Kia Ora Koutou,

What a big year this has been for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students receiving services from Resource Teachers of the Deaf and NZSL tutors in Outreach school. We have been able to progress implementation of our iterative service framework to maximise learning opportunities for many students. We have welcomed eight new team leaders across New Zealand and the formation of a new team located on the East Coast of the North Island. Each of the 22 localised Outreach teams across New Zealand is committed to working with you and your child to maximise their access to learning, making progress with learning, and being an active participant in their school. Our values of belong, grow, choose and excel are at the forefront of our work in collaborating with local schools in supporting the mahi for your child’s educational outcomes and inclusion.

Our suite of services now includes more robust planning for KIT Days, formation of a Beacon school in Dunedin, development and redefining of programmes for students within NZSL Day School Hubs in Waikato, Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Christchurch, and Invercargill, and Language Days in Northland. Ensuring that we have more robust practices around children who are on indirect services and their access to learning in their local schools is a priority and I encourage you to talk with your local RTD with regards to how this looks and feels for your child. We encourage you to access Deaf role models and additional activities with local parent support groups that help to integrate NZSL and mixed mode communication within your local community and beyond.

Key areas of focus this year have included ensuring children who transition to school (primary, intermediate, and secondary) or transition to a school in a new area have priority for the term that this significant event is occurring. Investing time, resources, and personnel into your child undertaking school transitions and engaging the school team is of critical importance to us and we do our best to allocate our resources accordingly to support your child, the team around your child, and the wider school. We look for opportunities for your child to develop varying levels of independence at school particularly with the management of devices, classroom routines, playtime activities and celebrate the acquisition of self-determination and self-advocacy over time.

Direct service means that your child is on a regular timetabled service for the term. We encourage you to share your aspirations for your children and encourage your children to articulate their own needs and wants in determining how we can best support them to achieve. Having a friend to play with, learning a lunchtime game, joining a team, mastering homework routines, managing hearing aids, and other assistive devices, regular exposure to prereading skills, high access to language and communication, belonging to a reading group, counting to 10, being in the school Kapa haka group, choosing suitable subjects for Yr 11 – these all make a difference for your children in their day to day learning and social-emotional growth. Please share with your local RTD what matters most to you for your child.

I wish to thank whanau and teachers who have gone the extra mile to ensure that their children have continued with meaningful learning over the challenging covid lockdowns many of us have endured this year. I recognise the added stress for many parents in trying to connect with RTDs over this time. It has been an important part of our role this year in supporting you and your child and to look for ways to support learning at home during the later part of the year particularly in Northern areas of New Zealand. On behalf of the Outreach School team and the Outreach Leadership team of Lynne Couling-Brown, Adrienne Chapman, John-Paul Oliver, CJ Lavender-Amyes, Alice Woodcock, Steph Jones, and Mark Bolger I wish you all the best for the holiday season and look forward to a more predictable 2022!

Nga mihi nui,

Lynne Guy
Head of Outreach School