SPECIALIST LEARNING CENTRE

The Specialist Learning Centre (Tomairangi Atawhai) caters for students with ORS funding who have diverse learning, physical and personal needs, in a safe, specialised learning environment.

We are lucky enough to have close relationships with physiotherapists and occupational therapists which visit our centre regularly to work with our students and to support us in planning our programmes. Tarawera High School also has a nurse on site that our students can access if needed.

Each individual student follows a programme that meets their learning and physical needs within a specialised classroom space. Students also have the opportunity to access appropriate main school programmes, generally with teacher-aide support and we also provide a life skills programme for senior students. We regularly attend Special Olympics and other social events for Students with the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

Community involvement is an important part of our programme. Our students attend RDA (Riding for the Disabled) in Whakatane, and visit both the Kawerau pools and Kawerau Library on a weekly basis. We have close contacts with agencies such as Disability Resource Centre and CCS with whom we work collaboratively to provide programmes for our students to transition to when school finishes for them.