A new vision for Oxford Area School

Nau mai, haere mai, greetings, and welcome.

In 2018 the Board of Trustees initiated community consultation to create a strategic plan for the next three years. Students, staff (both past and present), parents/caregivers and members of the community were approached for feedback into Oxford Area School and our future needs.

The outcome of the consultation clearly indicated the need to also re-vision as our current vision of “A Quality Education in a Rural Setting” wasn’t quite reaching the stars.

From most of the feedback, it was evident from the start that the relationship between Oxford Area School and the community is essential for success.

We proudly reveal our new vision as:

Kāhui Whetū - Tātai Whetū - Rau Whetū

As a community, we align our learning and skills, showing how extraordinary we are.

In the past, we have identified the bright shining stars in the Oxford night sky as being something unique to us. Along with the naming of Aotahi (the Orion Constellation), we have continued this theme by utilising the Māori word Whetū meaning star.

Our new vision has three connected parts:

Kāhui Whetū - The collection (constellation) of stars. Joining together as one group, where each star has a relationship with one another, connected as a community. This phrase is used to express the connections as we grow alongside each other, with each other, together.

Tātai Whetū - Aligning the stars (getting your ducks in a row). Putting together the learning and skills. This phrase is used to express all the learning that takes place in the learning journey.

Rau Whetū - This refers to the hundred stars. From the expression “taumata rau”, meaning “extraordinary”. This phrase is used to express the success, achievements, that make us shine together.

Together the three phrases mean: “As a community, we align our learning and skills, showing how extraordinary we are.”

In order to reach this vision we have identified three specific areas to focus on first, as part of our strategic plan:

- Grow together - through thriving connected communities: family, school, community and the world

- Learn together - through pioneering and collaborative learning, where we are future focused, learning in an authentic way with and from one another

- Shine together - through courage, success and pride we will shine. We will be prepared to take risks as we seek excellence, and celebrate our achievements fostering pride in ourselves, each other and our school.

The graphic shows how the mountains (our strategic plan) connect our land (our values, who we are) with the sky (our vision, who we aspire to be)

Finally, we would like to thank the community for their input into this process, our students and staff for there input, Di Collier (Mana Whenua Education Facilitator, Ngāi Tūāhuriri), Al Fone (Board Facilitator) and RM Designs for the graphic.

We look forward to sharing our 2019 annual plan outlining our first steps in reaching our new vision.

Mike Hart                    Matt Riley
Principal                       Board Chair