2024 was a year of High-level Academic Achievement
Advancement in Literacy and Numeracy continued during the year, as did the children’s ongoing development of strategies and tools for learning. The children performed well against national benchmarks.
The Preparatory School is committed to enhancing strategies and skills for learning. The children need to be able to make meaningful connections, and to apply knowledge to a range of situations and contexts.
The Preparatory School continues to be acknowledged and recognised as a showcase and working example of what a 21st century learning environment looks like.
Enjoyment, engagement, personalised learning, and achievement is readily seen at any time during the day.
Academic Achievements in 2024 Children at or above national averages
MATHEMATICS
READING Children at or above national averages
WRITING
Children at or above national averages
KEY COMPETENCIES
Children within or above their year
The school’s learning environment caters for all learning styles and abilities, and offers a level of diversity, which nurtures and expands all children’s development. The children’s learning is personalised through differentiation; the focus becomes each child’s genuine next steps.
This allows each child to work at their appropriate level, irrespective of year level. Working with small groups, the teacher can scaffold, mentor, and guide the learning. The teacher can also stimulate deeper thinking and understanding through quality questioning.
Differentiation also caters for the learning needs of able children. It allows them to work at an extended level, but remain in their learning environment with their peer group. This approach also assists the development of their Key Competencies (KCs) or Emotional Intelligence (EQ).
The KCs are considered integral to being a well-rounded and successful learner. A person’s EQ is expected to be a significant factor in securing employment in the future. The primary years are the foundation years for the development of this skill set.
In the Preparatory School we are fortunate to have:
• the ability to implement the New Zealand Curriculum as intended;
• clarity within the school around effective pedagogy;
• strong curriculum leadership;
• competent teachers;
• enrichment experiences taken by specialist staff;
• a rigorous yet supportive teacher performance review process;
• a physical environment which supports the school’s approach to learning;
• the flexibility of large shared areas as well as smaller (class) rooms. Either or both can be used depending on the learning environment required at the time;
• one teacher with one class of children. This ensures that the crucial connections made between the teacher and child (and family) can be maintained, and there is no loss of learning flow;
• indoor/outdoor flow and connectivity;
• availability of a range of learning technologies;
• opportunities for innovation and creativity;
• forward looking and timely future planning.
During the year, the children enjoyed high levels of success – there were many outstanding academic, sporting, and cultural achievements.
Some of the highlights were:
• several students won competitions –Writing, Poetry, Speech and Drama, Future Problem Solving (individual category), and in teams – Future Problem Solving;
• most children played and enjoyed more than one sport, and many achieved regional and national success;
• there was ongoing development of coding and robotics, and the opportunity to work in the world of virtual reality;
• the gender balance continues to be evenly balanced;
• we continued to be a school in demand for places.
The Preparatory School’s all-round quality is consistently acknowledged by parents, staff, and students in ongoing surveys. The high level of support for the Preparatory School in all key areas is very pleasing and affirming.
As we look towards 2025, we will have a targeted Annual Plan which will continue to support the ongoing development of the school’s Student-centred Learning Approach (page 4). This model incorporates the intention and emphasis of the New Zealand Curriculum. All staff professional learning next year will link to the Annual Plan targets and expected outcomes.
The 2025 school year is set to be an exciting and productive year for students and staff.
Jonathan Bierwirth Principal of Preparatory School Deputy for Rector
Student-centred Learning Approach
STUDENT-CENTRED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
INSPIRED AND P NATE TEACHERS
Key Competencies
A VISIBLE LEARNER A
eedback AssessmentCapabili
seekfeedbackandrespond
LearningProcesses
Curriculum / Teaching and Learning
The Preparatory School Curriculum is developed under the guidelines and philosophy of Te Mātaiaho –The New Zealand Curriculum and takes into consideration the special nature of St Andrew’s College. The change in government has led to some adjustments in the timeline and approach for the Refreshed Curriculum. The focus continues to be on a more knowledge-rich curriculum that is clear about what students need to understand, know, and do at each year level from Years 0 to 13. In addition, the government has identified two key targets in education underpinned by seven priorities. The two targets are:
1. 80% of students present for more than 90% of the term.
2. 80% of Year 8 students at or above the expected curriculum level for their age in reading, writing, and mathematics.
These priorities that sit underneath these are better attendance, a clearer curriculum, a better approach to literacy and numeracy, smarter assessment and reporting, improved teacher training, stronger learning support and greater use of data.
