Nau mai, haere mai. Our vision is to nurture meaningful connections in a thriving and connected community.

Kia ngātahi ai te tū, e pakari ai te tuarā - stand united, stand strong.

Consistency and fairness in interactions are areas whānau/families and tauira/students often talk about.  The best way for us to explain how we are “fair” at Oxford Area School is to look at the notion of equality versus equity.

We are not all the same. We come from different backgrounds that have shaped our values and beliefs, and we all have unique and differing learning needs. The term “equality” refers to supports being the same, while equity is about providing the right supports fairly, based on needs. Same vs fair.

Equity is providing individuals with what they need to be successful. Equality is providing everyone with the same supports, but we know some students require an extra “foot up” to succeed.

Fairness isn't everybody getting the same thing, fair is everybody getting what they need in order to be successful.

At our School this is how we operate, providing the right supports for the individual and we prefer to do this in partnership with families.

Ngā mihi,
Mike Hart
Principal/Tumuaki
Oxford Area School/Te Kura o te Poho Rakahua