Blind & Low Vision Education Network NZ

The Blind and Low Vision Education Network NZ (BLENNZ) is a school that is a national network of educational services for children and young people who are blind, deafblind, or have low vision in New Zealand. The first education services to blind and low vision children in this country were provided by the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind (RNZFB) at Parnell. In March 1965 Homai College was established on its present site in Manurewa, Auckland with its services continuing to be governed and administered by the RNZFB under the RNZFB Act (1963). The DeafBlind Unit was added to the campus in March 1968 and in 1970 the Adult Rehabilitation Unit was established, before being moved to the Parnell site in 1981. Both the school on the Parnell site and the first decades of Homai reflected the period when children were largely brought together from throughout the country for their schooling.