About Whakarongo School...
At Whakarongo School we recognise that we live in an ever changing world that will confront our students with a whole range of different challenges.
Whakarongo School is focused on preparing our students for this challenge, making sure that they will have the best possible chance of being successful citizens.
Whakarongo School is well known as a leading school and has much to offer. This page will give you a taste of our school, but I would also like to extend an invitation to come and visit us to view our excellent facilities and stimulating learning environments.
Whakarongo School is well known as a leading school and has much to offer. This page will give you a taste of our school, but I would also like to extend an invitation to come and visit us to view our excellent facilities and stimulating learning environments.
Below you will find an overview about the organisational structure of our school. To find out more about the Whakarongo Kid and how this is incorporated into our teaching and learning, visit the link: Our Vision.
Our Curriculum: An Overview...
Whakarongo School covers all of the learning areas as identified in the New Zealand Curriculum. We use the learning areas to develop the skills, knowledge, attitude and values our students will need to be successful future focused learners. We deliver our curriculum through the most up to date methods, focusing on an inquiring approach to learning and developing deeper understanding through big ideas and concepts for learning.
At Whakarongo School Literacy, Mathematics and the Whakarongo Kid form the FOUNDATIONS of our curriculum framework and are integrated through all learning. The wider curriculum areas are split into two key areas: STEM & HEArtSS. Conceptual based units of learning are carried out through one of these two separate lenses in an inquiring approach:
- STEM includes Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths
- HEArtSS includes Health, Environmental Studies, The Arts and Social Sciences.
Click to find out more about 'Our STEM Programme'.
In Years 0-3, Literacy, Mathematics and Whakarongo Kid will be the lens to develop learning in either STEM or HEArtSS. We believe that these year levels are the core developmental years for building core learning skills in literacy, mathematics and through the Whakarongo Kid so that children are learning to read, learning to write, learning to self-manage, collaborate etc. These provide the foundations for them to then use these skills to help them learn throughout the rest of their lives.
- Literacy/Mathematics, Whakarongo Kid & STEM
- Literacy, Mathematics, Whakarongo Kid & HEArtSS.
Assessment & Reporting...
Assessment: We use both standardised tests (e.g: running records, PAT's) as well as formative assessment practices. This provides us with the vital information about student progress in key areas and provides students with feedback to continually improve their work.
Reporting: We keep parents up to date with their children's progress through a variety of ways. This includes: parent-teacher interviews where a learning plan is discussed and goals are set, learning celebrations, children's own goal setting and sharing, written reports, and other opportunities to view student work. Teachers are also available to meet with you to discuss their progress.
Assessment: We use both standardised tests (e.g: running records, PAT's) as well as formative assessment practices. This provides us with the vital information about student progress in key areas and provides students with feedback to continually improve their work.
Reporting: We keep parents up to date with their children's progress through a variety of ways. This includes: parent-teacher interviews where a learning plan is discussed and goals are set, learning celebrations, children's own goal setting and sharing, written reports, and other opportunities to view student work. Teachers are also available to meet with you to discuss their progress.
Research has shown that students of today are different from their parents, in that their brains have been programmed for a digital world of multiple inputs and moving and static images. Whakarongo School is well known for its leadership in the area of supporting teaching and learning through the use of e-learning. We receive large numbers of visitors from all over the country to look at this work. e-learning is not about learning about computers, it is about improving learning. Our students use e-learning to ENHANCE, COMMUNICATE and CREATE.
We have a compulsory BYOD policy for all students in Years 3-8. Year 0-2 students have iPads supplied and used as an integrated part of their day to day learning .
Click Our eLearning to see key apps we use and our Bring Your Own Device policy for those students wishing to bring their own devices.
If you have any further questions regarding e-learning at Whakarongo School, please contact: amatangi@whakarongo.school.nz
Leadership...
Click Our eLearning to see key apps we use and our Bring Your Own Device policy for those students wishing to bring their own devices.
