* The headline in this story has been corrected to clarify a services hub has opened, not a school.
From left, Ko Taku Reo Deaf Education NZ team lead Sue Leith, Nelson Bays RTLB practice leader Dan Haynes, BLENNZ Nelson Visual Resource Centre manager John Hewlett, Nelson Bays RTLB cluster lead principal Pip Wells and Nelson Bays RTLB practice leader Fiona Young. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
Three specialist education support services in the top of the South Island have a new home in Nelson.
The hub is located at Salisbury School in Richmond - the country's only residential school for girls with intellectual disabilities - on land owned by Rangitāne o Wairau, and was blessed at a dawn ceremony on Monday.
It includes classrooms, meeting spaces and offices with the specialist needs of students considered in the design.
Instead of a school bell - long strip lights in the corner of each classroom flash green to signal the bell, or glow red when there is a fire alarm.
Bright green carpet down the building's hallway helps with wayfinding for those with low vision.
It is made up of repurposed classrooms from Waimea College, with the development funded by the Ministry of Education.
The new facility houses Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB), Ko Taku Reo Deaf Education New Zealand, and BLENNZ, the Blind and Low Vision Education Network New Zealand. The three organisations provide support and services for schools, students, and whānau across Nelson and Tasman.
The move was more than a decade in the making and it marks the first time the organisations have been able to work together from a purpose-built facility.
Nelson Bays Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) cluster staff in the new facility at Salisbury School. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
Nelson Bays RTLB cluster lead principal Pip Wells said the service worked with children, their whānau and teachers across Nelson and Tasman to get the best outcomes for those struggling at school.
"Whether that's in regard to learning or whether behaviour is a barrier to accessing learning, they come as experts in a whole range of fields to support the kaiako (teachers) to make the most difference to kids."
Wells said 23 staff would be housed in the new whare - the first time they had had a permanent home in the region after 12 years of work led by cluster manager Lyn Evans. The space would also be used for workshops and to meet with whānau.
"It's an opportunity for them to have really rich collaboration within the team and an opportunity to work with BLENNZ and Ko Taku Reo to actually make a difference for children sitting in classrooms with a range of needs."
"It's really exciting for schools to know there is this resource here locally, that it is well supported by Rangitāne, the iwi that hold kaitiaki over the land and it is being well supported by Salisbury School under whose site it now sits."
Blind and Low Vision Education Network New Zealand (BLENNZ) Nelson Visual Resource Centre staff in the new facility. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
BLENNZ Nelson Visual Resource Centre manager John Hewlett said the service had been operating out of older buildings on the Salisbury site, but having a purpose-built building was a game changer.
"It's been designed for people with sensory deficit, whether it be vision or hearing or both, it is also fully wheelchair accessible because we do have a range of learners who have multiple issues or disabilities."
Hewlett said the facility could be used as an example to show other schools what accessibility could look like.
"Historically we have been placed in schools but we've not been part of the school ... we feel very much like this is ours, this is our special space."
Ko Taku Reo Deaf Education NZ staff with team lead Sue Leith, centre in the new specialist learning support hub. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
Ko Taku Reo Deaf Education NZ team lead Sue Leith said the organisation supported deaf and hard of hearing learners in mainstream schools throughout the country, with some of its staff based in the new building.
She said collaboration between services on the same site would enhance outcomes for students.
Salisbury School principal Ellie Salčin-Watts said the school was a proud landlord, and she was pleased to see the former front field being used for education services for local schools and Salisbury students, too.
Rāngitane o Wairau will gift a name to the new building to symbolise the school's deep-rooted connection with the community and its heritage.
