Social Workers in Schools (SWiS)

Social Workers in Schools (SWiS) places a social worker right in school grounds, bringing together a child or young person’s home and school life.

A SWiS social worker is there to help when difficult family circumstances cause a young person to struggle with education, health or social development. By working with them in this way, we can help improve their chances of success in all areas of their life.

SWiS social workers are based in low-decile schools. The SWiS programme is run in:

The service is

• completely free to students and their families 
• completely voluntary – it's up to the children, young people and their families if they want to talk with a social worker. 

Find out more about:

In primary schools, SWiS will only work with children if they have the agreement of their family – and hopefully their involvement. They'll work with children and their families on things like:

• helping children develop good friendship skills
• helping children feel good about themselves
• working with the family and whānau to develop parenting skills
• getting families help with issues like money advice or gambling worries
• honouring the family and whānau cultural background every step of the way.

In secondary schools SWiS is more focused on the students themselves. They'll only work with families and whānau if that's what the student wants. A social worker teams up with a student to help them reject negative activities (e.g. gang involvement) in favour of activities that will help them reach their full potential.

SWiS is funded by Child, Youth and Family and contracted out to community organisations.

We want to help students thrive. If you need any further information our SWiS team will be happy to help.

Phone 0508 FAMILY (0508 326 459)

Email cyf_swis@cyf.govt.nz