As the vagabond family this journey of traveling New Zealand in our bus to raise awareness for PWS is slowly coming to an end, and with this we will settle back into our community of friends, work and SCHOOL – As most of you know that children like Isla living with PWS need EXTRA SUPPORT to allow them to attend a normal school and thrive as any other child. – with this we’d like to share our first challenges of re enrolling Isla back into the school system.
We were informed by the Ministry of Education here in New Zealand that Isla WILL NOT be RECIVING the FUNDING for teacher aid hours she’ll be needing for full time schooling. At first they propose only 14 hours a week so when you take approximately 7 hours of that per week for lunch and toilet breaks that leaves Isla with just 7 hours per week of aided education.
This will deny Isla the equal chances to develop and thrive while being safe at school. This was such a disappointment as Isla’s been very much looking forward to returning back to school, but without her fulltime teacher aid she would be UNSAFE. Now the Ministry of Education quote about SAFTEY and INCLUSION which is wonderful, but The Ministry of Education have stated that we should work towards making Isla more independent of help (an unattainable goal). This is a wonderful theory and we very much wish it was possible, but sadly the PWS community, teachers, and other careers know the REALITY – that this is not in anyway possible as a child or as an adult as Isla will always need support and protecting.
We’d love to hear from anyone who has cared for someone with PWS – weather your a parent or a teacher in similar situation highlighting the ABSOLUTE NECESSITY for a teacher aid.