This includes a Science of Learning approach incorporating evidence-based teaching practices to support effective learning. At its core, this approach identifies five characteristics of how we learn:
• students learn best when experiencing a sense of belonging in a learning environment and feel valued and supported;
• a new idea or concept is always interpreted through, and learned in association with, existing knowledge;
• establishing knowledge in a wellorganised way in long-term memory reduces students’ cognitive load when building on that knowledge. It also enables them to apply and transfer the knowledge;
• social and emotional well-being directly impacts the ability to learn new knowledge;
• motivation is critical for well-being and engagement in learning.
In 2024, the Preparatory staff attended a workshop on the Science of Learning run by Ministry Curriculum Leads. Staff also worked through online learning aimed at developing a better understanding of The Progressions Model within the refreshed Curriculum. From 2025, all Primary schools are:
• required to implement structured approaches to teaching reading and writing in Years 0–3 (Structured Literacy);
• required to use the updated English and Te Reo Rangatira (Years 0–6), and the updated mathematics and statistics and Pāngarau (Years 0–8) curriculum content.
During 2024, staff across Years 1–6 have continued to strengthen their practice in a Structured Literacy approach, the first requirement above. Alongside this, additional staff have attended training in this approach. Structured Literacy is a highly explicit and systematic way of teaching all important components of literacy and is based on The Science of Reading. These components include both foundational skills
(e.g., decoding, spelling, handwriting, and letter formation) and higher-level literacy skills (e.g., reading comprehension, written expression). Literacy remains the largest and most important learning area and accounts for 60–65 percent of the weekly timetable. In a full curriculum, staff are becoming adept at integrating across other curriculum areas and making these links explicit to students. In 2025, the Structured Literacy training will extend to include staff in the upper levels of the Preparatory School, and all staff will have the opportunity to attend additional training for written expression and language comprehension.
During Term 3, staff attended a workshop on the Ministry resource Ata and Oho, run by the Curriculum Leads from the Ministry of Education (MOE). The Ata resource teaches social and emotional skills, knowledge, and strategies. Oho explores the connections between students and the world, strengthening social and emotional learning. Social and emotional skills are crucial for students’ overall development and success. These skills play a significant role in enhancing the children’s ability to learn and thrive in various environments. They are also critical for success in the workplace and in personal life, helping individuals to adapt to new situations, work well with others, and make responsible decisions.
A student-centred learning approach, where learning is visible, has continued to underpin and drive teaching in the Preparatory School. In 2024, the focus has been on assessing how well students understand their learning by actively listening to them explain their thinking. This approach is rooted in the principles of metacognition and formative assessment, which emphasise the importance of students being aware of their own learning processes.
Key Aspects of This Approach:
1. Student Voice:
Encouraging students to articulate their thought processes helps teachers gauge their understanding and identify any misconceptions. This practice not only reinforces students’ learning but also builds their confidence in expressing their ideas.
2. Critical Thinking:
By explaining their reasoning, students engage in deeper critical thinking. This process helps them connect new information with prior knowledge, enhancing their overall comprehension.
3. Feedback Loop:
Listening to students’ explanations provides immediate feedback to teachers, allowing them to adjust their instruction to better meet students’ needs.
4. Active Engagement:
Students are more involved in their learning when they know their thoughts and ideas are valued and considered.
The teaching of Aotearoa New Zealand Histories as part of the Social Sciences learning area continued to grow in 2024. Through the Social Sciences, students explore how societies work and how they themselves can participate and take action as critical, informed, and responsible citizens. Aotearoa New Zealand’s Histories (ANZH) curriculum content supports this focus on critical citizenship – understanding the past to make sense of the present and to inform future decisions and actions. It focuses on stories of interactions across time that connect us to one another and to place. There are three elements to the histories curriculum content – understand, know, and do. Teachers design learning experiences that weave these elements together so that student learning is deep and meaningful. This framework runs through all curriculum areas in the refreshed Curriculum.
In 2024, the Preparatory School was fortunate to again have the knowledge and expertise of teacher Mary Leota working part-time implementing the ANZH curriculum in classrooms across Years 3–8. Mary taught a lesson once a week or fortnight to classes, and teachers participated as learners for these classes. Lessons covered a mix of learning and inquiry into our local history as well as basic Te Reo language development.
