Taking up a wall in Principal Stephen Johnston’s office at the school is a laser cut cork map of the world with a myriad of push pins scattered across it. New Zealand is represented at huge scale. Push pins are concentrated in Auckland, but there is a smattering of pins across the motu. These pins represent the 47 nationalities present at Pakuranga Intermediate, located in the hyper diverse East Auckland neighbourhood.
It’s not a perfect representation, says Johnston. Children are only allowed to have one pin to represent their whakapapa, and some children have multiple heritages.
“But [the map] gives us a bit of an idea. I like it because every child is represented in my office, which I think is important.”
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Diverse origins
Pakuranga Intermediate School was built in 1973 in response to strong population growth in the area, driven by housing development. From the beginning, Pakuranga Intermediate has had a diverse roll. Now, it’s the host school for the Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) service in the area and hosts a satellite class for Sommerville Special School.
In the past ten years, Pakuranga Intermediate has seen a growth in diversity, though the demographics have remained similar. The school roll is a third Pacific and a quarter Māori. However, the number of nationalities represented in the roll has grown significantly in the past few years.
Pakuranga Intermediate is now a medium sized school, especially in comparison to others in the area, with a total roll of just under 300 Year 7s and 8s. But in its early years, class sizes were large, and the school roll peaked at a thousand students. These numbers changed naturally with the demographics of the area, says Johnston. Traditionally a working-class area, family sizes shrunk over the years. Now, roll growth is again increasing due to the medium density housing construction. But Johnston doesn’t believe Pakuranga Intermediate will ever be a large school again.
“There’s more capacity in the area, and there’s good schools everywhere now. When [Pakuranga Intermediate] was big, there were a lot of kids who were unhappy with the schooling in another area of Auckland, and many came here. There’s not really the need for ākonga to do that anymore,” says Johnston.
A friendly, welcoming school
Pakuranga Intermediate doesn’t do anything special, Johnston says modestly. Rather, they simply endeavour to be a friendly and welcoming school – an approach which seems to resonate with the children, and the wider community.
The school motto is “I am tomorrow”, though Johnston says they tend to use “we are tomorrow” as it’s more inclusive. The school values include respect for others, care for the environment and pride in ourselves, which is linked to the school’s positive behaviour for learning programme. The school also teaches connections, leadership and determination as student capabilities.
“We want our ākonga to be great thinkers — critical, creative, independent. To have a strong sense of who they are, not just culturally but also in terms of their strengths and aspirations.
“Between those two things, the values and the capabilities, it gives us a strong vision for who we want our kids to be and how we treat each other.”
On the overcast Auckland day that School News visits, lunchtime is a social affair. Students are wandering around the grounds, playing ball games on the basketball and netball courts. Despite not holding a teaching position, Johnston says that he is very involved in pastoral care for students at the school, and it shows in the way many kids greet “Mr Johnston” as he walks the grounds.
“I love that we’re a friendly, welcoming and inclusive school. Our kids really look after each other. That doesn’t mean we don’t have dramas or social problems… but generally speaking, our kids do a nice job of looking after each other. You walk around the playgrounds at lunchtime and kids are having fun and laughing.”
Some students are relaxing on beanbags and under awnings, others are passing balls or playing volleyball, walking or running on the field. Students of varying cultures and abilities are playing alongside one another, and it’s true — the tone of play is generally light and peaceful.
The scene reflects Pakuranga Intermediate’s ethos of being welcoming and inclusive, ensuring that the community and the students feel a sense of belonging at the school.
“We work very hard to be warm and welcoming to everyone who comes on site. I don’t think we get that right every single time. But we work hard at it. We try to have something every term where we invite the parents in to celebrate ākonga learning.”
In the past, the school has held barbecues, and arts and culture showcases for the community. Johnston says he is mindful of family needs, such as splitting events into two parts to circumvent working hours.
‘The school is lucky to be supported by a wonderful community,’ says Johnston.
“Every time we ask something of our parents and communities, they deliver on it, they really look after us.”
On a recent cultural day, Johnston describes being overwhelmed by the sheer diversity of kai that came in, and the parents who accompanied their children to the school and took pride in their heritage.
“It was great to see kids coming down the driveway in their cultural costumes and parents coming down with them and taking photos outside the school.”
Johnston also describes some whānau who brought in “a huge container full of ‘Otai. They didn’t just bring enough for the kids in the class, they brought enough for the kids from other classes.”
The welcoming nature of the school is reflected in their attendance, too.
“We averaged over 90 percent daily attendance in Term 1, dropped down over Term 2, and last week this Term we’ve hit 90 percent again. For a school in this area, of our demographics, those are positive numbers. Although we are striving to do better.
“To be at that level the school has to be welcoming. There has to be a good level of engagement with the community. The kids have to feel safe and be enjoying it.”
Art, inclusion and belonging
In addition to the laser cut map of the world, Johnston makes little wooden tokens to hand out to students and classes to encourage attendance. Classes with 100 percent attendance will get a token presented at assembly and displayed in their class, classrooms with the top attendance for the day get an attendance tick that is also displayed in the classroom. It encourages friendly competition between classes, chuckles Johnston, and students feel pride at receiving an award.
His vision is for the school to one day be completely wrapped in art, says Johnston, as he shows me the school-wide art units that are hung on the walls. One wall has several hundred painted stars that represent an origin story from a student’s culture or background. Almost every child is represented on the wall, says Johnston. School murals which face the road are also painted in collaboration with students under the guidance of an art teacher. Some of the murals are based around a school unit on the Hauraki Gulf. Others represent the local community.
This year, the upcoming schoolwide art exhibition celebrates inclusion for those with visual impairments. As a result, the art is big, bold and tactile. The school prioritises a performing arts programme too, says Johnston, with a school production every two years. “This year, we will have a cultural performance night.”
Johnston says art draws a big response from his students, and they appreciate being represented on the school itself.
“They enjoy it, and they look after [the art]. We’ll go out there and even if a display has been up there for a year or two I’ll still see kids standing there, looking at it. I think it has a big impact on them.”
Besides the art programme, Pakuranga Intermediate aims to effectively respond to the needs of their community. A recent Education Review Office report recognised how school’s provision for English language learners. Johnston attributes this to their full time ESL teacher and learning assistant. In addition to their support, Johnston says the school has been starting each staff meeting with a section on effective ESOL practices, that teachers then bring into their classroom programmes.
“The classroom teachers have had to lift their game in terms of providing for English language learners. They’ve always done a fantastic job of including kids who are English language learners. But when you’ve got increasing numbers of them in the classroom, support needs to be more systematic.
“I think our English language learners are happy, excited and enjoy school, and it’s largely to do with our [ESL teachers].
“But it’s also to do with the way kids look after each other…. When I walk around the school with a new student, kids are asking: is that student going to come into my class? They’re ready to make friends.”
This article was first published in the Term 4 edition of School News. Read it HERE.
