Hobsonville School is funded by Special Education Grants (SEG) to support students with severe learning needs. We offer a range of learning support services, with the focus on a teacher aide working with the student in the mainstream learning area. Diverse learning needs are usually identified either at pre-school or at the start of schooling. All students with diverse needs have the right to attend New Zealand schools.

Teacher aides for special needs students are funded by Special Education Grants (SEG), or in special circumstances, by the Ministry of Education through ORS (On-going Resourcing Scheme) or LLI (Learning Language Intervention). Our two Deputy Principals are also Special Needs Co-ordinators (SENCO). Both work closely with Marino as well as Ministry of Education psychologists, speech language therapists, RTLB (Resource Teachers of Learning Behaviour) and RTL (Resource Teachers of Literacy). IEP (Individual Education Plans) and IBPs (Individual Behaviour Plans) are tailored to students with specific learning or behavioural issues.

A new Learning Support Coordinator was appointed in 2020. Students who require support with their learning are monitored closely and supported in the learning space. The LSC communicates with the SENCO, the teachers and parents to ensure the child’s learning is supported.

Our ESOL learners benefit from in-class support from a Learning Support Assistant (Teacher Aide) and explicit instruction from class teachers based on their individual needs. 

Our students tell us that they enjoy being in-class with support linked to their learning at their age expected level, rather than withdrawn from the learning space. They enjoy working alongside students in a group , in preparation for the learning or as a follow up to the learning.  In this way our ESOL students can build on or revisit their knowledge and vocabulary .

“Playful learning is the magic that takes place when we meld a child’s sense of joy and wonder with thoughtfully planned learning experiences.” – Mariah Bruehl, ‘Playful Learning’ (2011)

Our ‘Learning Though Play’ programme was successfully introduced in 2019 to help our youngest of students navigate their school journey. It is very different from the broader concept of play – whereby children are truly motivated to engage in self-directed play with their teacher ready to discuss, embed and extend their learning.

‘Learning Through Play’ is designed to support & develop:

• A smooth transition from pre-school to school
• Higher-levels of thinking skills & processes
• Interpersonal skills such as: opportunity to practice language development, cooperation, negotiation, leadership, empathy, active listening, and compromise
• Intrapersonal skills such as: self esteem, motivation, resilience, concentration, persistence, and time management
• Student agency & engagement

Play is a fundamental learning tool utilised by children (with guidance from their teacher) to help them explore, experiment, discover and solve problems in imaginative and playful ways. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that learning through play brings numerous benefits to students’ learning and development.

Our school recognises the importance of quality education for our students and that this must include the extension of social and emotional skills and abilities. Activ8 is an externally provided programme with a strong emphasis on helping students develop practical skills and provide problem-solving frameworks that can be applied to real-life situations. The primary focus of the programme is to enhance students’ social development, communication and leadership competencies. Weekly reinforcement builds on learned skills, and provides opportunities to practice problem solving and team skills in real group situations.

For the Year 1 and Year 2 programme, the main focus is on developing resilience to the inevitable stressors of growing up, the promotion of impulse control and group collaboration. Learning is play and game based and designed to develop practical skills that can be transferred to other environments (such as the sports field, playground, at home and in the community). Students are selected for this programme in Years 3 to 8. Each individual programme is tailored to meet the specific objectives of the school, which is an active partner in the delivery of the programme.

David Curtis has worked in the disability and social services sector for over 30 years, starting his career at Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind at Homai College as a residential daily living instructor. This position involved the provision of daily living skill and care to residential students from around New Zealand that are Blind, Low Vision and Deafblind.

From there he worked for a division of the Cerebral Palsy Society as a needs assessment consultant and network co-ordinator, working alongside adults and young people with physical, neurological and developmental disorders and disabilities. Later working as a Recreation specialist for NZCCS, (formally the Crippled Children’s Society). As a member of a multi-disciplinary team he was responsible for the implementation and adaption of activities and environments to enhance the participation of children with physical disabilities in mainstream schools and community environments.

He also spent time as a consultant for a personal development company involved in Notational analysis programmes in schools and social service organisations.

David is passionate about child welfare and development. In 1999, he setup Activ8 Auckland to provide activities and opportunities for growth for children and young people with disabilities and developmental disorders that were not elsewhere catered for. His work was predominantly with groups of private clients and various social service organisation such a Bernardos NZ (programmes for young sexual offenders), Dingwall Trust (Children in need of care and protection). Responsibilities included the designing and collaborative implementing of movement based programmes to meet their specific group requirements and needs.

Over the last two decades, David has evolved the Activ8 programmes to ensure it addresses the social learning needs faced by neurotypical children and those with disabilities by their parents and teachers. His programmes have been run in over 20 Auckland schools. He runs sessions for parents and school staff to help them understand social learning and the impacts of the modern world on our children.

David is happily married with two children and in his spare time enjoys landscaping/gardening, collecting art and dirt bike riding.

Garden to Table is a programme that builds life skills through practical, hands on classes. A comprehensive food education programme, children learn how to grow and cook fresh food while developing their environmental awareness. Students learn how to create a meal using fresh produce from our own vegetable garden. They plant, maintain and harvest the fresh produce to cook meals in the kitchen, with their peers, that they can be proud of. The enthusiasm and passion that students display when developing their own recipes using fresh produce has changed the way they feel about working in the kitchen and garden.

Using their newfound new skills and knowledge, this programme is helping students learn where food comes from, encouraging healthier eating and community connectedness, and changing their mindsets towards a better, more sustainable future. As part of Garden to Table, all food scraps from school are used to create compost in worm farms, paper, leaves etc, are composted and volunteers from the local community come in to help.

Through Garden to Table, children learn:

• Lifelong skills,
• Teamwork & collaboration,
• About food, where it comes from and how to grow it,
• Caring for the environment,
• Healthier eating,
• Recycling, composting & harvesting,
• Enterprise by selling produce.

With special thanks to Barfoot and Thompson Hobsonville for supporting our Garden to Table Programme.
To find out more go to: gardentotable.org.nz

– OUR GARDEN TO TABLE PROGRAMME IS HELPING OUR STUDENTS TO UNDERSTAND BOTH WHERE THEIR FOOD COMES FROM AND THE BENEFITS OF EATING HEALTHILY! ALL THE WHILE HAVING FUN DEVELOPING THEIR GARDENING AND CULINARY SKILLS, SETTING THEM UP FOR LIFE!

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Hobsonville School is working towards being a waste-free school and to date, this has involved:

• Reducing waste through waste audits and rubbish collection
• Removing bins throughout the school and setting up an integrated system of composting, worm farm and general waste
• Reducing plastic within the school’s lunch choices
• Educating students about the systems and the importance of looking after the environment
• Running workshops with all the students to teach them about the new system
• Teaching kids to care for gardens and the school environment
• Innovating to reduce plastic within the school and educating students on the change
• Connecting children’s ideas with the future needs of our environment and our world.

OUR GOAL: to be a rubbish-free school

As part of that, we ask that all children have rubbish-free lunchboxes – and that if they do bring any litter, they take it home. Around the school, you’ll see designated bins for hard plastic, paper recycling and compostable materials only – not for general waste. We’re also proud to have a worm farm and Bokashi Composting System. Our Waste Wise Team collects compostable material for the worm farm daily, and paper for composting and recycling.

And we’re not stopping there! Plans for the future including the planting of fruit trees such as feijoas, mandarins and oranges and investigating keeping beehives and chickens – all of which teaches children the lifelong skills of caring for our creatures and our planet. Waste Wise is funded by grants from Auckland Council and by Waste Solutions, who provide tools and equipment.