The Government is building two new specialist schools for children with complex learning needs.  

The schools in Palmerston North and South Auckland will open in 2027 and 2028 respectively.  

Education Minister Erica Stanford says debate has raged on whether such children should be in mainstream or special schools.  

She told Kerre Woodham that there’s an argument that every single child should be mainstream no matter the degree of need, but it was never going to happen. 

Stanford says they’re the first government in a very long time to draw the line and say it’s about choice – if your children need highly specialised care, then that should be a choice that is available to you. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

The Government is building two new specialist schools for children with complex learning needs. &nbsp;
The schools in Palmerston North and South Auckland will open in 2027 and 2028 respectively. &nbsp;
Education Minister Erica Stanford says debate has raged on whether such children should be in mainstream or special schools. &nbsp;
She told Kerre Woodham that there’s an argument that every single child should be mainstream no matter the degree of need, but it was never going to happen.&nbsp;
Stanford says they’re the first government in a very long time to draw the line and say it’s about choice – if your children need highly specialised care, then that should be a choice that is available to you.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

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Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Erica Stanford: Education Minister on the opening of two new specialist schools

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/83bd8caa-3156-4c67-966d-b3e101770df4/transcript

I've always understood the theory behind mainstreaming. We're all different, we all have different abilities, different attitudes, and a classroom of individuals with diverse personalities and levels of learning prepares young people for the real world. You're not among your own kind once you leave school and enter the workplace, enter the community. Mainstreaming means that kids who are different physically, intellectually, socially, aren't siloed or separated or marginalised. They're part of the wider school community and if they need extra time or attention, well in an ideal classroom, the teacher gladly offers it and the other students make space, accepting that some people need more resources than others. 

That's the theory. In reality, for many families, mainstreaming is brutal for teachers, for students, both the normies and the diverse students, the families of the normies. It can work, but only if there are the resources and the goodwill to make it happen. In reality, overworked teachers simply do not have the time or indeed the training to be able to offer the sort of specialised education that children with diverse and complex needs need. 

Now the Government has announced funding for two new specialist schools, catering to children with high needs and disabilities. They are the first schools for such kids to be built in 50 years, which is how long the prevailing ideology of mainstreaming clearly has been going on. Education Minister Erica Stanford and Finance Minister Nicola Willis made the announcement yesterday at Queen Elizabeth College in Palmerston North. That college's campus will host one of the schools, which will open in Term 2 of 2027. The other will open next to Ngākōroa School in Drury in South Auckland in Term 1 of 2028. 

The announcement of the two special schools, together with the Autism New Zealand education hubs that opened in Term 3 of last year for neurodivergent secondary students struggling with traditional schooling, really will give some parents, some kids, some choices. The charter schools sponsored by Autism New Zealand are operating from campuses in Wellington and Auckland, 96 students to begin with, and utilises homeschooling, online learning and community-based learning as a way to transition students back into the classroom learning face-to-face. 

Autism NZ has accepted that there are many young people with autism for whom mainstreaming simply does not work. It doesn't work for them, it doesn't work for the other students, it doesn't work for the teachers. And so to get the best out of young people, they have created a curriculum that best suits them. It makes sense. Of course there are naysayers. Some education academics believe more money should be put into mainstream schools to cater for those with diverse needs rather than building special schools for them. 

But that won't work for every child. What do they say? If you've met one neurodiverse child... There are some children for whom mainstreaming absolutely works, but not every child is going to enjoy being a square peg trying to squeeze through a round hole. Some will, but surely the alternative education hubs that have opened and those that are being planned make sense for parents who recognise that their child's potential can only be realised with specialist teachers in a school that's built to accommodate complex needs. It's back to the future, and those who are not blinkered and blinded by ideology know that there are lessons to be learned from the past. 

