Ongoing Resourcing and Reviewable Scheme

The Ongoing Resourcing and Reviewable Scheme (ORRS) provides resources for a very small group of students througout New Zealand who have the highest need for special education.  Most of these students have this level of need throughout their school years

ORRS is additional to the teacher funding and operation grants that are paid to schools for every student in New Zealand.  ORRS' resources are primarily to proivde specialist assistance to meet students' special education needs.

Any student who meets the criterial is included in the schemes.  About 7000 students receive this assistance at any one time.

There are two schemes:
1    Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS)
2    Reviewable Resourcing Scheme (RRS)


Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS)

This scheme is for students verified with Very High or High needs at the time of application and where it is clear they will continue to require the highest level of specialist support.

Information in the application must confirm the certainty of this decision.  They remain in the ORS until they leave school.


Reviewable Resourcing Scheme (RRS)

This scheme is for students who meet the criteria at the time of application but it is unclear whether their needs will remain at the same level throughout their school years.
They receive resources to provide intensive specialist programmes for the year they enter the scheme and for three more school years.  This is the Reviewable period.

Students are placed in the scheme at the High or Very High level, and almost all of them exit the scheme after the Reviewable period.  A small number of students with changing needs may move from the High to Very High level (or vice versa) at the end of the Reviewable period.


Eligibility

Students are eligible for ORRS funding when they meet at least one of nine criteria that indicate they require intervention from Specialist Professional and/or Specialist Teachers for access to the New Zealand Curriculum, and/or adaptation of curriculum content.

To meet the criterial they must have significant educational needs that arise from either:

Extreme or severe difficulty with any of the following:
· learning
· hearing
· vision
· mobility, and
· language use and social communication

or

Moderate to high difficulty combined with learning and two of:
· hearing
· vision 
· mobility, and
· language use and social communication


Criteria

The criteria are at two levels: Very High and High which includes Combined Moderate Needs.  Each criterion (or sub-criterion of Combined Moderate Needs) relates to a particulate area of need: learning, hearing, vision, mobility or language use and social communication. 

Relationship between area of need and criterion level

Learning - VH = Criterion 1 H = Criterion 5
Hearing -  VH = 2.1 and 2.2  H = Criterion 6.1
Vision - VH = Criterion 2.3  H = Criterion 6.2
Physical - VH = Criterion 3  H = Criterion 7
Language use and social communication - VH = Criterion 4  H = Criterion 8


Criterion 2 - 2.1 and 2.2 Very High

Application Criteria 2
Students need special assistance to engage in all face to face communications

2.1  Students who rely totally on signing for communication
· Students who meet this criterion almost always have profound hearing loss in both ears and use New Zealand Sign Language (or an equivalent signing system)in all settings i.e. at home, in the community, at school or early childhood centre 
· They need specialist intervention from Advisors on Deaf Children (AODC), Teachers of the Deaf (TOD) and support from Para-Professionals to assist with communication and access to the curriculum.  They require extensive support from people skilled in using sign language and for additional teaching to understand new concepts 
· These students use signing not just because they attend school within a signing environment (e.g. a Deaf Education Centre), but because signing is a necessity.

2.2  Students who rely totally on the help of a trained person for communication following a cochlear implant 
· Students who meet this criterion require an intensive auditory skills programme to learn how to use the sounds they hear as a result of a cochlear implant.  They need to develop listening and speech production skills in order to access the curriculum 
· The specialists involved in this intensive programme may include a trained habilitationist, an Advisor on Deaf Children (AODC) and a Teacher of the Deaf (TOD) 
· Students are likely to require a less intensive level of specialist support and instruction over time.  For this reason the verification decision will be Reviewable Very High


Criterion 6.1 - High Needs

Applications Criterion 6.1 - students who have a severe Hearing impediment (71 - 90 decibels) and need regular input from a teacher with specialist skills in Deaf Education to access the curriculum

Students who meet this criterion:
· have a severe (71 - 90 decibels) or profound biltaeral sensory-neural hearing loss, and 
· use hearing aids and/or a cochlear implant full-time and usually use an FM system, and
· use spoken language as their primary means of communication and may use sign language and gestures 
· they require frequent oral interpreting of information in learning settings and need pre and post-teaching of concepts

Other students may meet this criterion and be included in the Reviewable Resourcing Scheme because they have a bilaterial sensory-neural hearing loss in the moderate-severe range with:
· a late diagnosis and/or 
· poor management of hearing loss in their early childhood and school years 
· this criterion is not for students with a conductive-only hearing loss or with a central auditory processing disorder