The beginning of this year has seen the introduction of a new programme for all Year 9s joining Nayland. It is called Ko Wai Tātou - ‘Who We Are’ - or, when written with a question mark, ‘Who are we?’

The idea for the programme came out of discussions among the pastoral team (the house deans and deputy principal Trevor Olley) last year. 

"We realised that some of our Year 9 students took longer to settle in than others and that perhaps we underestimated the difficulties of transitioning between intermediate and college,” Aquila house dean and programme coordinator Hannah Cameron said.

Mrs Cameron says that the differences between the two stages of schooling are significant. Students go from spending the majority of their day with one teacher to needing to form relationships with and get to know the expectations and processes of nine different teachers during a school week.

“We also considered some of the key differences in the skills required at college - not least changes in computer systems, reading our timetable with all its quirky code and getting lost around a much bigger site,” she said.

Ko Wai Tātou is the result of this reflection. The aims are that teachers offer a more consistent and intentional approach to welcoming Year 9s over their first weeks and that students begin to feel at home and connected as part of the Nayland family as quickly as possible.

Curriculum areas were also invited to experiment with what this might look like in the classrooms of different subject teachers. In science, students have been investigating the different scientific disciplines, including psychology, and learning about how we learn and what happens in the brain when we challenge ourselves.

There has also been a hands-on approach with lots of experiments, including making elephant toothpaste out of hydrogen peroxide and dishwashing liquid and this has gone down well with Year 9s Owen Suter and Jack Baker. “It is good that we’re thrown in the deep end but we’re not at the same time because they’re helping us with it,” Jack said.

The focus on the brain (how we use it and what we tell ourselves) has been a big feature of the maths department’s approach, known by teachers as the growth mindset approach. 

“A student’s mindset towards learning has been proven to be one of the most important factors for a student’s success, so for us as teachers it is critical. We are encouraging our students to not only see mistakes as learning opportunities but to also get them to understand that making mistakes is essential to all learning,” maths teacher David Munro said.

English and art have both incorporated Nayland and local identity as part of their Ko Ko Wai Tātou programmes. Investigation of the local cemetery as a part of a unit on names and their history, changes at Nayland based on reading activities from the 50th jubilee book Dare to be Different, and finding out about poets’ corner have been part of some English classes’ work.

In art some students have looked at their individual identities, as well as their identities as New Zealanders. In addition to looking at the work of certain New Zealand artists, they also  considered how Nayland is represented through our logo with the kuaka (godwit), and the ideas and symbols behind it.

“Students have been drawing the kuaka and our logo and creating their own version,” head of art Diana Maskill said. “They are now exploring imagery that appeals to them and developing practical skills in drawing [...]. The aim is to pull it all together into a painting that represents them and their place at Nayland College.”

Year 9s Owen and Jack give the programme the thumbs up. “They’ve [the teachers] have introduced themselves really well and done some interesting lessons in the first few weeks,” Owen said.

They say people have been friendly and welcoming and that it’s a step up. “It doesn’t feel like we’re being babied anymore,” Jack said.

The programme will end with a trip to Whakatū Marae and Founder’s Park on Thursday 21st or Friday 22nd March for all Year 9 students.  There will be a pōwhiri, a wero (challenge), morning tea and a session for students to share how they are feeling about their first few weeks at Nayland.