In 2024, there continued to be a focus on the use of Te Reo Māori in classrooms. Te Reo Māori is one of New Zealand’s three official languages, and providing our students with a basic understanding of te reo Māori and tikanga has had many benefits for them. All teachers attended short professional development sessions run by Mary Leota and implemented this learning in their classrooms. These sessions had a dual focus of actively encouraging staff to develop confidence in their own speaking while providing practical activities for use in the classroom. Mary has also been involved in the teaching of te reo to classes across Years 3–8, with teachers taking part in these lessons as learners. In 2024, the goal was for all classes to begin each day with a daily waiata and karakia, and this has been successfully implemented across all classrooms. It has been particularly pleasing to see te reo Māori being naturally integrated into various curriculum areas, thanks to the resources provided by both the Ministry and other educational providers who have recognised this as a need in recent times.
In 2024, the role of Preparatory School Science Specialist has continued to grow. Christina Fitzgerald’s considerable passion for science has flowed through into an
exciting and dynamic programme for students that has adapted and changed over the course of the year. Changes in 2024 have seen classes split into smaller groups for a more hands-on and individualised approach. Students are developing their science skills as well as learning about and using the scientific method and design, and the concept of fair testing through controlled experiments.
Science this year saw classes taking part in a pilot programme through the Wonder Project entitled the Water Challenge. During a series of lessons, students explored the journey of water, including how to collect, clean, connect, and care for one of Earth’s most precious taonga. This programme partners schools with engineering and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) professionals who work directly with teachers and students to grow their skills and confidence. At Year 5, students learned how to design, build, and launch their own water rockets as part of the Rocket Challenge, also part of the Wonder Project. This series of lessons involved students learning about Newton’s laws, the engineering design process, and working as a group. Another significant highlight of the Years 7–8 programme was the teaching of biology and adaptation through dissection. The Preparatory Science specialist connected with the Secondary School Science Technician in this unit, utilising the resources of the Secondary laboratories to deliver a wquality experience for students.
Assessment and Reporting
Assessment
Assessment is described as the process of gathering, analysing, interpreting, and using information about students’ progress and achievement to improve teaching and learning. Assessment plays a significant part in our education system and should strive to involve all children in knowing how successful they have been in their learning. This is an integral part of developing lifelong learning skills.
The refresh of The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC), Te Mātaiaho, marks a clear shift from the 2007 outcomesfocused curriculum to a progressionsfocused curriculum. Te Mātaiaho provides these progressions in the form of phases of learning, progress outcomes, and progress steps. The phases replace the curriculum levels of the 2007 NZC.
Teaching and learning in the Preparatory School continue to show many strengths. A considerable part of this is the ability to reflect modern learning pedagogy in teaching as well as through our approach to assessment. As this shift in education continues, so has our view of assessment. Assessment for learning practices continue to be a focus in the Preparatory School. This is an ongoing process that arises out of the interaction between teaching and learning. It is founded upon the recognition that the primary purpose of assessment is to improve students’ learning and teachers’ teaching, as both respond to the information it provides. What makes assessment for learning effective is how well the information is used.
Assessment for learning:
• provides clarity for students about what they have learned in relation to the learning intentions;
• provides students with information and guidance they can use to plan and manage the next steps in their learning;
• helps make visible the steps required to enable progression along the learning pathway;
• helps to break learning up into smaller, more manageable chunks.
Teachers must also deliberately notice, recognise, and respond to student progress in the moment and modify to meet student needs. Informal assessment opportunities such as peer and self-assessment, when added to learning conversations and more formal assessment tools, allow both teacher and student to better understand what learning has been achieved and to then set realistic goals for where to next. We are very fortunate in the Preparatory School to have quality teachers who are skilled in using a range of assessment strategies for the success of all learners, and this is reflected in outstanding results across Reading, Writing, and Mathematics in 2024.
In 2024, staff undertook a review of current assessment practices across Years 1–8. The purpose was to develop a comprehensive understanding of current assessment and testing practices, with a particular focus on students with learning differences. The information from this review will drive the direction of assessment practices in 2025.
