News & Events

Tena Koutou

Nicki Morrison, Dr Denise Powell, and Sarah De Heer would like to exten a huge thank you to those 45-50 members of the Wellington Deaf Community who attended the strategic plan consultation session on Friday night. We acknowledge the strong sense of community and mix of the Deaf community, parents of d/Deaf children, Turi Māori and other people more widely connected to the Deaf community and supporting DHH tamariki. We received a warm welcome, which was greatly appreciated.

With our key engagement principles of whakawhanaungatanga, allyship, community, transparency and learning, it was heartening to see that the connections have been strengthened through this face-to-face hui. We are committed to continuing to build on these connections. In the spirit of learning, we used this opportunity to listen to all suggestions. Some of the key themes that came out were (this is not the whole list)

• Community engagement is to be embedded in all our work, with regular events

• Parents and those working in Deaf Education need to be listened to

• Create a parent-to-parent network linked to the Deaf Community

• Sign language school to be created, regardless of ORS status

• Fluent NZSL teachers in front of Deaf children

• Promotion of Enrolled School provisions to increase number of students

• More Deaf leaders and Māori leaders, and pathways for Deaf teachers

• Return of a Parent-led Board of Trustees

• Clear identification of who to go to for answers or help from parents

• ORS funding system is not equitable

Things that can be shared from Ko Taku Reo:

1. Board of Trustees elections were held in July 2022. Only two parents were nominated to be on the board. After an NZSTA advisor spoke with these two parents and explained that one of them would need to be Board Chair, both parents withdrew their nominations. This meant there were no nominations for the Board. When schools are unable to form a board in the set election cycle, the Ministry of Education directs schools to be governed by a commissioner. More information about boards of trustees can be found on this link.

1. The Ministry of Education employs Advisors of Deaf Children (AoDC). They operate under their own framework and work separately from Ko Taku Reo Deaf Education NZ. They are the only registered Early Intervention Provider for Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children in Aotearoa. Ko Taku Reo offers Early Education services for children from the age of 3 who are referred by AoDC. A summary of the information available on the Ministry website can be found here.

1. The Ministry of Education set the criteria for ORS funding (Ongoing Resourcing Scheme). This system is set up to be able to channel support to those students with the highest need. There is a criterion for DHH based on hearing level (Criteria 2) and it is a deficit model. Ko Taku Reo has advocated with the Ministry of Education in this area for many years. A review of ORs process was undertaken by the Ministry of Education in 2022. This was not taken further at the time. ORs generates funding for Ko Taku Reo, which helps us run 13 provisions in the Enrolled School. Without this funding, we would not be able to operate these provisions in the current funding model.

We look forward to connecting again this year, gathering feedback from all areas of Aotearoa through online surveys, student and staff voice, and exploring how this informs the next version of our strategic plan for 2026–2028.

Nga mihi nui,

Nicki, Denise and Sarah