Achievement Challenge
To ensure all ākonga transition positively between and throughout education settings.
Rationale
Historically, our community makeup has changed rapidly at such a pace, that as educators we have struggled to make strong connections with the new ethnicities that have been introduced.
Whilst this is important, we still need to recognise the history of our area and the bi-cultural heritage of Aotearoa. In doing so, we will need to have many community meetings and consultations. We would also hope to bring different ethnicities together and ensure we are leading and teaching in a culturally competent way.
We have identified the need for the strong leadership of the transition process to ensure consistency of process and communication across the schools. There also needs to be effective communication between Principals who are working with the same whānau across settings.
Schools need to provide opportunities for parent education and understanding of current thinking and ways to best support the wellbeing of their children, as well as learning from different cultural communities so we can bring this into school and the classroom.
Understanding School Transitions
Students within the Te Ara Bucklands Beach Kāhui Ako make a number of transitions between schools, including the transition to primary school, moving from primary school to intermediate school, and from intermediate school to college. During these transitions, there are changes in curriculum levels and content, along with changes in the way the content is delivered. Students also experience transitions within each school by moving to new year levels, and often new teachers, at the start of each year.
Alongside changes in the physical location when transitioning between schools, there are changes in the structure of learning at each school level. At primary school, students experience most of their learning with their classroom teacher. At intermediate school they are introduced to a number of subjects taught by specialist teachers, and at college level students move between classrooms for each subject.