On the 8th of May we had a van Asch Deaf Education School Hui. It was wonderful to come together as a school and celebrate the success of our students. The Hillmorton students led the hui and it was great they stepped into this leadership role. Each van Asch provision shared what they have been doing recently. Wharenui had the police, St John’s and a fire engine visit, they learnt in an emergency call 111. Some students from Hillmorton and Hagley went on a national Deaf youth camp, they had a great time and did lots of activities. Cha’nel shared that she is moving to Wellington to study at Victoria university. Fiona had been reading everyone's IEP goals and was so proud they were individual and appropriate for each student's needs, she wished everyone good luck in achieving them! Five students were given certificates (pictured below) for how they have demonstrated respect.

We looked at what respect means, as this is our value for term 2. Respecting people, respecting different cultures and respecting the environment. We acknowledge our bicultural learning environment and it was awesome to have the students using the language that they are most comfortable using (either spoken English, or NZSL or supported NZSL) and to have Nicola interpreting made the hui accessible to us all. We acknowledged the importance of other people in our learning environment as we have been learning about the roles and responsibilities of students and staff at van Asch.

We welcomed staff visiting from Kelston and it was brilliant to be introduced to them and see who they are. We also had Rebekah visit with her son Alfie. Thank you to all who came and were involved in the hui - it was delightful to be together as a whole school.