Schools moving clusters
Background
A request for a school or kura to change their Resource Teacher Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) service provision from one RTLB cluster to another may be made at any time by a school principal, Kāhui Ako lead principal, a Ministry leader, or an RTLB lead school principal or cluster manager.
All requests for a change should be directed to the relevant Ministry Manager Learning Support.
Clusters and Managers Learning support would like this process to be strengthened so changes are agreed and made in a timely way or a decision is made not to make a change.
Whose views should be sought?
Each request needs to be explored before a final decision is made. As the change of a school’s service provision from one RTLB cluster to another has service provision and resourcing implications, the consult these people for their views on the proposed change:
- principal of the affected school
- proposed and current cluster lead school principal and cluster manager
- Ministry Manager Education.
The Manager Learning Support in each region leads the process. The Principal Advisor RTLB at National Office is informed that discussions are underway and advised of the final decision.
Factors to consider
When determining the merits of a shift of RTLB service provision, consideration should be given to whether the shift will result in:
- responsiveness to requests coming a school or kura
- improved access to support for the school
- alignment with boundaries to strengthening of relationships, communication, and collaboration between the school, the Ministry, the RTLB cluster, and other service providers
- more streamlined planning and implementation of cross-schools and/or interagency work
- planning over time so one cluster provides support to all schools within a Kāhui Ako
- one cluster providing support to students’ likely schooling pathways, that is primary to intermediate to secondary school.
As there will be no immediate or potential increase in funding or staffing to the proposed cluster, consideration should be given to whether the proposed cluster has existing capacity to provide timely service to an additional school.
it is important that a clear decision is reached. Where there are differing opinions, the final decision making sits with the Ministry Manager Learning Support.
Next steps
Once a decision has been made, the relevant regional Manager Learning Support should advise the person making the request of the outcome in writing. If the request is not supported, the Manager Learning Support reasons will be explained.
If the request is successful:
- The Manager Learning Support emails [email protected] with the name of the school, the name of the current RTLB cluster, the name of the new cluster and the date of the change.
- The RTLB team emails the cluster change to [email protected] who update FIRST.
- The school will be included in the list of schools in Appendix A of the new cluster’s Funding Agreement.
- The addition of the school will be considered when resourcing is recalculated annually. Note: this may not result in an increase of staffing or funding.
Content last updated: October 2021