Children’s Vision

New Zealand children are offered publicly funded vision screening services when they begin school (via the nationwide B4 School Check service) and again in Year 7 (ages 11-12, as part of the Well Child Tamariki Ora Programme). While these screening services are good at identifying children with certain types of eye problems, we know that many children pass these screening tests and go attend school with undiagnosed vision problems. Some children also do not receive vision screening.

We are addressing this problem within our teaching and research, by providing additional screening services to schools, and conducting research to identify how the current school screening services could be improved

The School of Optometry and Vision Science provides an ongoing vision screening service for primary school children at participating schools in the Auckland region. The service provides a valuable training opportunity for Bachelor of Optometry students, who visit schools and conduct vision screening assessments on children aged 5-19.

Approximately 4,000 children are screened via this service every year. One of the most common vision problems detected is refractive error, which can be corrected with spectacles or contact lenses.

The School of Optometry and Vision Science’s school screening service operates alongside the Vision Bus Aotearoa and the Community Spectacles Scheme, so that children who are identified with a vision problem can receive the follow-up eye care that they need, through donation.

How many children in Aotearoa need eye care services?

We know that some children are not receiving the eye care that they need. However, New Zealand does not have enough information about the number of children who need eye care, what types of problems they have, and where they live within Aotearoa.

We are currently conducting New Zealand’s first paediatric eye health survey. The survey will estimate the number of children aged 7 years who have refractive error or other vision problems. To do this, we are travelling around New Zealand to ~100 schools in Auckland, Waikato, Taranaki, and West Coast, conducting eye examinations with as many children as possible. We hope this information will allow us to identify where eye care services are needed the most.