“Creating a safe and supportive environment for your child”
Introducing our Popokotea Wellbeing Nest
At Owairoa Primary School, we are committed to nurturing the whole child—academically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually. As part of this commitment, we are proud to introduce a new school initiative designed to support our students who experience challenges in their learning and wellbeing: the Popokotea Wellbeing Nest.
Inspired by the Popokotea or whitehead bird—a native taonga in Māori culture—this special initiative draws on the rich symbolism of this bird, which is associated with the health of the forest, the presence of ancestors, and positive influence. Just as the Popokotea plays a vital role in maintaining the wellbeing of its environment, our Wellbeing Nest represents a safe, nurturing space within our school where every child is valued, supported, and encouraged to thrive.
The Wellbeing Nest serves as a sanctuary of care, much like a bird’s nest protects and nurtures its young. It reflects our school’s dedication to providing a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment where children with additional needs can flourish.
To bring this vision to life, we are fortunate to offer a growing range of in-school professional support services, including:
- A full-time SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) providing a key role in supporting and delivering individualised support
- A Pediatric Audiologist providing support to students experiencing auditory challenges
- A Music Therapist harnessing the power of music to support emotional and social development
- A registered psychotherapist providing a space for students to process their thoughts and feelings
- A dedicated school chaplain offering pastoral care and emotional support
- A student counsellor to provide guidance, counselling and resources to help students navigate challenges and achieve their goals
- A qualified Speech Language Therapist to help students with communication challenges
These services work together under the guidance of our SENCO to provide tailored support to students in need, addressing a range of emotional, behavioural and communication needs.
The colours of the Popokotea Wellbeing Nest logo below have been thoughtfully chosen to reflect our mission:
- Yellow symbolizes positivity, energy, and mental clarity
- Green represents natural balance, grounding, and growth
We are excited about the positive impact the Popokotea Wellbeing Nest will have on our students, and we are deeply proud to be leading this important work. By offering this holistic and culturally grounded support, we reaffirm our commitment to the success and wellbeing of every student at Owairoa Primary School.
This new initiative is fully supported by our School Board and funded by the generous school donations from parents. Thank you for your ongoing support as we continue to grow and evolve the ways we can extend our care and support for our learners.
SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator)
Our school is fortunate to have a full-time SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) providing a key role in supporting and delivering individualised support
Should you require further information about our Popokotea programme, you are welcome contact our SENCO Mrs Sally Taka on sally.taka@owairoa.school.nz
Music Therapy
Our Music Therapy Programme harnesses the power of music to support emotional and social development
Psychotherapy
We have the wonderful services of a registered psychotherapist providing a space for students to process their thoughts and feelings
Paediatric Audiologist
We are excited to have Nitasha Chand–Prasad join our group of professional healthcare providers at our Popokotea Wellbeing Nest, offering further opportunities for assessment for those students with hearing concerns.
Nitasha Chand-Prasad (MNZAS) has 21 years’ experience as an paediatric audiologist and is a graduate of the Masters of Audiology (MAud) programme from The University of Auckland.
Nitasha has an independent Audiology Clinic to offer patients more choice in the field of hearing assessments and hearing aids.
She is also employed as an Audiologist at Health New Zealand where she works with both Adults and Children who have hearing loss. In her additional role as an Advanced Audiology Practitioner she specializes in the assessment of Paediatric patients who have multiple middle ear infections and glue ear.
She is passionate about lifting up standards of hearing healthcare and helps her patients to make informed decisions on which hearing solutions will best suit their lifestyle. She expressed excitement to be able to offer her services to our school.
With a specialization in paediatric hearing assessments, Nitasha has honed a deep understanding of the unique needs and challenges that our student age groups face. Nitasha operates from The Hearing Corner https://www.thehearingcorner.co.nz where compassionate care meets decades of expertise on the path to better hearing health.
If you have concerns about your child’s hearing ability, contact our school SENCO Sally Taka, on email sally.taka@owairoa.school.nz to discuss what support that we may be able to provide.
School Chaplain
Our dedicated School Chaplain offers wonderful pastoral care and emotional support to those students in need
Student Counsellor
Tom Pascoe, a student counsellor is also part of our wellbeing nest, providing guidance, counselling, and resources to help students navigate challenges and achieve their goals.
Tom is on placement from Manukau Institute of Technology, where he is studying a Bachelor of Applied Counselling. He was a student at Owairoa Primary School, and after graduating, attended Bucklands Beach Intermediate and Macleans College. He then went on to work at the sKids programme at a nearby primary school for 5 years, before finding his passion in Mental Health.
His experience is in utilising holistic, ‘client centred approaches’, wherein the individual seeking support dictates the content of the session and how they use their time together.
Approaches such as Child-Centred Play Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and frameworks such as Te Whare Tapa Wha, allow for children to express themselves to clearly, practice autonomy and independence and gain education regarding each facet of their wellbeing.
Speech Language Therapy
We have welcomed a qualified Speech Language Therapist who helps students with communication challenges
+ more to come
We look forward to developing our Popokotea Wellbeing Nest to include more fields of speciality as the needs of our students arise