How the School High Health Needs Fund is managed

Learn how the School High Needs Health Fund is managed alongside other learning support funds and how the rate of funding is decided.

Schools should be aware of other forms of learning support funding alongside the SHHNF and how their level of SHHNF is calculated.

Managing the SHHNF alongside other health funds

Students may receive resources from the SHHNF fund and any other learning support funding schemes, except for the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS). Students who meet the criteria for ORS and have high health needs, receive all their care and supervision through ORS. 

ACC provides the support needs of students with high health needs as the result of an accident.

SHHNF is in addition to the education services provided by Regional Health Schools (RHS). See more on RHSS for children who can’t attend school because they're unwell.

How the level of funding is decided

The level of funding is determined through the Individual Care Plan (ICP) process. The Ministry of Education, or the school if it's a fundholder, is responsible for making sure each student has an annual ICP that details:

• a brief summary of the student’s health needs
• the care and supervision tasks the support person will carry out, how long each task takes and how many times a day and week the tasks are completed
• what tasks the student can do independently and what tasks the student needs help with
• a brief summary of the plans and strategies the school has in place to help the student develop independence, if appropriate
• the monitoring system that will ensure the care remains appropriate to the student’s needs during the year
• the evaluation process that will determine the student’s ongoing level of need for care and supervision, together with information about the student’s progress towards being able to manage their own needs
• signatures of parent/caregiver and the educator.

Last reviewed: 29 November 2022 Has this been useful? Give us your feedback