I've always understood the theory behind mainstreaming. We're all different, we all have different abilities, different attitudes, and a classroom of individuals with diverse personalities and levels of learning prepares young people for the real world. You're not among your own kind once you leave school and enter the workplace, enter the community. Mainstreaming means that kids who are different physically, intellectually, socially, aren't siloed or separated or marginalised. They're part of the wider school community and if they need extra time or attention, well in an ideal classroom, the teacher gladly offers it and the other students make space, accepting that some people need more resources than others.&nbsp;
That's the theory. In reality, for many families, mainstreaming is brutal for teachers, for students, both the normies and the diverse students, the families of the normies. It can work, but only if there are the resources and the goodwill to make it happen. In reality, overworked teachers simply do not have the time or indeed the training to be able to offer the sort of specialised education that children with diverse and complex needs need.&nbsp;
Now the Government has announced funding for two new specialist schools, catering to children with high needs and disabilities. They are the first schools for such kids to be built in 50 years, which is how long the prevailing ideology of mainstreaming clearly has been going on. Education Minister Erica Stanford and Finance Minister Nicola Willis made the announcement yesterday at Queen Elizabeth College in Palmerston North. That college's campus will host one of the schools, which will open in Term 2 of 2027. The other will open next to Ngākōroa School in Drury in South Auckland in Term 1 of 2028.&nbsp;
The announcement of the two special schools, together with the Autism New Zealand education hubs that opened in Term 3 of last year for neurodivergent secondary students struggling with traditional schooling, really will give some parents, some kids, some choices. The charter schools sponsored by Autism New Zealand are operating from campuses in Wellington and Auckland, 96 students to begin with, and utilises homeschooling, online learning and community-based learning as a way to transition students back into the classroom learning face-to-face.&nbsp;
Autism NZ has accepted that there are many young people with autism for whom mainstreaming simply does not work. It doesn't work for them, it doesn't work for the other students, it doesn't work for the teachers. And so to get the best out of young people, they have created a curriculum that best suits them. It makes sense. Of course there are naysayers. Some education academics believe more money should be put into mainstream schools to cater for those with diverse needs rather than building special schools for them.&nbsp;
But that won't work for every child. What do they say? If you've met one neurodiverse child... There are some children for whom mainstreaming absolutely works, but not every child is going to enjoy being a square peg trying to squeeze through a round hole. Some will, but surely the alternative education hubs that have opened and those that are being planned make sense for parents who recognise that their child's potential can only be realised with specialist teachers in a school that's built to accommodate complex needs. It's back to the future, and those who are not blinkered and blinded by ideology know that there are lessons to be learned from the past.&nbsp;

Kerre Woodham: Back to the future with specialist schools for complex needs

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/54c6f0f3-eda7-44c9-b1b1-b3e10181458d/transcript

Concerns that banning the use of boats and jet skis by fire stations is a box ticking exercise. 

Fire and Emergency NZ banned the use of all powered watercrafts by local fire stations in May of 2025. 

The decision means that Waikato’s volunteer fire stations are unable to use their jet skis and boat during emergency situations on the Waikato River. 

Yesterday saw Fire and Emergency face tough questioning on the subject at the Governance and Administration Select Committee.  

Waikato MP Tim van de Molen told Kerre Woodham it’s a classic case of bureaucracy and red tape stifling practical, common-sense solutions.  

He says that every brigade needs to be able to operate to safe standards, but the brigades in question have undertaken significant effort to ensure they’re doing exactly that.  

LISTEN ABOVE 

Concerns that banning the use of boats and jet skis by fire stations is a box ticking exercise.&nbsp;
Fire and Emergency NZ banned the use of all powered watercrafts by local fire stations in May of 2025.&nbsp;
The decision means that Waikato’s volunteer fire stations are unable to use their jet skis and boat during emergency situations on the Waikato River.&nbsp;
Yesterday saw Fire and Emergency face tough questioning on the subject at the Governance and Administration Select Committee. &nbsp;
Waikato MP Tim van de Molen told Kerre Woodham it’s a classic case of bureaucracy and red tape stifling practical, common-sense solutions. &nbsp;
He says that every brigade needs to be able to operate to safe standards, but the brigades in question have undertaken significant effort to ensure they’re doing exactly that. &nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

Tim van de Molen: Waikato MP on Fire and Emergency NZ banning the use of powered watercrafts by local fire stations

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/3d92bdbe-e92b-4262-bbc1-b3e10000856a/transcript

I have said it before and I'll say it again. We can argue for hours, we can have online debates, we can write letters to the editor about whether extreme weather events are the result of anthropomorphic activity or whether we're just in the middle of a natural cycle that's occurred for millennia, but ultimately, what we think about climate change doesn't really matter. It's what banks and insurers and councils and the Government thinks that matters. And when they decide climate change is making some homes uninsurable, there's no arguing about it. Insurance companies just will not insure you, which means you won't be able to get a mortgage, which means you won't be able to buy a home in certain places unless you can buy it on your EFTPOS card, like Westport. 

There's a story on Radio New Zealand's website today. A major insurance company has temporarily stopped offering new home insurance policies in Westport because of the fact that the town floods and floods again. AA Insurance, which has approximately half a million New Zealand customers, wrote to Buller District Mayor Chris Russell at the end of 2023 to tell him AA would halt new business home and landlord insurance policies for properties in the 7825 postcode, which covers Westport, Carters Beach and Cape Foulwind. The company said existing policies would stay in place and it had put a transfer policy in place for anyone looking to buy or sell a home that was currently insured with AA. 

