Image supplied by Tauranga Intermediate School
“We’ve only got our students for two years… We want them to look back on their time at Tauranga Intermediate School as a very positive time in their lives where they’ve been exposed to great teaching, were able to develop their self-confidence and self-esteem, try new things and be ready for the next stage of their education.”
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Cameron Mitchell is tumuaki | principal of Tauranga Intermediate School, a large school servicing the Tauranga Moana region with a roll of more than 1250 Year 7 and 8 students.
Its localised curriculum is underpinned by the ‘STARS’ values, which are integrated with the Positive Culture for Learning (PC4L) programme. The school’s vision statement is to “explore personal potential”, a mantra evident from the wide range of opportunities on offer to students. The school has a rich sporting and cultural history, an emphasis on connecting with the local whenua, and many opportunities for students to broaden their horizons through exposure to diverse and international cultures.
Tauranga Intermediate, like New Zealand itself, is now very culturally diverse, which is a strength and a key feature of the school’s identity. The school is almost 40 percent Māori, and there are many other ethnicities represented in the school body. Over the past few years, the school has emphasised identity building as the foundation of its vision statement.
Tauranga Intermediate has a range of cultural groups and events, including a “very strong” Pasifika group, a multi-ethnic Indian dance group, a nationally recognised kapa haka group, and a whanaungatanga day where whānau from various cultures are invited to come into school and share an aspect of their heritage.
Tauranga Intermediate also has a strong Chinese language and culture programme, which recently won a National Excellence Award. The programme was created in partnership with Victoria University over a decade ago, when New Zealand’s trade and partnership with China was becoming stronger.
“We want to make sure that all students are first learning Te Reo Māori … then we expose them to the Chinese language as well. It helps develop international-mindedness and global citizenship, as well as having awareness, respect and tolerance for other cultures.”
In recent years, students have had the opportunity to visit Canada, China, Thailand and Samoa with the school.
“International culture is very important to us, as is making connections with our global community,” says Mitchell. In this way TIS aims to help their students make sense of their identity within Tauranga Moana, and then further contextualise how Tauranga Moana and Aotearoa New Zealand fit on the world stage.
Mitchell brings his own international outlook to the school, with 10 years’ experience in Singapore. Mitchell and other staff members have experience with the International Baccalaureate, and they bring this context to the localised curriculum at Tauranga Intermediate School.
Tauranga Intermediate has its own learning model, the ‘TIS Inquiry Model’. Students use the model to move through six themed ‘Inquiry Roadmaps’ over two years:
The inquiry model has four cyclical stages based around the school waka, that students are encouraged to move through to guide their learning:
The roadmaps are themed areas of learning that integrate traditional subject areas together for a “natural fit”.
“Our teachers are doing a great job of making sure learning is contextualised, so it’s not just doing an activity for the sake of activity.
“There has to be an organic connection to what’s being taught for it to be truly integrated. When we’re teaching reading and writing through our road map, it becomes transdisciplinary learning. The depth of understanding is improved through students making connections between the real world and what it is they’re learning and reading and writing about.”
Mitchell says the school is working on strengthening its implementation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. He says they’re fortunate to have the mana whenua of Tauranga Moana – Ngāti Ranginui, Ngai Te Rangi and Ngāti Pukenga – represented in their staff.
“We’re very fortunate that we have all three [iwi] represented… we’re able to tap into their knowledge, expertise and who they are to help us develop and refine our localised curriculum.”
Part of that strong localised curriculum is Te Tai Whanake, a resource developed by Tauranga Moana’s three Kahui Akō in partnership with mana whenua using Ministry of Education funding and local grants.
“It’s an amazing resource that helps us understand what is important to each iwi, the aspirations they have for their tauira, and ensure their voice has a place in our programmes of learning.
“It also supports schools to teach the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum, in particular the stories of who we are, where our students have come from, around Marae, around Kaupapa and around local pūrākau.”
Underpinning the local curriculum are the school’s values, known as STARS. The acronym stands for: Manaakitia (Safety), Whanaungatanga (Team), Ka taea (Achieve), Whakamanatia (Respect) and Pārekareka (Sense of Humour).
Pārekareka, or sense of humour, is an unusual value that catches many people’s eye, says Mitchell. But he believes the value fits in perfectly with the PC4L model and is important to include.
“Students of this age group are sometimes going through a crazy time in their lives. They’re rapidly changing physically… then they’re growing up in essentially an ever-changing world. The impact of social media on top of everything that’s going on during puberty is a lot to handle.”
Pārekareka, then, is essential for staff and students alike.
“We unpack what ‘sense of humour’ means in the classroom. It’s about learning to celebrate our successes but also have a bit of a laugh along the way because we want to make learning fun, and ensure we’re in a supportive environment knowing that when things go wrong, you’ve got people around you who will pick you up.”
The school works hard to ensure their STARS values and their PC4L programme are one and the same. The PC4L programme is about developing positive relationships, and Mitchell says TIS does that through embedding their STARS values into everyday teaching and learning.
“We’re talking about our STARS all the time, we have a STARS school song and there are awards related to our STARS. The STARS are very visible around our school,” says Mitchell.
To ensure no student gets lost despite the size of the intermediate, TIS is organised into a 10-house structure. Each house is named after a prominent native tree, and the school is currently developing each house’s cultural narrative: giving the houses their own identity and kaitiaki symbol. Mitchell says this structure works as each house is like a “mini-school”, ensuring pastoral care and academic oversight is maintained for all children.
“All four teachers [in each house] know every student.” The 10 houses compete regularly to earn points for the hotly contested Spirit Trophy.
In addition to fostering personal and collective identity in students, guided by the school’s underpinning values, TIS also offers students a wide variety of extracurricular activities and has a strong emphasis on EOTC to build confidence and self-esteem.
Tauranga Intermediate owns its own EOTC facility: Ngamuwahine Lodge in the lower Kaimai Ranges.
“It’s an amazing natural setting [and] we’ve put a lot of effort and capital into growing this as a resource,” says Mitchell.
Each student at TIS heads on a four-day camp once a year over their time at TIS, and the school has been able to subsidise the cost for each student to ensure they can attend. Mitchell says the school is proud to be able to offer more opportunities for students to go to camp, as the experience builds self-confidence, self-esteem, self-management and teamwork skills.
Tauranga Intermediate also has a strong sporting culture, with a rich history. TIS has produced many excellent sportspeople, and the intermediate carries on its tradition by offering a variety of sports so that students can try new things, which links back to their school vision statement. Mitchell says their wide range of sports would not be possible without a dedicated staff who commit their time to coaching and running sports programmes.
Each aspect of school life and culture at TIS is ultimately driven by their vision statement, says Mitchell.
“We’re trying to do things just like every other school in New Zealand. You know, teaching the curriculum as well as we can, making sure we’ve got value added for all of our students, but also really celebrating who we are as an Intermediate School.
“We want to make sure that our students, regardless of their backgrounds, come here and can explore their personal potential.”
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