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Our Learning Ko ta tatou ako

Our Curriculum

Somerfield School provides an inclusive and responsive curriculum. The interests and cultural heritage of the children at all levels of the school are captured by the teachers to inform their planning and preparation of engaging units of work.  We are excited to be able to continue our work on developing a broad based curriculum ensuring our children have the skills they need across many learning areas – not just reading, writing, and mathematics.

At each curriculum level, children will have opportunities to take part and learn in all of the eight curriculum areas; Mathematics, English, Science, Social Sciences, Technology (including the new digital curriculum components), Health and Physical Education, The Arts (Music, Dance, Drama, Visual Arts) and Learning Languages (Te Reo Maori)  are taught in all year levels of the school. Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo is pleased that they will be able to begin to fully implement the new digital technologies components in 2020 as work has been underway in 2018-2019 to enable this to happen successfully.

Deep Learning

Somerfield has been involved with the international Deep Learning project for a number of years now.  This is work that was developed by Michael Fullan to help students develop the skills and attitudes needed for a future focused world.

When teaching inquiry learning we think of these four components – Teaching and Learning practices, Learning Partnerships, Leveraging Digital Skills, and the Learning Environment.  These together with the six competencies (Creativity, Communication, Critical Thinking, Character, Collaboration, Citizenship) (known as the 6 C’s) focus teachers in on the parts of the learning process that matter and make the biggest difference to learners.  We are now several years in on our journey. We work closely with our cluster schools in Kakukura Cluster to develop meaningful and authentic learning experiences for our children.

Our SMART Somerfield Values

Teachers are guided in their thinking and planning by the Somerfield S.M.A.R.T. values, which incorporate and exemplify the Key Competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum and the six underlying concepts of creativity, collaboration, citizenship, character, critical thinking, and communication of the Deeper Learning Programme.  Together with the 24 Positive Education Character Strengths, your child will leave our school having had a solid foundation of future focused skills and values that will give them a solid basis for all future learning. For more information about Positive Education and how this works at our school please follow the Wellbeing page.

Connected Partnerships

We value and work hard to develop strong and positive relationships between our teachers, children and whanau.  Using a variety of methods, whanau are invited to have their input into our learning programmes. Students, and their thinking,  are included in all aspects of the learning process. For students to be truly engaged they need to have a strong sense of agency in their learning.  By being motivated, engaged, and having choices about their learning, students thrive in our learning environments. Because every child is unique with different interests and strengths, learning does not look the same for all students in our school.  At regular times throughout the year, often each term, our teams hold special learning celebrations for whanau to come in and explore their children’s work. We hope you will be able to join us.

Evidence Based Practice

We base our learning and teaching on best practice and reliable research.  We are pleased to have been acknowledged as using effective and responsive pedagogy and processes so that all children make progress.

The following ERO evaluative reports feature Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo’s work at ensuring that our focus is always on improving outcomes for our students.  These reports highlight our rich curriculum, our innovative teaching and learning programmes, and the strengths in our leadership across the school. We invite you to read more about our work by following the links below.

Using Inquiry in a Relentless drive to improve outcomes for all children

A curriculum that captures the interests and heritage of the children

Keeping children engaged through a rich curriculum

Our learning gallery

Our children thrive in our learning enviroment. Click on an image below to enlarge it.