Enrolments Information

ENROLMENTS POLICY

The purpose of Halswell Residential College is to provide special education within a residential setting for male students who need significant curriculum adaptation due to an underlying intellectual impairment and whose educational, social and emotional needs, including behaviour, cannot be met in their current environment. Students will be in year levels 7-10 on enrolment.

Placement at Halswell Residential College is a short to medium term intervention designed to stabilise learning and behaviour and is considered the most appropriate way to:

1. increase learning achievement by providing a significantly modified/adapted curriculum programme to enable optimum learning to occur;
2. significantly enhance the student’s personal and social skills and improve each student’s ability to manage his/her behaviour appropriately in a variety of individual and social situations; and
3.  enable the student to be reintegrated into an age appropriate education environment and their home community.

CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING THE ENROLMENT OF STUDENTS

Students, residing anywhere in New Zealand, may be enrolled at Halswell College if:

1. they are male, and in years 7 – 10 of schooling at the time of enrolment, and
2. they have an underlying intellectual impairment, and
3. there is a record of the provision of intervention and support within the student’s local community that has not been able to achieve change for the student, and
4. they have identified educational, social and emotional learning needs unable to be met locally, and
5. they require significant adaptation of almost all curriculum content in comparison with their age group, and
6. in the opinion of the enrolments committee,  their enrolment is unlikely to be detrimental to the safety of others. For example, on the judgement of the enrolments committee, they will not:

•  be exhibiting behaviours that may place other students at risk, inclusive of but not limited to overt violence
• have a history of sexualised behaviours compromising the safety of others
• currently, or recently been in specialised, severe behavioural programmes
• be under treatment for, or have been unresponsive to the treatment of any psychiatric illness, including suicidal ideation, or
• be under, or have been unresponsive to treatment for substance abuse.

Application for Enrolment can only be made by either a Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour or a staff member from Ministry of Education, Special Education (ORRS Fundholders may make applications for ORRS funded students).

Each application is considered by the Enrolments Committee who will ensure the application meets the criteria above and then prioritise the applications based on need and the current mix of population at the college.

The Enrolments Committee consists of the Principal, a Parent Representative, an RTLB, a Service Manager from the Ministry of Education and 2 senior managers from the college.

The school, with agreement of the Enrolments Committee, may note at the time of enrolment that concerns identified in Section (6) are present and that a Section Nine Enrolment Review, involving the Enrolments Committee, should be scheduled to occur within a term of enrolment to confirm that enrolment is not detrimental to the safety of others.

A student is initially enrolled at the college for 12 months. Prior to this time a review will determine if;