At Hornby High School, we recognise that quality, learning-focussed relationships are a key ingredient in enabling a young person to thrive in school. We believe therefore that time, space, and resource, needs to be carved out to allow for quality learning relationships to grow and develop, be they relationships between kaiako and akonga (teachers and students); the school and whanau; or learning relationships amongst the young people themselves.

Through Wānanga, we aim to create more time and space for students to form quality learning relationships with a consistent set of peers and a learning advisor (the teacher attached to that Wānanga grouping). Through Wānanga, we want our young people to be grounded and to develop a positive school-based identity, to have time to reflect on learning and progress, to connect with their passions and aspirations; and have more time to meaningfully explore our key competencies, attitudes, and values, from the ‘front end’ of the New Zealand Curriculum document.

Wānanga also creates an opportunity for whānau to develop more consistent and positive links with school, via regular connection with the young person’s Wānanga learning advisor, much like a form teacher currently would, but one who works alongside the young person for more hours in the week, and therefore has a better working relationship.

Wānanga is a concept that has already been prototyped in the Year 7 - 9 level of our school in 2020, and in 2021 it will be expanded to include Years 10 and 11, who will have five hours of Wānanga in their timetable per week, in a mixed Year 10 - 11 grouping.

Whilst the focus of Wānanga at the Year 10 & 11 level is not intended for the gathering of credits (plenty of opportunity still exists to work towards NCEA Levels 1 - 3 in other parts of the students’ time at school), we do envisage that part of Wānanga can be used to focus on students’ individual areas of interest and passion, and with this may come opportunity for credits to be earned, if appropriate.

In 2021 Wānanga will not include Year 12 & 13, but the wider vision, in years to come, is that all students from Year 7 - 13 will be involved in a Wānanga grouping.