Tower Insurance is another one. People who own properties in locations where Tower deems the risk is too great are now being denied insurance cover outright. Beware signing up to a sale and purchase agreement before you can be sure you have insurance. A couple of legal firms are saying would-be buyers have found when they apply for a mortgage that they've signed up for a property on an insurer's red-lined list. Because they can't get insurance, they can't get the mortgage. But with no insurance condition in their sale and purchase agreement, they still have a contractual obligation to settle on the purchase. 

Back to Westport. The West Coast Regional Council Chief Executive said the first stages of the Resilient Westport project involved building 17 kilometres of stopbanks. Most of that work's in the planning and design stages, but two sections have been built already and that will be protecting around 30 houses that hadn't had that protection before. And in the next few months, they'll be progressing more of the flood bank, which will result in more houses being protected. And the council plans to show that to insurers who'll be visiting the town at the end of next month as different stages of the flood protection scheme are completed. 

So AA has said to Westport that if its flood exposure drops below the maximum exposure limit in the future, if they believe the flood banks will do the job of protecting the homes, then they'll reopen books to new customers. But they're not the first insurer to stop insuring where they deem the risk is too great, and they certainly won't be the last.  

So as I say, we can argue all we like about climate change and who's responsible and whether anyone should be held responsible at all. It really doesn't matter because policies are being drafted, policies are being enacted that take climate change into account. And whatever we believe, we will be denied insurance, paying the increased premiums, reshaping our towns and communities as a result of what the banks, the insurers and the council believe. 

I have said it before and I'll say it again. We can argue for hours, we can have online debates, we can write letters to the editor about whether extreme weather events are the result of anthropomorphic activity or whether we're just in the middle of a natural cycle that's occurred for millennia, but ultimately, what we think about climate change doesn't really matter. It's what banks and insurers and councils and the Government thinks that matters. And when they decide climate change is making some homes uninsurable, there's no arguing about it. Insurance companies just will not insure you, which means you won't be able to get a mortgage, which means you won't be able to buy a home in certain places unless you can buy it on your EFTPOS card, like Westport.&nbsp;
There's a story on Radio New Zealand's website today. A major insurance company has temporarily stopped offering new home insurance policies in Westport because of the fact that the town floods and floods again. AA Insurance, which has approximately half a million New Zealand customers, wrote to Buller District Mayor Chris Russell at the end of 2023 to tell him AA would halt new business home and landlord insurance policies for properties in the 7825 postcode, which covers Westport, Carters Beach and Cape Foulwind. The company said existing policies would stay in place and it had put a transfer policy in place for anyone looking to buy or sell a home that was currently insured with AA.&nbsp;
Tower Insurance is another one. People who own properties in locations where Tower deems the risk is too great are now being denied insurance cover outright. Beware signing up to a sale and purchase agreement before you can be sure you have insurance. A couple of legal firms are saying would-be buyers have found when they apply for a mortgage that they've signed up for a property on an insurer's red-lined list. Because they can't get insurance, they can't get the mortgage. But with no insurance condition in their sale and purchase agreement, they still have a contractual obligation to settle on the purchase.&nbsp;
Back to Westport. The West Coast Regional Council Chief Executive said the first stages of the Resilient Westport project involved building 17 kilometres of stopbanks. Most of that work's in the planning and design stages, but two sections have been built already and that will be protecting around 30 houses that hadn't had that protection before. And in the next few months, they'll be progressing more of the flood bank, which will result in more houses being protected. And the council plans to show that to insurers who'll be visiting the town at the end of next month as different stages of the flood protection scheme are completed.&nbsp;
So AA has said to Westport that if its flood exposure drops below the maximum exposure limit in the future, if they believe the flood banks will do the job of protecting the homes, then they'll reopen books to new customers. But they're not the first insurer to stop insuring where they deem the risk is too great, and they certainly won't be the last. &nbsp;
So as I say, we can argue all we like about climate change and who's responsible and whether anyone should be held responsible at all. It really doesn't matter because policies are being drafted, policies are being enacted that take climate change into account. And whatever we believe, we will be denied insurance, paying the increased premiums, reshaping our towns and communities as a result of what the banks, the insurers and the council believe.&nbsp;

Kerre Woodham: It's not our opinions on climate change that matter

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/757a83a8-831a-4032-b00f-b3e0018635a6/transcript

Erica Stanford: Education Minister on the opening of two new specialist schools

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