Many students & parents will likely be keen to know which class & teachers they will have for 2021.

Because we are likely to continue to take many more in-zone enrolments between now and the first day of school 2021, we have no option but to delay working out class/teacher placements until much nearer the start of the 2021 school year. In January 2020 we enrolled close to 50 students with a surge of new enrolments (across all year levels).

We will of course communicate this to you before the first day of 2021, and just wanted to make families aware now. 

Here are our projected timeframes for communication (please note the dates):

• Wednesday 27th January: Classroom placements confirmed by teachers at our Staff Only Day
• Wednesday 27th January (afternoon/evening): Parents/students find out whānau teacher and team placement via email. This will also include information about stationery orders (through OfficeMax online) and optional BYOD info for Kāhu students.
• Friday 29th January 1-3pm: Optional Meet the Teacher drop-in session. This will be held at school and our teachers will be on site to enable you and your child to call in and say "hi".
• Tuesday 2nd February: First day of school 2021. Our team will all place a huge focus on developing relationships at the start of the year.

Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. As you will appreciate, we wish we had a crystal ball! 

So…. how do we work out classes? 

Since opening we have enrolled over 230 students. You will appreciate that it is a complex process to ensure that we stay within our staffing budgets (set by the Ministry of Education), yet also have the ability to cope with growth at all year levels.

During 2019-2020 we have been really pleased with how we have managed this, with all classes having teacher:student ratios well below the norm, and we have also avoided the need to shift any students from class to class to free up space. In a rapidly growing school, there is a lot to factor in. Firstly we have to look at how many students per year level from a logistical perspective.

E.g. if there are 70 year 5/6 students, that is too many for 2 teachers but not enough for 3 (At years 5/6, we are provided one teacher per 29 students from the Ministry of Education)

The schoolwide overview is initially created with teacher team sizes and year level overviews (of how many students per year level are where)

Then on an individual student level, our teachers will draft classes factoring in many of the factors below:

• Social maturity
• Physical maturity
• Academic ability
• Age and number of years at school
• Peer groups and friends
• Strengths and interests of teaching staff
• Balance of children in classes - special needs, behaviour

Other common questions:

Do we stream classes based on ability?
No, our classes are not streamed based on ability. The programme is determined by the needs, interests and abilities of the students in the class. There are no separate programmes for each year level in the school, we use curriculum levels, based on individual student ability. Teachers run a wide range of groups based on abilities, and this is enhanced greatly with 2-3 or more teachers, where they can differentiate more widely.

Why does the school have some composite (i.e. Year 2 & 3) Learning Communities?
This allows the school to manage class sizes accordingly. Simply because of the varying numbers of students per year level, the composite nature of our teams will change from year to year.

My child is a Year 4 in a Year 3/4 class, does that mean they are being “held back" and should I be worried?
No, the level of learning is based on the curriculum levels and not the Year level. We don’t stream the classes. Individual achievement/assessment info is crucial for each of our students and this is used to help determine individual, group and school programmes. Teachers use this information to help our students with their learning.
A year 4 student in a year 3/4 Learning Community will complete exactly the same level of work as a year 4 would in a year 4/5 class, assuming their individual abilities are similar.

How does the school support the students with the transition?
On Friday 29th January 1-3pm there is an Optional Meet the Teacher drop-in session. This will be held at school and our teachers will be on site to enable you and your child to call in and say "hi". When school resumes on Tuesday 2nd February, our team places a huge focus on developing relationships at the start of the year.

What do I do if my child is upset about next year?
Hopefully this will not be the case but during our lives we all have times of change and what is valuable is the ability to adapt and move forward. Changes in friendship/social groups are an expected and essential part of developing as a child.

Advantages of our Collaborative Learning Environments
In relation to the information above, some of the key advantages we are seeing at our school are:

• Greater differentiation and ability to meet the needs of all students, whether they be remedial, require extension or anywhere in between

• The student-teacher relationship is critical. Even the world’s greatest teacher will not be capable of building a strong relationship with every student, as this is human nature. However, students have a far greater chance to form a strong relationship with at least one of their teachers.

• Teachers are able to use their passion/strengths for the benefit of a wider group of students. i.e. we can use the skills of 2-3 teachers to build a “super-teacher”

• Students have a much wider circle of peers in each learning community. This enhances their social development and collaboration.

• Students have greater flexibility in their classrooms to select a working environment that best suits their own style or the task i.e. one size fits one, rather than some of the “one size fits all” desk-based environments.