TeachMeet - Our LGBTQ+ and rainbow students, whānau and staff - Thursday 15 October

Teachers from Owhiro Bay and Berhampore kindergartens, Houghton Valley School, SWIS, WHS and three students from WHS shared what’s going well for members of the LGBTQ+ communities (students, whānau and staff) in our schools and kindergartens, what the challenges are and some next steps we can follow up.

The meeting was very positive, ranging from how to support transitioning teachers, to the range of ways rainbow students and whānau express themselves. We were able to see the progression from early childhood to students last years at school, especially as one of the students from WHS had also been to Houghton Valley School and SWIS. She was impressed at how the awareness and response to our rainbow community has progressed since she was at those schools.

However, the strongest message we took from the session is to never assume that your school is fine. There is always more room for progression, no matter how ‘progressive’ you think you are.
Here are our shared notes from the TeachMeet