The year 2-3 classroom at Huia Range School is decorated with children’s work.
The year 2-3 classroom at Huia Range School is decorated with children’s work.
Behind the fence railings of Huia Range School there are many education initiatives taking place, keeping the school in the forefront of modern education.
This was revealed during two open days in September when the public was invited inside to see what makes a modern school tick.
Maia House won the inter-house haka contest.
They were invited to witness the inter-house haka competition, where each house performed the school haka Te Tihi o Huia, written this year specifically for the school.
The performance followed two terms of kapa haka tuition, two hours per week, provided by Ngāti Kahungunu staff, the iwi deciding that it was time to promote Māori culture in Dannevirke schools.
Huia Range principal Robyn Forsyth was quick to accept the offer, the roll being 60 per cent Māori, and she says the results have been awesome.
A Year 7-8 group recorded their visit to Wellington to watch the World Women’s Football Cup match, won 4-0 by Japan over eventual champions Spain.
Four iwi staff, led by Ariana Nikora-McLaren, have taught both junior and senior students whose performance in the contest demonstrated their passion for the culture.
As school students went home teachers stayed on to welcome visitors to their classrooms, students showing parents their work in modern learning environments (classrooms) each equipped with comfy furniture and the latest in electronic devices.
A 7-8 group report on their study of sugar in our food.
One of these is an interactive whiteboard on which students can write, record their work, research topics on Google and YouTube, create pictures and store them as electronic files, while teachers can use them to teach and guide students.
Huia Range has one of these in every classroom and constantly updates them, two of their oldest and still in good working order being retired and donated last week to the two kindergartens in town.
The new entrants have many interactive activities in their classroom.
Another initiative at Huia Range is the adoption of a new system of teaching literacy to year 0-2 students called Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA). Other schools have visited Huia Range to view the success of the programme after its first year.
Lachy, 5, was proud of his undersea diorama, with starfish he made from clay.
With the theme word “Interactive” this year at Huia Range teachers have had opportunities to give their students hands-on activities ranging from the tiniest new entrants making dioramas about animals to the seniors investigating where the TDC spends its rates money, how much sugar there is in food and what all the world cups in sport are about (rugby, basketball, netball and women’s football). A group of 58 travelled to Wellington to watch the only game Spain lost in the football.
Teacher Lovey Karena stands with her year 5-6 students’ summary of the year’s experiences.
Teacher Anna Peffers said going to the stadium was an experience in itself, not one of the students getting lost, and all behaving perfectly.
Assistant principal and teacher of the year 5-6′s Sarah Graham extols the many uses of an interactive electronic whiteboard.
Dave Murdoch is a part-time photo journalist working for the Bush Telegraph and based at Dannevirke. He has covered any community story telling good news about the district for the last 10 years.
