Appendix 1: Glossary of terms

a@w: Achieving at Waitakere. An initiative by Waitakere secondary principals to raise student achievement.

ACE: Adult and Community Education

ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is the most commonly diagnosed childhood mental condition.

Alternative Education (AE) student: A young person aged between thirteen and a half and sixteen years of age who has become alienated from the education system, and who is either unwilling to attend a regular school or schools are unwilling to enrol them in a mainstream setting.

ARMS: Auckland Refugee & Migrant Service

Bilingual Class/es: Classes in which some students in a school are involved in Māori-medium (or PI) education for 3 to 20 hours per week.

BoTs: Board of Trustees ( the elected parent body which helps to govern a school).

CAB: Citizen's Advice Bureau

Collaboration: A  process where two or more people work together toward a common goal by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus.

Composite school: From Year 1 to 13 (primary and secondary schooling on the one site)

Decile/Decile Band: (Also known as Socio-Economic Decile Band). All schools are given a decile rating, depending on the socio-economic status of the area they serve. Schools in the lowest deciles (1-3) draw their students from communities with the highest degree of socio-economic disadvantage, while those in the highest deciles (8-10) draw the least from these communities.

Early Leaving Exemptions (school): Parents of students aged 15 years may apply for an Early Leaving Exemption on the basis of educational problems.

ECE: Early Childhood Education

Education and Care Centres: Provide sessional, all-day, or flexible hour programmes for children from birth to school age. They may be privately owned, non-profit making, or operated as an adjunct to a business or organisation.

ERO: Education Review Office. Carries out three yearly checks on schools and Early Childhood Centres.

ESOL: English Speakers of Other Languages

Exclusions (school): Students who are permanently excluded from a school.

Gateway: A careers programme for students still at school which places them in businesses/ industry/ training one day a week.

GSE: Group Special Education. Ministry of Education specialist services

HIPPY: Home Interaction Programme for Parents and Youngsters

Homebased Services: (Early childhood education) A cluster of homes under the supervision of a homebased co-ordinator. The co-ordinator places children with caregivers in approved homes for an agreed number of hours per week

Homeschooling: Parents/guardians may choose to educate their children at home, on the condition that a standard of education similar to that in a regular school is provided.

Immersion Class/School: A Class/ School in which students are involved in Māori-medium education for more than 20 hours per week or more than 80 percent of the time.

Indicator: A measure of success or failure or the current status of a situation.

Ka Hikitia: The Maori education curriculum document

Kaumatua and kuia: Maori grandparents

Kindergarten: An early childhood institution that provides sessional programmes for mainly three and four year old children.

Kura Kaupapa Māori: State schools where teaching is in the Māori language (Te Reo Māori) and is based on Māori culture and values.

Kura Teina: A developing Kura that is attached to a recognised Kura Kaupapa Māori.

Mainstream schools: Those that are not specialist (eg Maori, alternative, special)

Māori-Medium Education: Students are taught curriculum subjects in both Māori and English (bilingual) or in Māori only (immersion) as well as learning Te Reo Māori.

Migrant: A new New Zealander who has chosen to emigrate

MOE: Ministry of Education

Mokopuna: Grandchildren

NCEA: National Certificate of Education Achievement. A qualification on the National Qualification Framework based on credits from all unit and achievement standards.

NETS: Non Enrolled Truancy Service

NGO: Non- government organisation. Could be a community organisation or network.

NOW: New Out West, a Call to Action to ensure "every migrant and refugee in Waitakere settles successfully

NZCER: New Zealand Council for Education Research

NZQA: New Zealand Qualifications Authority.  Independent body responsible for setting and regularly reviewing standards for qualifications including administering national examinations.

ORRS funding: Outgoing and Reviewable Resourcing Schemes. The Ministry of Education provides extra funding for students who have the highest need for special education.

PAFT: Parents as First Teachers

Palagi/palangi: Pacific Island word for European

Pasifika: Pacific Island ethnicities

PD: Professional development

Personalising learning: Putting students at the centre of learning and making it meaningful for them. It involves students understanding the process of learning.

