1992
article – Taonga source: The Press
College in crisis
Van Asch College may be forced to cut staffing levels because of funding cuts of almost 50 per cent. The chairman of the Van Asch College board, Mr Alan Bensley, cofnirmed this last night but no "final" decisions had been made.
1993
article – Taonga source: The Press
Cash-strapped deaf school axes jobs
Twenty-three of the 39 residential care staff at van Asch College were made redundant yesterday as a result of Government funding cuts last year.
1989
article – Taonga source: The Dominion
Board of trustees accepts extra challenges at school for deaf
Board member Ava Buzzard, who has been deaf since birth, is excited by the chance to have a greater role in a school she has been involved with for many years.
2006
article – Taonga source: NZ Catholic
Deaf community gathers to honour teacher and friend
The deaf community of the lower North Island gathered in Palmerston North on the last weekend of September to honour a teacher and chaplain, mentor and friend who has worked with the deaf since 1972.
1987
article – Taonga source: Sunday Times
Getting the deaf off their hands
Auckland film-maker Ann Andrews has embarked on a project that Television New Zealand initially regarded as unpalatable last year She is making a film about deaf people. Anne is allowing the deaf to use their first language – sign language.
Est. 1880
COLLECTIONS – CURATED BY SIGNDNA: DEAF NATIONAL ARCHIVE
van Asch Deaf Education Centre (Ko Taku Reo)
van Asch Deaf Education Centre (now Ko Taku Reo; formerly Sumner School for the Deaf then van Asch School for the Deaf). The school has a long and illustrious history, with its services covering a huge geographical spread. Established in 1880, van Asch was the oldest special school establishment in New Zealand and also believed to be the oldest fully government funded residential school in the world. van Asch celebrated its 125th Anniversary in 2005. It merged with Kelston Deaf Education Centre to become Ko Taku Reo in 2020.
2004
video – Taonga source: AUT Visual Languages Section
Memories of Ava Buzzard (2004)
Ava Buzzard talks about commuting to school via her father’s motorbike, home signs, signing and oralism, and the next generation of signers.
1986
publication – Taonga source: Deaf Education History Aotearoa NZ
Hostel News: van Asch College, 1986
1987
video – Taonga source: Television New Zealand Archive
Parents speak of their fears for the future of St Dominic’s School for Deaf Children
Following the potential closure of St Dominic's, parents express their concerns at a community meeting for their deaf children’s future if they were to be mainstreamed into a local school.
