Learning Support

About

Pareawa Banks Avenue School is passionate about providing an inclusive environment for all of our learners. We offer a variety of support structures and pastoral care for our learners, for example, programmes such as the Perceptual Motor Programme, oral language groups, support in literacy and maths along with other specific programmes such as, Reading Recovery.  On occasions, Individual Education Plans (IEP's) are developed to target specific learning goals for children with specific learning needs. See below for the types of support  we have to offer.

The wellbeing of our students we believe is crucial to learning. We have three staff who share the SENCO (Special Education Needs Co-ordinator) role. Tricia Carroll (Muringa DP - Junior Module), Jan Thompson (Acting Pāhake DP - Senior Module) and David Erece (Learning Support Coordinator). These are the people you may need to get in touch with about the wellbeing of your child.

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English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)

Cultural diversity is important to us. We have a range of students who come from a variety of cultural backgrounds, some of whom require extra support when learning English. We employ an ESOL learning assistant to assist with meeting their language needs - Chantal Palmer. We use the Ministry of Educations: English Language Learning Progressions framework to inform our practice. 
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Mana Ake

Mana Ake is a government initiative to support schools with children who have difficulty managing their wellbeing. Please see the pamphlet for more details or click here to access their website. At Pareawa Banks Avenue we run group programmes - I Am Valued and The Friendship Group. There is also the opportunity for 1:1 support. If you want to talk about a Mana Ake referral - please contact David Erece to discuss your needs.​ Call by the office if you wish to talk to David in person.

School Counsellors

We have two counsellors which are funded by the City Church - Kathy Davison and Alice Stevens. We are grateful for their generosity in supporting our children. There are limited spaces for this service. If you wish to discuss counselling at school for your child please contact Tricia Carroll to discuss your needs.​ Call by the office if you wish to talk to Tricia in person.
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BAMP: Banks Avenue Mentoring Programme

We also run  BAMP, a Pareawa Banks Avenue mentoring programme where parent volunteers are buddied one-to-one with a student for an hour a week. Activities include cooking and baking, sports, reading, talking, games... If you are interested in volunteering, please email Belinda Walsh.
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School Chaplain

Our school chaplain, Bob Jaeger, mentors students on a weekly basis. If you think your child could benefit from this, please contact Tricia Carroll to discuss your needs.​ Call by the office if you wish to talk to Tricia in person.
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Outside Agencies

In certain circumstances, it is important to request the support and expertise of the Ministry of Education and/or outside agencies when specific needs arise. We endeavour to access support agencies to work with us, in order to meet the learning, behaviour and wellbeing needs of our students.
For example:
  • Public Health Nurse - currently Caroline Ellis works with our children.
  • Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) - we work with specialists from the Te Paeroa Cluster 34 - currently Lynne Snellex works with our children.
  • Resource Teachers of Literacy (RTLit) - currently Maree Hunter works with our children.
  • School Chaplain - currently Bob Jaeger provides a chaplaincy service weekly.
  • STAND Children's Services - different specialists and teachers for each child, e.g., play therapy, respite care, residential school, counselling...
  • Cholmondeley Children's Centre - different residential works and teachers for each child - respite care.
  • Ko Taku Reo - Deaf Education New Zealand - Deaf Advisors and Resource Teachers of The Deaf (RTD's).
  • CAFLink - Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health  - Canterbury DHB.​
  • Special Education Advisors from Ministry, for example, Speech Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Education Psychologists.
  • Oranga Tamariki - Family support.
  • Te Ora Hou Ōtautahi - Student Attendance - Caroline Bakker is our liaison.
  • Whānau Ora - various family support agencies accessed through Whānau Ora support.
Support accessed independently by whānau at our school includes:
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  • Anstice & Asssociates Optometrists - Eyesight - assessments using the Schoolvision process.
  • Socially Speaking - Socially speaks helps children with social, sensory and communication difficulties to better understand themselves, and to meet the challenges of the world around them.