TERM 2 Organisation

Te Ako Kahikatea has taken another big step towards the brave new world of 'Modern/Innovative Learning Environments'.
At the beginning of the year, students had a home class, but were grouped across the four classes for literacy and numeracy, returning to home classes in the afternoons for Social Sciences. This gave the four teachers a chance get to know all the students in the Ako, and was particularly beneficial for camp preparation and follow-up.

This term, we have moved into phase two of our programme. To streamline the process,  Rooms 1 and 1A will function as one class.  Rooms 2 and 3 will do the same. 

We have developed an orientation programme for the first two weeks where students  will develop the necessary skill sets and work habits required for succeeding in this new environment. This involves developing a robust work ethic as students will be working on individualised programmes based on learning goals they and their teachers have developed.


Students will attend guided learning sessions with their teachers designed to address their learning needs. There will be groups for literacy and numeracy, but we will not be cross grouping.

What will this look like in practice?
After students have identified their goals, they will select the guided learning sessions the teachers are running, and put them in their personal timetable - which is shared with the teacher. The teachers know who should be at each session, so will ensure that these students attend. However, it is important that students develop independence with this.
One teacher might be taking a maths group, while the other might be taking a writing group.  
This means that when they are not working with of the teachers, students will select from a range of learning tasks they need to complete for the week. So you would see some students working on maths problems, some doing reading tasks, others doing science etc. They will select from a menu of 'must dos' and 'can dos'. It will be up to each student to prioritise these tasks so that a)follow-up tasks are completed b) they do something they are particularly interested in.

Students are accountable for their progress through their required tasks through both their critical friend group, and both teachers. Each student has been assigned to a critical friend group. These groups meet every day or so and students must show what they had planned to do vs what they actually achieved. They must provide evidence of this in the form of a photograph, a document/slide etc. This information is collated in Hapara - the Google student management system we use.  Group members support each other with developing independence re prioritising and meeting task requirements on time.  

All four classes will come together for our Discovery Friday programme each week. Here, teachers, students, and parents will provide workshops on areas of interest e.g. cooking, building, computer programming etc. Students will develop their own area of inquiry in the manner of Google's Genius Hour. Genius Hour Explained

If you have any questions about about your child's learning, please make a time to come and see us.
Warm regards,
Te Ako Kahikatea teachers.