
Great Minds Think Differently
While the official Neurodiversity Celebration Week was earlier in the year, this week Marsden is making neurodiversity awareness a whole-school focus by celebrating the many strengths and talents that come from thinking and perceiving the world differently.
Neurodiversity describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways, and that there is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning, and behaving.
Our goal for this week is to help our students learn more about neurodiversity, and for our neurodivergent students to develop a more positive perception of their own unique traits and skills such as creativity, innovation, ability to think outside-the-box, problem-solving skills, unique insights, and perspectives, as well as perseverance and resilience. Our well-established Visible WellbeingTM approach provides us with a framework to identify character strengths. By celebrating our unique strengths, we can help change the way neurodiversity is perceived.

Marsden has been leading the charge in its approach to learning support for neurodiverse students. The Arrowsmith Program®, introduced by the school in 2014, is designed specifically for those with neurocognitive differences such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, auditory processing difficulties. Using principles of neuroplasticity, this programme employs techniques that strengthen pathways in the brain rather than focusing on traditional coping skills, and it has been transformative for our Arrowsmith students. In February this year, we were the first in the world to implement the Arrowsmith Whole Cohort Program, which introduces Arrowsmith principles to all Primary School students in Years 2-6, with the ultimate goal of improving foundational learning capacities.

Neurodiversity Week is an opportunity for us to reflect on the rich diversity that surrounds us and to demonstrate kindness, tolerance and acceptance of everyone in our school community. Marsden students are taking part in a range of activities throughout the week to raise awareness and celebrate diversity. Students are being encouraged to visit our Arrowsmith classroom, and today we are having a ‘non-uniform day’, with a gold coin donation to Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand and Autism New Zealand.