Last week 7 of our teachers joined me in Auckland to focus on specialist teaching in the intermediate middle school sector. While the textiles, foods, visual art and materials technology teachers from around New Zealand spent time together and visited schools, the addition of the creative arts teachers to the 2 day conference was invaluable.

Since the first intermediate was built 100 years ago, the specialist teaching programme has been our strength and our point of difference. The challenge has always been how to integrate the specialist teaching programme into the mainstream curriculum.

I think many intermediate middle schools are taking on this challenge with some success.

Surely mathematics is a key component of materials technology, the food programme and even aspects of textiles and visual art. Science is at the heart of any food and materials programme. Literacy is embedded in all our specialist programmes. Reading, summarising, processing information, writing, explaining, reflecting, and interpreting diagrams and visual cues.

The creative arts deserve more of our attention and to be seen as a curriculum that adds richness and creativity to learning. Last week drama, music, art, and dance teachers from intermediate middle schools met together for the first time. Strengthening and sharing the skills and expertise of our gifted teachers across the wider school has started. Integrating the idea that there are multiple ways of showing learning is gathering momentum.

I look forward to seeing Aotearoa New Zealand Histories, and place-based learning showcased through our specialist teaching as we embed this learning in our school.

It’s easier said than done but here at Newlands Intermediate we are working hard to strengthen and broaden our specialist programme in the coming years.

As the president of the Association of Intermediate Middle Schools, Nga Kura Waenga o Aotearoa, I often visit schools around the country when I attend conferences. I have returned from Auckland with a sense that we in Wellington are under served with our buildings and environments. Some learning spaces I visited last week took my breath away – especially the specialist teaching spaces. Time for the government to invest in Wellington schools!