Specialist Schools Collective creates a collaborative and safe space for kaiako in West Auckland

Many specialist schools are dispersed throughout regions which often means their kaiako can’t easily connect and collaborate with kaimahi working with similar challenges in their everyday mahi. Specialist schools often have to work hard to modify mainstream resources and programmes for their akonga, leading to some innovative solutions, partnerships and outcomes which often do not get shared wider than their kura or receive the recognition this form of mahi deserves, therefore contributing to their isolation as specialised education providers.  

The lack of connection and ability to share best practice for these teachers is one of the driving forces behind the Specialist School Collective. Supporting kaiako to connect and collaborate with one another doesn’t just benefit the attendee alone, but each one of the tamariki and whānau that they go on to support in their practice. The positive knock-on effect for tangata whaikaha whānau and communities, when their teachers are better equipped and supported to deliver more resources and activities, is one that makes the work we do at Tuia Waitākere important.  

For this first Specialist School Collective, the Healthy Active Learning (HAL) team at Tuia Waitākere collaborated with other HAL teams from Sport Auckland, Harbour Sport and CLM Community Sport to deliver a day that was jam packed with kōrero, brainstorming, sharing what works and what doesn’t, and thanks to the session by external provider Fit Hop, a few awesome dance moves!   

The day started with sharing of practice from two schools, something that will continue in future sessions, where schools presented a case study of a project, event or kaupapa they hosted/delivered in their school, including key learnings from the process. In this session, the case studies shared were the Sommerville Primary School’s Inclusive Athletics Day, and Rosehill School’s Whānau Information Fun Evening (WIFE). 

Each school discussed their event, including what prompted it, the community need it addressed, the challenges they faced, the successes, and what they learned. Monique Istead , Health and PE Curriculum Lead from Sommerville Primary School shared how tamariki at their school had enjoyed attending a mainstream school Athletics Day, however, it was not accessible for all levels of need. This led to the idea of creating their own inclusive and accessible Athletics Day. Monique explained how funding from Tū Manawa enabled safe transportation of all 400 students to the Due Drop Event Centre and the purchase of necessary equipment, which is still frequently used by tamariki at their school. The funders and supporters such as The Kindness Collective, Tegal, Disability Sport Auckland, Halberg and Sport Auckland, who made the day a success, were also shared, followed by an open kōrero where kaiako could ask questions and receive answers in real time.  

Rachael Batters, a Healthy Active Learning Advisor for Tuia Waitākere put in a lot of effort to get this kaupapa off the ground and reflected on the importance of connecting teachers together.  

“I’m really excited, and what I’ve seen today is a whole lot of ideas being shared, a lot of notes being taken, and then having the chance of not feeling alone, that they’ve actually got a community and they can come together.” 

These conversations were super valuable to be shared, as it gave teachers from different schools the inspiration to potentially host a similar event in their own school.  It also provided kaiako the confidence that they too could be successful in implementing this practice as they were hearing, firsthand, from someone who had already done it, someone who had also worked with the similar challenges that arise for students with disabilities.  

The day wasn’t just about teacher collaboration, however, as each session aims to introduce schools and teachers to an external provider who they may want to connect with to deliver a new form of movement into their curriculum. For this session, we were joined by Sonjia Peck from Fit Hop Dance NZ, who was showcasing “Dance with Diversity” an inclusive dance and movement programme which focuses on working with tamariki in the specialist schools space.  Sonjia shared the kaupapa and examples of how she’s delivered her programme in different schools.  Teachers were then led through an example session, which meant getting up and having a bit of a boogie themselves.  

For us at Tuia Waitākere, we’re excited for this mahi to continue and to see the connections and bonds continue to grow over the next year as more sessions are provided.