Background, Why Change?, 2023 is a Transition year towards achieving this in 2024 and Year 7 Parent Survey Link

Background – In response to our changing demographic and Year 7 intake learning needs over several years, we are restructuring how our teams across the school are organised. 2023 sees us in a transition year by reducing the homeroom teaching teams from six to two, with each of the two teams having two team leaders co-leading supported by one Deputy Principal.

Why change? 

The change sets out to promote the following:

• continue the notion of establishing and sustaining learning focused relationships and tuakana–teina practices for our ākonga, with Year 7 students moving through as a group into year 8 with the same teacher, unless there is a sound reason not to

• greater collaboration across teaching staff that allows for teaching and learning to be deprivatised

• utilise the principle of collaboration to promote coaching models that support positive change in teacher practice and therefore student engagement and achievement

• greater options of homeroom and teacher expertise to match learner need with teacher strength

• keep homeroom class composition and size equally allocated across the school given there is a high degree of uncertainty of enrolments, especially Year 7 students but also unexpected enrolments during the holiday break, until the first week of the new school year

• evenly distribute the social, academic, and emotional/behavioural needs across homerooms rather than having one year group with higher needs than the other

2023 is a Transition year towards achieving this in 2024 

The transition phase supports the following;

• the appointment of all acting Team Leaders situated in Year 8 homeroom classes and not having to move two of them out of their established homerooms into Year 7

• each team has a mixture of Year 7 and 8 homerooms which means that Year 8 teachers can start to work alongside Year 7 homeroom teachers and students in anticipation of the Year 8 homeroom teacher receiving half of a Year 7 homeroom in 2024 as their Year 8s.

• specialist team can continue as usual in 2023 while they develop a teaching and learning programme and/or structure that acknowledges the mixed year levels

• the WIS curriculum team can continue to develop a mixed year level curriculum in 2023 ready to be implemented in 2024

• teaching staff continue to use our current and familiar WIS curriculum while they come to terms with the restructured teams

• the staff get to walk through this structure for a year, review and develop and/or makes necessary changes for our new look 2024 structure of mixed year levels as a result.

• we are able to honour the current (2023) Year 8 student and community expectation maintaining learning focused relationships that we started four years ago (looping), also allowing for time to inform our current Year 7 intake of the changes. 

2023 Year 7 Parent Suggestions for 2024 Class Placements

The time has come for WIS staff to start preparing for 2024 class placements. We would like to offer parents of current Year 7 students the opportunity to complete a survey that sets out to capture your suggestions for your child’s placement next year.

To do this please follow this link 2024 Year 8 Class Placement Parent Survey by the end of this term, Friday 22 September 4 pm.