The East/Central hub primary school teachers had a fantastic day at Catholic Cathedral College, observing learning in action, particularly literacy, across numerous departments.

Some students were very surprised, happy and excited to see their old teachers wandering through their kura. There was such a lovely feel of connection between past students and their teachers, as well as between our primary and secondary teachers.

Between classes, we were also very lucky to be able to have a kōrero with some kaimahi about what literacy skills they wanted to see ākonga start secondary school with. These discussions highlighted that both our primary and secondary kura kaimahi were on the same page.

Some areas identified were:

Reading: Comprehension; word recognition and stamina to read or write for longer periods of time.

Writing: Sentence formation and writing in full sentences; knowledge of parts of speech and syntax; grammar and writing to convey meaning/students being able to put their intended meaning into their writing. Also, understanding how the text will sound when it is read aloud.

The primary kaimahi will take these discussion points and discussed strategies back to their own kura for further analysis with their teams.

We look forward to welcoming Catholic Cathedral College into our primary schools in the near future, for them to see learning in action at our level and to add to our valuable kōrero.

The day would not have been possible without the help of Judi Parker, thank you for all your organisation and for making such a valuable experience happen. Also, thank you to Lee Ann and all the kaimahi at Catholic Cathedral for the lovely welcome and manaakitanga.

To Catholic Cathedral College: E mihi ana ki a koutou i te tohatoha. Nō mātou te whiwhi.