School weaves magical spell
A pioneering school is providing sanctuary for children who learn differently. Denise Piper reports.
Toby van Rensburg felt dreadful when he was criticised by a previous teacher because he couldn’t write. The 11-year-old has dysgraphia – difficulty with writing; auditory processing disorder – caused when the ears and brain do not fully coordinate; dyscalculia – a mathematical learning difficulty; and ‘‘traces’’ of dyslexia – a common reading difficulty. It’s quite a list but Toby confidently rattles it off, no longer struggling with his differences. Since term four last year, Toby has been a pupil at Summit Point School, on Auckland’s North Shore, a private school which gives specialised teaching to Auckland pupils who struggle with learning disorders. Most of the young charges are known as twice exceptional – they have learning difficulties such as dyslexia, sometimes with behavioural problems too, but are also gifted in other areas like music or art. Toby says he had difficulties settling in at his previous schools, which meant he went to lots of different ones before starting at Summit Point. ‘‘I came here and everything was easy and everyone was a lot nicer,’’ he explains. As well as more guided help with his reading, writing and maths, Toby also enjoys being in a class of likeminded peers. ‘‘If I was behind they wouldn’t be mean to me. They would say, ‘take your time, we’re all like this’.’’
Summit Point is the first school in the North Island to offer specialised teaching for primary aged children with dyslexia and other learning difficulties.
The only other specific schooling in the country is a mainstream Christchurch school which has a dyslexia programme.
Summit Point is the brainchild of director Rebecca Elias. She started offering one and two-day tuition in 2013 through The Summit Academy but was pushed to open a fulltime school by parents, who found their dyslexic children had a great need for help, both academically and emotionally.
Elias says children as young as six are struggling in mainstream schools – screaming and crying because they don’t want to go to school – because all their peers are succeeding faster than them.
‘‘Anxiety and stomach aches and headaches are really common. That manifests into hearing voices and suicidal thoughts. We recognise it in these teeny, tiny kids that these kids are really struggling.’’
This year is the first time Summit Point has operated fulltime for its full roll of 40 students, leasing classrooms from St Joseph’s Catholic School in Takapuna.
It has provisional registration from the Ministry of Education but no funding this year, under the rules for setting up a private school.
The school will be assessed by the Education Review Office this year and, if deemed suitable for full registration, it will receive funding of around $1000 per student.
While Summit Point is a registered charity, it currently runs on tuition fees. Families who are unable to afford the fees are offered scholarships through the Friedlander Foundation – a philanthropic organisation which aims to reduce inequalities.
Elias says Summit Point School’s tuition is specifically set up for the learning profile of a dyslexic student.
The children, who come from all over greater Auckland, are taught with a multi-sensory approach – using visuals, sound, movement and touch.
The curriculum is based on the international Orton-Gillingham approach, a way of teaching backed by 90 years of research and data, Elias says.
Words are broken down into phonetics and syllables, helping pupils decode words when they come across ones they don’t know. Pupils are also taught the history and origin of words.
‘‘It’s not about learning to read or learning to spell, it’s about learning to think about language,’’ she says.
For Matt Hutcheson, the different way of teaching has made a significant difference to his 11-year-old daughter, Grace.
Grace has dyslexia as well as coordination disorder dyspraxia and attention deficit disorder. She attends Summit Point two days a week.
Hutcheson says teaching Grace in a way that suits how she’s ‘‘wired’’ has made a phenomenal difference.
‘‘Going into the Summit environment gives her a chance to see how it all fits together. Before, she had no way of ever comprehending it,’’ he says.
‘‘I don’t want to talk ill of mainstream schooling but it’s engineered to teach students who think in a mainstream way.’’
The differences in Grace include greater confidence and a desire to read for leisure, Hutcheson says. Her writing skills have also flourished.
‘‘I’m convinced, and so are all the other educational professionals and educational psychologists involved with Grace, that Summit has been instrumental in her significant improvements in intelligence and also self-esteem.’’
Elias says she became motivated to learn more about education after her own son was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
A trained secondary school teacher in visual arts and technology, she found she couldn’t comprehend her son’s educational psychology report.
Elias was also inspired by her two older nephews, who both had dyslexia and behavioural problems: ‘‘They had a really horrible experience at school and left early.’’
She did post-graduate studies in linguistics and curriculum, completing her masters of professional education with a focus on dyslexia.
Elias’ journey was helped with a scholarship from the Friedlander Foundation, which included funding a visit to The Gow School, a boarding school for dyslexic boys in New York.
Her experience has led to the development of a unique curriculum for Summit Point.
Although a student’s individual achievement is measured, the school does not use national standards, Elias says.
‘‘If you’re measuring nondyslexic kids against dyslexic ones, it’s like a one-legged race. It’s like expecting a kid in a wheelchair to get up a flight of stairs.’’
Claudia Farry believes her 10-year-old son Luca Brodie is lucky to be a student at Summit Point.
Luca is dyslexic and, despite being very bright, he was struggling to demonstrate and express his knowledge, Farry says.
‘‘It was impacting very negatively on his view of his academic ability and his general sense of self,’’ she says.
Luca was getting special tuition a couple of hours a week but Summit Point School has been a ‘‘better fit for him’’, Farry says.
Moving to Summit Point fulltime was a difficult choice for Luca, who lives in Titirangi and had a circle of friends and sense of place in his local school, she says.
‘‘He didn’t hesitate for a second. He said ‘I know it’s going to be hard but it’s better for my learning,’ which is very profound for a nine-year-old.’’
Now, Luca is confident and outgoing, saying he thinks Summit Point School is ‘‘just awesome’’.
‘‘We get to do a whole bunch of cool things, like projects and art,’’ he says.
But the school is about a whole lot more than fun projects.
Luca proudly says his reading has improved so much he read a whole book – one of the Captain
Underpants series – in just one day.
Summit Point School is about setting pupils up for life, Elias says.
‘‘I believe that this is changing their life. It’s changing their future.’’
When 100 students applied for the school’s 40 places this year, Elias prioritised those at the very beginning and end of their primary schooling, so the biggest impact could be made.
‘‘The demand is huge and we’ve only got four classrooms,’’ she says.
‘‘New Zealand families send their kids to international boarding schools because there’s nothing here. We’re changing that.’’