Kia Ora koutou

Term three was a busy term! We hope you have been able to keep up with all the activities our students and staff have been involved in. Our new Facebook page is a great addition and it allows us to see the learning and the fun our students are involved in. We thank our staff for their passion and commitment. They certainly deserved their October break! We know they will return energised and ready to do it all again in term four.

Both Principals of KDEC and van Asch enjoyed what we learned when we recently met with Deaf Educational leaders from Australia and Canada. We visited the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children in Sydney. It was useful to compare the New Zealand experience with what is happening internationally. We learned much from this experience and we found that we had much to offer too.

Over the past few years, we have been doing work to establish a student management system. We want to use this information, so we are better able to meet the individual needs of our students. This allows us to be a more modern, responsive service. Our colleagues from Australia are just starting this work and they are interested in our experience.

You will be aware of the enormous changes happening in Deaf Education at present. Our aim is to provide one nationwide, equitable service for DHH learners. Exciting times! This situation is evolving rapidly. We are fortunate to have an extremely hardworking Board, and the support of external experts as well as the Ministry of Education to get this work done. While change can be unsettling for some staff, you can be assured that our priority during this time of change is centered on the learning and progress of our current students. We will be spending term four ensuring that our students finish the year well. We want them to be well prepared for whatever educational challenges they will meet in 2020.

Finally, it is our pleasure to welcome our new Executive Principal, James Le Marquand to Deaf Education. We respect his experience in Special Education and Leadership. We recently spent time working with James and look forward to working further with him when he takes up his post officially in November. We are confident he will enjoy getting to know students, whanau and staff and will bring new energy and ideas to Deaf Education.

Kind Regards Louise & Bernie

Louise Roe Principal Kelston DEC

Bernie Mulcahy-Bouwman  Principal van Asch DEC