To be funded, students must meet the Eligibility criteria for the School High Health Needs Fund . The Ministry’s Assurance and Eligibility Unit decides on students’ eligibility for funding.
The funding is paid to the student's school each term and used to employ a teacherteacher’s aide.
Note : Students may receive resources from the fund and any other special education funding schemes, except for the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS). Students who meet the criteria for ORS and have high health needs, receive all their care and supervision through ORS.
How the level of funding is decided
The level of funding is determined through the Individual Care Plan (ICP) process. The Ministry or SSP school is responsible for making sure each student has an annual ICP that details:
- the care and supervision tasks the teacher
teacher’saide will carry out - how the care will be monitored during the year, so it remains appropriate to the student's needs
- how the student's ongoing needs will be evaluated, so the right level of care is given.
Regional health schools
The School High Health Needs Fund is in addition to any services Regional health schools provide.
Students returning to their local school from a regional health school may need support from the fund.
Regional health schools are primarily schools for students who are in hospital for longer than two2 weeks. They also provide services to students who:
- are chronically ill and can’t attend their regular school for long periods
- have a psychiatric illness and live in a health-funded institution
- need support as they return to their regular school after a long time away with illness.
Go to Regional health schools for more information.
How eligibility for funding is reviewed
Each student in the fund is reviewed at a notified time by the Ministry’s verifiers.
The verifiers ask to see the current Individual Care Plan (ICP) and a recent medical report to decide whether the student continues to meet the criteria and is funded for a period of time.