Upland is a Learning Support Unit for students who have been verified on the Ongoing  Resource Scheme as high or very high needs. Hillmorton High School has a zone currently but is moving towards have two zones in 2020 for Year 7&8 and Year 9 to 13.

The curriculum is based on individual education plans (I.E.Ps) with a focus on the Key Competencies from the New Zealand Curriculum. The IEPs are developed in consultation with family, caregivers, teacher, therapists and allied professionals as appropriate.  Students IEPs are reviewed every six months.  The first IEP meetings are completed in March and the second round are reviewed in September with an opportunity for all teams to meet to discuss the progress.  There is a strong focus on Life Skills education. Zones of Regulation and emotions management.

IEP goals are continuously evaluated and reviewed formally in Week 4 and Week 8 of each term and goals are modified as required. Assessment of the IEP goals is agreed on by the IEP teams as appropriate for each student’s goals.  Assessments are ecologically based and use a range of assessment tools depending on the students learning needs. 

Upland staff report to parents on students in Term 2 and Term 4 to ensure families have feedback on the whole curriculum not just the 3 IEP goals. Reports focus on Curriculum goals, Subject Objectives and also report on IEP progress. Therapists work collaboratively with the teachers on the reports.

Some Upland students are included in the mainstream to meet their learning needs and their socialisation goals. Students often go in small groups to classes so that they can have specialist support in the mainstream and can participate in subjects of interest. 

Generally Year 7 to 10 students have the opportunity to access all mainstream classes but more often are included in option classes.  As students move into the senior part of the school, some students enrol in option subjects because they are more practically based.  

For Upland transition students their curriculum focuses more on life skills and the start of skill development for Supported Employment.  Students from 18 to 21 years have regular supported work experience.  Our adult students move into our Transition Classes and continue their supported work placements and increase their community-based experiences.

Upland  has a trans-disciplined approach with students accessing the skills of special education teachers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapist, visual resource teachers and teacher assistants.  The team specialises in developing individualised communication systems, functional and therapeutic physical goals with 30 minutes to an hours exercise every day for each student.

Skills associated with leisure activities are taught as an integral part of the curriculum for Upland students.  This includes swimming, dance, sensory motor, Yoga and Jump Jam. Special Olympics and Wednesday sport programmes are offered to all students.

The Upland scheme consists of student’s timetables, subject objectives, current I.E.P’s, current Risk Management documents and current identified needs assessments all of the scheme is saved on Google Drive. However, some students work on achieving NCEA credits and NZQA unit standards in the mainstream and in Upland. 

Hillmorton High School has an enrolment policy. There is space for 35 students to be enrolled in Upland Unit.

Places will be allocated to students in the following order:

• Those who live within the home zone, or are already enrolled at the school
• Those who live within the geographic catchment of Waitaha Special School
• Those who have previously attended a special school or specialised programme
• All other applicants

Where there are more applicants than spaces, the ballot will be used to establish a waiting list for vacancies that may arise during the year.

Applicants who live out-of-zone and do not secure a place in the special programme will enter the process for places at the school on the same basis as other out-of-zone students (unless the parents advise they do not wish to apply for places outside of the special programme).

Out of Zone Enrolments

Each year the Board of Trustees will determine the number of places which are likely to be available in the following year of the enrolment of students who live outside the home zone. The Board will publish this information by notice in a daily or community newspaper circulating in the area served by the school. The notice will indicate how applications are to be made will specify a date by which all applications must be received.

Applications for enrolments will be processed in the following order of priority:

• First priority must be given to students who have been accepted for enrolment in the Specialist Programme (Upland Specialist Programme) run by the school and approved by the Secretary for Education.

Parents wanting to visit Upland to consider applying to enrol a student can make an appointment with the HOD by phone 027 2201224.