain policies come up for review, with the focus this term on EOTC, or Education Outside the Classroom. You are invited to go into the SchoolDocs website (see above) and click on the review tab to access the policies for review and provide feedback. This feedback informs possible changes to the policy.

Earlier this term we launched our new school brand in our Nelson and Blenheim classrooms. This was a great opportunity to host a number of the many schools and organisations that support us in our mahi, while sharing information about what we do and how we work. Later this term we will be doing the same in Timaru and Invercargill.

After much preparation by teachers and students, 75 of our students completed the Common Assessment Activities (CAAs) last month. These are the digital examinations run by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority twice a year to assess the foundational NCEA literacy and numeracy co-requisite standards. In other words, students need to pass these three assessments in reading, writing and mathematics in order to achieve NCEA. Congratulations to all students who took part. The results of the Reading assessment are due to be released on 23 June, with Numeracy and Writing due on 20 July. Another opportunity is available to students in September.

Finally, a huge thank you to our amazing teachers, leaders, and support staff who do so much to welcome and support students and whānau into our school, engage them in relevant and meaningful learning, and then support their transition back to school or onto their next destination.

In order to better understand the impact of what we do and provide suggestions about how we could do better, we have contracted Point and Associates to carry out an evaluation project. A number of parents have already been contacted to help with the initial stages of this process, and more will be required as the work progresses. Thank you in advance for your willingness to be involved.

Ngā mihi

Linda