If you have any further questions regarding e-learning at Whakarongo School, please contact: amatangi@whakarongo.school.nz
We develop our students leadership through a number of initiatives. Students have the choice of a large number of responsibilities that they can take on during each year and the opportunity to work towards a silver and gold school badge from Years 5-8.
We have 5 houses within our school and each one of these houses has a house leader as well as a team of four students from Years 5-8 to assist with organisation of house events such as sports, competitions etc. These students form our student council and they are supported in developing their leadership skills on a regular basis with coaching sessions from teachers supporting the council. The house leaders also attend an annual Young Leader's Day.
Click here to see more about Developing Our Leaders.
Click here to see more about Developing Our Leaders.
Modules: Students in years 7 and 8 have the opportunity to attend these modules once a week. The aim of the modules is to provide students with a 'taste' of some new area (e.g: Chinese Mandarin and Japanese) or some more in-depth teaching in areas like Dance and Drama. This exposure also assists students in making subject choices at high school.
The Year 0-6 children also engage each week in a range of extracurricular learning through Te Ao Kori me nga Toi programmes within pods to provide them with a wide range of experiences, extending and challenging their thinking, while working outside of their normal class groups, to encourage greater collaboration and diversity in our learning programmes.
We also run a Gifted and Talented Education programme at Whakarongo School (GATE). It is needs based and has both a junior and senior component, and provides a range of challenges for our talented learners such as through our successes in the Tournament of Minds competition. If you have further queries about our GATE programme, please contact your child's homeroom teacher or our GATE teacher: Victoria Zhou - vzhou@whakarongo.school.nz.
Sports...Sport has a high profile at our school and we have a huge number of teams participating in a variety of winter and summer codes of sports. We rely heavily on parents and caregivers to volunteer as coaches and managers of these teams. We believe that sports provide students with an organised way of doing some exercise and also provide students with an environment to develop their interpersonal skills. Within our school, we run our own championship events for swimming, athletics and cross-country and there are also opportunities for students to compete against other schools in these areas.
Click here to go to Our Sports page. If you have any further questions regarding sport, contact: sports@whakarongo.school.nz
Click here to go to Our Sports page. If you have any further questions regarding sport, contact: sports@whakarongo.school.nz
We offer a number of cultural activities. These include regular participation in the Kids for Kids concerts and a full school production every 3 years.
Visiting performing artists introduce new art forms to our students and inspire them to develop their creative capabilities.
In 2008 we established a Kapa Haka group. These have been very successful and are continuing to grow and develop, with two further Kapa Haka groups through the middle and junior school now established.
In addition to this, in the last two years we have been developing several dance groups, with great success at the DanceNZ Made competitions since 2013.
Although Whakarongo isn't a rural school anymore, we still value our rural heritage and values. We do this through our annual Agricultural Day, with a lamb and calf competition, a vegetable garden competition and encourage our students to be kids and play (yes, we have a climbing tree!). We also have our environmental and gardening groups, producing our own vegetables to sell and getting the children involved in clean, green Kiwi living!
After School Care...
A-Plus runs an After School Care programme based at Whakarongo School. Holiday fun has a simple philosophy for After School Care - good activities, good staff and let the children have fun.
A-Plus supplies their own staff and resources, avoiding technology based 'babysitters' and utilises themed modules, planned activities, an incentive based Homework Club and national Pen-Pal Club, along with a structured timetable and motivated staff.
A-Plus runs an After School Care programme based at Whakarongo School. Holiday fun has a simple philosophy for After School Care - good activities, good staff and let the children have fun.
A-Plus supplies their own staff and resources, avoiding technology based 'babysitters' and utilises themed modules, planned activities, an incentive based Homework Club and national Pen-Pal Club, along with a structured timetable and motivated staff.
After School Care runs from 3pm to 6pm weekdays during the school term.
For more information check out this website link: www.aplus.co.nz