Playcentre: An early childhood institution that is collectively supervised and managed by parents for children aged between zero and five years.

Playgroups: Community-based groups of parents and pre-school children whose playgroups meet for one to three sessions per week.

PI: Pacific Island ethnicities

PTEs: Private Tertiary Education Providers. These consist of private institutions registered with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and other tertiary education providers in receipt of a MOE Grant (OTEP). Many private tertiary education providers receive MOE tuition subsidies and/or funding for Skill NZ programmes.

Public Tertiary Education Institutions: A university, college of education, institute of technology/polytechnic or wānanga as defined by the Education Act 1989. The term excludes other post-secondary institutions, such as private training education providers.

Rangatahi: Young people

Refugee: A person who has fled war or other violence in their home country.

RTLBs: Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour

School Leaver: Students leaving secondary school to enter the workforce, further education or training.

SENCOs (school): Special Needs Coordinators in schools. Most schools have one SENCO.

SKIP: Supporting Kids Informing Parents

Special School: A school providing specialist education or support for students with specific physical, behaviour, sensory or intellectual support needs.

Stand-downs (school): A stand-down is the formal removal of a student from a state school for a specified period. Stand-downs of a student can total no more than 5 school days in any term, or 10 days in a school year. Following stand-downs, students return automatically to school.

State Integrated Schools: Integrated schools follow the state curriculum requirements but retain their "special character" (religious observances, for example). The proprietors provide accommodation while the state pays day-to-day expenses, including teacher salaries.

Suspensions (school) A suspension is the formal removal of a student from a state school until the Board of Trustees decides the outcome at a suspension meeting

SWIS: Social Workers in Schools.

TDO: Toddler Day Out

Te Kōhanga Reo: An early childhood institution administered by the Te Kōhanga Reo Trust. The programmes are based on the total immersion of children from birth to school age in Māori language, culture, and values.

Te Kotahitanga: An MOE initiative to improve the Educational Achievement of Māori Students in Mainstream Education from Years 9 - 10.

Te Reo Maori: Maori language

Te Taumata Runanga: The Maori advisory group to Council

Te Whairiki: The ECE curriculum document

Teen Parent Units: Are classes attached to secondary schools for the education of teenage parents where verified barriers to learning in a mainstream situation have resulted from pregnancy and child rearing responsibilities; and who have enrolled within the age range to receive free education (i.e. up to age 19 years).

TEC: Tertiary Education Commission. Responsible for leading the government's relationship with the tertiary education sector, and for policy development and implementation.

Tikanga: Cultural practices and values

TOPS: Training Opportunities

Transient students: Passing through an area quickly (short term or temporary students)

Truancy: Unjustified absence from school over a period of time.

WACEA: Waitakere Adult and Community Education Aotearoa

Wānanga: A public tertiary institution that provides programmes with an emphasis on the application of knowledge regarding ahuatanga Māori (Māori tradition) according to tikanga Māori (Māori custom).

Waitakere Enterprise (WE): An economic development agency that aims to increase prosperity in Waitakere, by growing the local economy.

Waitakere Pacific Board (WPB): The Pacific advisory group to Council

WAL: Waitakere Adult Literacy

WAPA: Waitakere Area Principals' Association (involves Waitakere City schools as well as 17 schools outside WCC).

WASPA: Waitakere Area Secondary Principals' Association

WCC: Waitakere City Council

WDHB: Waitemata District Health Board (includes Waitakere, Rodney & North Shore cities)

WEA: Workers' Educational Association

WESP: Waitakere Employment and Skills Project

WEST: Waitakere Education Sector Trust

Wharekura: The Year 9-15 component of Kura Kaupapa Māori that are composite schools.

WEB: Waitakere Ethnic Board

WISAP: Waitakere Improving School Attendance Programme. Supports schools in addressing truancy.

YTS: Youth Transition Service. Helps to transition youth aged 16 + who have left school with no career plan.

.