Welcome to Halswell Residential College

A service for students with Complex Intellectual Needs (an intellectual deficit combined with problematic social, emotional and/or behavioural needs) which includes a wrap around service which provides:

1. A skilled and dedicated intervention service for students with Complex Intellectual Needs who have exhausted the resources of Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB), and Special Education staff (or do not qualify for Special Education involvement),
2. Locally based interventions in a student’s home area,
3. A national gateway into the service which ensures the students with the highest level of need are receiving the benefits of the service,
4. A continuum of intervention based on the principle of ‘least intrusive intervention’,
5. A wrap around service based on the above principles, which provides support to families, schools, communities and individuals to ensure these students are engaged in high quality education,
6. A smaller residential component which will comprise of short term stays for students who require 24/7 intervention to stabilise learning and behaviour.

It is envisaged that the majority of students being assisted by LABS will not subsequently be enrolled in a Residential School, although this option still exists for those with the highest level of need. Enrolment in Residential Education needs to be approved by the joint enrolment committee after an application is prepared by the LABS team.

Criteria for Determining the Eligibility  of Students for LABS

Students, residing anywhere in New Zealand, may be referred for support by the Learning And Behaviour Support service by completing the referral form if:

 (a)               they are male, and in years 7 – 13 of schooling at the time of application, and

• Data from formal assessments of the student's cognitive functioning. (WISC)
• Data on the student's adaptive functioning. The data on adaptive functioning can include both formal assessment data (i.e. the ABAS) as well as descriptive data relating to the impact of the student's cognitive impairment on his ability to cope with and adjust to the social, emotional, and behavioural demands of daily interactions with family, peers, educators and others.

(d)               Behavioural difficulties arising from cognitive impairment. indicators would include descriptive data indicating behavioural issues supported by objective data including frequency, intensity and duration of behavioural events.

(e)           Local resources have been appropriately accessed and utilised and it is clear that there are still unmet needs leading to the referral. Indicators will be the range of educational services that have been accessed or for which unsuccessful referrals have been made (i.e. School SENCO; Individual Education Plan and assistance provided from SEG funding; RTLB; MOE specialist services) and evidence of interventions used.

Students may be enrolled in Matatipu (the non-residential programme based at Hilmorton High School) a joint venture between LABS of Halswell College and Salisbury School if:

• they are male or female, and have been enrolled as a residential student at either Halswell Residential College or Salisbury School, and
• they have completed the programme provided at that school, and
• they are transitioning out of Halswell Residential College or Salisbury School and require support to do so.

Halswell Residential College will provide support using a multi-disciplinary approach with support focussing on 3 areas:

1. Family Support: Supporting families to ensure engagement in education through use of the Family Partnership Model and educating families using Triple P family training.
2. Learning Support: Supporting mainstream schools who have enrolled students who have attended HRC to ensure good educational outcomes through an Itinerant Teacher service, as well as developing programmes to support at-risk students throughout New Zealand.  Check and Connect is part of Learning Support, however has different referral criteria and is funded by the Ministry of Education as a two year pilot.
3. Community Support: Provision of a Liaison teacher service which supports future, current and past pupils in their home communities to facilitate positive educational outcomes.