I am pretty much astounded in an ongoing way that an MP like Chloe Swarbrick can say what she likes to media and is rarely, if ever, questioned on her assertions. This statement she made to the NZ Herald when announcing her leadership bid is pretty much answered below in an open letter I published
Our State schooling system, with some exceptions where there is a strong and academically focused leader, is in deep trouble. Indicators are: Less than 50% of students fully attending. Clear indicators of poor outcomes for Numeracy and Literacy. This includes a situation where the introduction of NCEA co-credits in 2024 may see the Level 1
File photo.
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Jo Martin s eight-year-old son has ADHD and autism, which results in him having noise sensitivity and trouble concentrating in a class of 30 children.
However, when his school applied for funding for one-on-one learning, the application was turned down. Generally to get funding you have to be quite extreme on the spectrum and so it is quite hard to actually get funding from the Ministry, even though they claim all the supports that are needed are already in the schools, she said.
Martin told the school she will pay for a teacher aide eight hours a week, totalling more than $10,000 a year.
The call from the school came the day after Martin emailed Chris Hipkins to dispute his assertion that “there are available supports for all learners in existing state schools”. Martin had been hoping her son would be able to go to the school, but it now faces closure because it will not be brought into the state sector. She sent Hipkins a “tongue-in-cheek” email saying if the state sector would be providing the required supports for children with extra learning needs, she looked forward to the ministry paying the $2700 invoice for her son’s term two teacher aide fees.
MONIQUE FORD/Stuff