Unlocking the key to learning

At the heart of Kenakena School’s dyslexia programme is a sense of inclusion, and celebration of difference.

Taking action

Children with dyslexia often find the daily-life of school disorientating and overwhelming. Many will face greater hurdles, causing some to fall behind in their studies.

When the staff at Kenakena School saw this happening in their classrooms, the school’s leadership decided to take action to change it. In 2009, they launched a pilot programme which now, 11 years later, is going from strength to strength.

“The results from the programme are astonishing,” says Principal Bruce McDonald.

“We have an average increase of 2.4 years in reading age in just over a year. After the pilot programme and every year since, the board asks the same question: ‘How can we not do this?”

Promoting Visual Learning

Led by an experienced full-time facilitator, Janet Pirie-Hunter, they deliver programmes founded on the Davis approach, whose founder Ronald D. Davis rejected the concept of dyslexia being a life-long neurological disorder, but instead viewed it as an alternative way of thinking and learning. With the support of teacher aides, the Kenakena team deliver a programme which promotes visual learning - capturing the whole picture rather than working through a process in sequential steps.

One of those teacher aides is recent art history graduate, Bria Bevan, who joined the team after completing her studies at Victoria University, and now supports the programme full-time. Her salary has been supported by the wonderful support of a Nikau Foundation donor.

Motivated by the transformational difference the programme is having on the children’s lives, she hopes to stay permanently and ultimately train as a Davis Dyslexia facilitator.

The small team support a wide range of children, from those embarking on reading and writing to young people preparing for their next steps at college. Their passion for what they do is contagious. As is the children’s smiles as they see their their achievments first-hand.

Where everyone belongs, and difference is celebrated.

Nurturing a place where everyone belongs, and difference is celebrated, the children love being in the programme and find the unit a place to learn, and unwind from the often overwhelming school day.

“We get children who don’t have dyslexia reguarly asking if they can come to the unit too!” says Bria.

And the demand for this fantastic programme doesn’t stop there. Students come from other schools and teachers come from across the country to learn about the programme. One family sold their house in Wellington to move to the Kāpiti Coast so their child could participate in the programme. After their son had been in the programme for 18 months and was doing really well, they wrote to Bruce, saying, “The healing of our son’s self-worth has been the most important thing to us as a family.”

If you would like to know more about how you can help more children unlock their potential at Kenakena School, please get in touch with us today.