Leadership award gives health school $20k boost

Lee Ferguson (left) and Michelle Deed teach children who cannot attend school. Photo / Paul Taylor

After winning the Prime Minister's Award for excellence in leadership, the Central Regional Health School will receive $20,000 and professional development opportunities.

Since 2000, the school has grown from seven teachers to 50 and now has 220 students enrolled throughout the country.

Two of their staff, Lee Ferguson and Michelle Deed, are based at the Hawke's Bay Hospital. They teach students from Mahia to Takapau who are unable to attend school because of illness.

It is an education full of variables - students' can be aged from 8 to 21-years-old, across all schooling levels, and can be under the women's tutelage from three days to five years, in Ms Ferguson's longest case. The pair's aim was to "successfully transition students back into school, at the best of our ability".

"That, and their academic achievement, while we're one on one", Ms Deed said.

The school says their success was based on partnership, collaboration, and strong and effective relationships.

To support a student in their transition "a team has to be created". That can include pediatricians, specialists, the student's family, their school, and the teachers themselves.

For the pair and CRHS, the student was central.

The women follow the school curriculum, but create individual programmes that cater to a student's specific needs, and meets the student's own personal goals.

They believed the school filled gaps which used to be in the community.

Education Minister Hekia Parata launched the 2015 Prime Minister's Education Excellence Awards, which recognised and celebrated excellence in teaching, leadership, communityengagement and governance.

The awards cover early childhood education, primary and secondary schooling, and communities of learning made up of all three. The four main categories were excellence in governing, excellence in leading, excellence in teaching and learning, and excellence in engaging

The award was something "the whole school had worked toward, aided by having a principal with a vision", Lee said.

Part of the award included a proposal by the women, which sought funding for students following brain surgery or treatment.