Curriculum/Teaching and Learning

The Preparatory School curriculum is developed under the guidelines and philosophy of the New Zealand Curriculum and takes into consideration the special nature of St Andrew’s College. It takes, as its starting point, a vision of our young people as lifelong learners who are confident and creative, connected, and actively involved. It includes a clear set of principles on which to base curriculum decision making. It sets out values that are to be encouraged, modelled, and explored. It defines five Key Competencies that are critical to sustained learning and effective participation in society, and that underline the emphasis on lifelong learning.

Literacy remains the largest and most important learning area (includes Reading, Writing, Spelling, Visual and Oral Language). Literacy accounts for 60–65 percent of the weekly timetable. Numeracy (Mathematics), Enrichment (specialist areas), and Units of Inquiry make up most of the remaining time in the timetable. The school is committed to enhancing strategies and skills for learning and high levels of understanding. A quality learning environment encourages discussion and questioning, and for the student is engaging, differentiated, and meaningful. It also develops interpersonal skills.

During 2019, the Preparatory School continued to spend time unpacking the ‘Visible Learning’ model, which formed part of a College-wide goal around the implementation of John Hattie’s research into what works best in teaching and learning. Staff reviewed and extended their understanding around the use of learning intentions and success criteria. Considerable time was also spent delving into feedback research and a model of feedback through targeted professional development sessions with experts in this area. Staff developed a next step action plan for their own practice, which saw significant improvements for learners in how feedback was given and received.

The gathering of Student Voice feedback was further developed in 2019. This was done in two ways. During Terms 2 and 4 staff used an online tool, Appraisal Connector, to gather specific feedback on the following areas: • Safety and Well-being; • Standards and Expectations; • Teaching and Learning –Relationships; • Teaching and Learning –Communication; • Teaching and Learning –Motivation.

Appraisal Connector provides an anonymous survey for students to complete while allowing teachers to see a detailed summary of their strengths and ‘next steps’ for teaching. Students then re-do the same survey in Term 4, allowing the teachers to reflect on changes they have made through the course of the year.

The second tool used in Year 4–8 is the NZCER ‘Me and My School Survey’. Again, this is an anonymous survey that offers a snapshot of the learning culture in a school and standardised data to track progress over time, as well as nationally referenced gender, ethnicity, and year level comparison. The quality of the teaching and learning in the Preparatory School was reinforced through both surveys. The school will continue to use these two tools in future years to gauge the quality of teaching and learning.

A new focus for professional learning in 2019 was all full-time staff committing to professional development in the use of Te Reo in their classrooms. Te Reo is one of New Zealand’s three official languages, and providing our students with a basic understanding of Te Reo and Tikanga has had many benefits for them. Staff attended three to four lunchtime sessions per term with a Te Reo tutor. These sessions were held during lunchtime with a dual focus of actively encouraging staff to develop in confidence in their own speaking while providing practical activities for use in the classroom. It has been encouraging to see an increased use of Te Reo throughout the Preparatory School as a result of this initiative. Students have displayed an increasing

The Mathematics group spent significant time exploring the key resource used in the Junior Department and applying a critical eye to this. This involved comparing with the New Zealand Curriculum, looking for gaps, and questioning assumptions. The outcome has been an expanded understanding of the resource, and a significant increase in confidence across the Junior team. Staff enjoyed the interactive aspects of the resource, and used their newly gained knowledge to strengthen the consistency of reporting across the team.

sense of pride in the New Zealand Māori culture, as well as an understanding of how languages work and how these skills can be transferred to other areas of learning.

During 2019, professional learning groups operated in the areas of Health and Well-being, Mathematics, Digital Portfolios (using Seesaw), and Spelling. PLGs provide teachers with the opportunity to pursue areas of passion with like-minded educators across levels. 2019 PLG groups were all syndicate based. Using the ‘Teaching as Inquiry’ model, groups have engaged in collaboratively seeking out new and innovative practices and trialling these in classrooms. Well-being was an area of strategic focus throughout the whole College in 2019 and it was particularly useful to have several Preparatory School staff focused on exploring and implementing school wide strategies for our staff and students. This professional learning group consisted of Years 7–8 staff and explored new resources specific to this age group. Staff in this group highlighted the changing nature of society and the difficulties students of this age group are facing, in particular managing access to social media, online material, and cyber safety. Going forward these staff are working on a whole school approach to Health and Well-being programmes to support our learners.

The Digital Portfolio group successfully explored and implemented the use of Seesaw through specialist classes.

Staff involved in this professional learning group span Years 1–8 and included specialists in Art, Religious Education, Music, Spanish, and PE. Seesaw is an online platform that allows students and staff to easily share and reflect on learning, and to create a portfolio that they are proud to show others. The benefits to specialist teachers included the ability to capture and share student work that showcased both the process and product. The Preparatory School programme is greatly enhanced by our specialist staff, and Seesaw has provided an opportunity for teachers and students to connect with parents in a way not previously possible.

Spelling was the focus for our teachers in the Middle Syndicate’s professional learning group in 2019. This involved a two-pronged approach. The first part involved working together to best implement the current spelling programme, while also critically evaluating this programme and exploring other resource options. Significant gains included: the development of a resource bank for staff, linking assessment to teaching and learning, including at school and home, and providing a true differentiated programme to all students in this area. In 2020 the Ministry of Education expects that schools will be using the revised Technology Curriculum, to provide students with opportunities to learn in and about technologies. More specifically utilising new content around computational thinking, and designing and developing digital outcomes. Targeted professional development sessions and targeted teaching through two in-school specialists have seen significant progress around this area. Anneke Kamo has spent time in classes in the Junior and Middle Syndicates while Wilj Dekkers has spent time with Year 7–8 classes helping teachers to develop units of work in this area. Staff in the Senior Syndicate have completed professional development in using Minecraft Education and Lego Mindstorm EV3 robots in the classroom. Across the school the children and teachers are well prepared for the introduction of the Digital Technology curriculum in 2020.

The team of specialist teachers have continued to provide significant enrichment to students across the Preparatory School, and are an asset to the Teaching and Learning programme. During 2019 all staff teaching specialist subjects (Art, Music, Religious Education, Spanish, Physical Education, and Drama) engaged in personal inquiries into ‘best practice’ teaching in their subject area. This process involved trialling of new ideas and gaining students feedback into how new programmes were received. Inquiries of this nature provide an opportunity to reflect what works well for our students and areas for future development.