Starting school, or changing schools, when your child has extra support needs
A plain guide for New Zealand parents to the months before a new school: who to talk to, what to ask about, what may follow your child and what usually has to be arranged again.
A new school is a big change for any child. For a child with extra support needs it is also a change of every adult who knows them, all at once, usually over a summer break when the school is closed.
In our experience, much of what makes it go well happens before the first day, and a lot of it is simply talking to the right people early. This is the list we wish someone had given us. Schools differ a great deal in what they have and how they work, and so do children, so treat it as questions to ask rather than things to expect. The letters are explained as they come up, and the glossary has the rest.
Start earlier than feels necessary
For us, about two terms before the move felt right. That gave the new school time to meet our child, gave time for any applications, and let the current school write a handover while the people who knew our child were still there. If you are reading this in January for a February start, don’t panic; just pick the parts you can still do.
Find out who looks after learning support at the new school
Most schools have someone whose role includes children with extra needs, though how much time they have for it varies a lot. Depending on the school they may be called the SENCO (Special Education Needs Coordinator), the Learning Support Coordinator (LSC), or something else again, and in a small school it may be the principal or a classroom teacher. The Ministry of Education is rolling out in-school learning support coordinators to state and state-integrated schools with Years 1 to 8 between 2026 and 2028, so what is in place at a primary school may be changing. Ask the office who it is and ask to meet them, not just the principal or the enrolment person.
When you meet them, bring your one-page profile and the most recent report or IEP (the Individual Education Plan, if your child has one). Ask what a normal week could look like for your child there, and listen for specifics. A good answer names people and places. A vague one is a reason to ask a few more questions, gently.
Ask what may follow your child, and what has to be arranged again
A small number of things are attached to the child rather than the school. If your child has been verified for ORS (the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme, for children with the highest ongoing needs), the Ministry says it stays with them when they change schools. The Ministry also says In-Class Support funding (a contribution towards teacher aide time for some children with high needs who are not in ORS) stays with the student if they change schools. Even then, how that support is used at the new school is worked out again with the new team.
Much of the rest is arranged by or through the school and usually has to be picked up again: teacher aide time the school funds itself, RTLB involvement (the specialist teachers who work across a cluster of schools), specialist input such as speech-language therapy or psychology, and changes to the classroom or buildings. Ask both schools plainly: what might come with them, and what needs to be asked for again? Then ask who is doing the asking and by when. And be ready for the answer to be “we will apply, but we can’t promise”; applications take time and not all are approved.
Funding rules change from time to time and differ between primary, intermediate and secondary. Don’t rely on what you remember from last time, or on what worked for another family; ask the learning support person at the new school what applies now.
If your child is starting school from early learning
If your child has support from the Ministry of Education’s Early Intervention Service, ask the early intervention team early what will happen at the move to school. From 2026 the Ministry has been extending the service so it can continue through Year 1 of school for some children, rather than stopping on the first day. What that looks like depends on your child’s needs and on what is available in your area, so ask what it would mean for your child and who will be the main contact.
Ask the current school to write it down before people leave
Teachers move on, aides finish contracts, and by March the person who knew your child best may not be reachable. It can help to ask the current school, in Term 3 or early Term 4, for a written handover: what worked in the classroom, what didn’t, how transitions and hard days were managed, and who the child trusts. You can also ask for copies of what is in your child’s file. Under the Privacy Act you can usually ask for your child’s information, and most schools are used to being asked for it.
If you can, ask whether the two schools would be willing to talk to each other directly, with you in the room. In our experience a single conversation between the old teacher aide and the new one can be worth more than any document.
Let your child see the place before it is real
Visits, more than one if the school can manage it, at quiet times. Photos of the classroom, the toilets, the place they will eat lunch, the gate they will come in through. Meeting the teacher, and the aide if there is one, before the first day, even for ten minutes, if the school is able to arrange it. For many children the unknown is the hardest part, and every unknown you remove is one less thing to carry on day one.
Agree how you will talk in the first term
Before school starts, try to agree with the teacher how you will hear about how it is going and how often. For us, a short message now and then beats a long meeting once a term, but every teacher has limits on their time, so find something that works for both of you. Agree who to contact when something goes wrong, and what “wrong” looks like for your child, so that small things get sorted while they are still small.
Then, towards the end of Term 1, it can be worth asking for a short check-in with the learning support person. Not because something is wrong, but because by then the school knows your child better, and it is a natural point to bring the plan on paper in line with the child in the room.
If this list looks long, it is because you are already doing most of it. Parents of children with extra needs run transitions like this every time, and get quietly good at them. Some of it will go to plan and some won’t, and that is not a failure on your part. You know your child better than anyone who will meet them next year. This is just a way of getting that knowledge into the room ahead of you.
If you want to read further
This guide is our experience, with some help from the pages below. None of it is required reading; they are the ones we kept coming back to, mostly the Ministry of Education’s own, and they will always be more current than we are.
- Learning support when your child moves to school The Ministry of Education on the move from early learning into school, including the Early Intervention Service now reaching into Year 1.
- Continuing with learning support when moving to the next school level The same, for the jump to intermediate or secondary, including what usually needs arranging again. Worth reading a year before you need it.
- In-Class Support funding The Ministry on In-Class Support, including that it stays with the student when they change schools. Written for schools, readable by parents.
- Help for children with learning support needs Govt.nz’s short list of the funding and services that exist. Not every child will be eligible for each one, but it is a good page to have open during a meeting.
Written and looked after by the two parents who run Champ. If something here is out of date, or you know a better way, hello@champ.kiwi.