Formal Assessment Tools and Online Testing
e-asTTle continued to be our main standardised tool for assessing Year 4–8 students in Reading and Writing. As well as being used for whole school cohort testing, individual teachers also used the shorter tests with small groups to inform next steps in the learning process. e-asTTle provided information to teachers, students, and parents about levels of achievement relative to the curriculum achievement outcomes for Levels 2–6. Staff found e-asTTle to be a useful tool for helping students understand their progress, and a useful way to involve parents in discussions about their children’s progress. Classes also used the e-asTTle writing rubric to self-assess their writing as part of class work. Running Records were used as one of the primary assessment tools across all levels. In 2024, staff in the Junior Department and Learning Support used decodable texts as a better way of assessing whether students are responding to instruction and what the next steps for learning are. During the year, staff embedded the use of ‘The Code – A Structured Literacy’ approach to teaching spelling. It includes the phonological assessment screening tool, a scope and sequence, word checks to place students on appropriate year levels, progressions for each year level with lists that have an explanation/definition to support explicit teaching, a lesson sequence, and supporting activities. This programme gives highly detailed assessment information and forms part of a wider change to the teaching of Literacy, particularly in the early years.
Reporting to Parents
The use of the Community Portal as the means to view reports was continued in 2024 and is now the accepted means for
viewing and comparing student reports over time. Students received reports comprising of:
• a summary of initial testing and Curriculum Level placement (Term 1);
• individual next learning steps for key subject areas (Term 1);
• individual Key Competency related goals (Term 1);
• specialist staff assessment of skills, knowledge, and behaviour during specialist lessons (Terms 2 and 4);
• teacher comment around Key Competencies (Terms 2 and 4);
• a summary of student progress towards goals and further testing results (Terms 2 and 4).
Parents were able to access results and comments in a timely manner and discuss with teachers and students at learning conferences. Learning conferences continued to provide another forum for teachers, students, and parents to discuss learning and set goals for the future.
The Preparatory School has an open-door policy and has continued to encourage parents to contact staff whenever they feel a need.
Student Portfolios and E–Portfolios
Student portfolios are a valued and integral part of the children’s learning and achievement. They provide a format for students to record their work, goals, and achievements, reflect on their learning, and share their learning with a wider audience. This method of sharing with parents reflects a ‘continuous reporting’ approach. Continuous reporting is the practice of providing regular, ongoing feedback about students’ learning progress throughout the school year, rather than relying solely on traditional end-of-term or end-of-year reports. This approach typically involves using online systems where teachers can update assessment information and provide timely, targeted feedback that is visible to both students and parents. Reviewing current reporting structures and exploring continuous reporting will be a focus in 2025.
Well-being and Pastoral Care
Looking after the well-being of our students is a vital part of the school day. The Preparatory School has made a deliberate decision to continue to offer one teacher to one class of children. This is counter to the current trend in New Zealand state schools, where two or more classes and teachers are together in one large teaching space. This conscious decision allows our classroom teachers to develop an in-depth understanding and empathy for the small group of students in their care.
Well-being in the Preparatory School encompasses the following key aspects:
• Bounce Back: An evidence-informed programme that provides teachers with practical strategies to teach well-being, resilience, and social-emotional skills;
• StAC-UP: Explicit expectations for students underpinned by the College Values of Truth, Excellence, Faith, Creativity and Inclusivity;
• House Token Rewards: Student recognition for following StAC-UP values and expectations;
• Restorative Practice and StAC-UP Steps: Provides clear pathways and protocols for any behavioural issues that occur;
• Survey Tools and Referral Systems: Provide a communication link between students and staff and assist students to access support when needed;
• Pastoral Support and counselling: Counselling is available as needs arise.
Primary-aged children in New Zealand experience a range of challenging
circumstances that highlight the need for the kind of support that dedicated counselling and pastoral care can offer. Some of the issues facing young people in this age group include anxiety, low selfesteem, managing grief, parental divorce, friendship difficulties, suicidal thoughts, and self-harm. In the Preparatory School, we are lucky to have the services of an equivalent full-time counsellor, covered by three staff, who are part of a wider Preparatory School Pastoral team.
The Pastoral and Well-being team had a very busy time supporting students in 2024. The team has consisted of a mix of three counsellors – Kate Scott, Mike Coleman, and Steph Sparrow, who work alongside the Deputy Principal (Well-being) Vicki Pettit, Head of Learning Support Irene Cronan, and Preparatory School Chaplain Jillian Fenton. The team meets weekly to discuss current students receiving support and the allocation of any new referrals. Typically, students are supported by the two counsellors with weekly or fortnightly sessions. Parents are involved through regular communication, and outside agencies are recommended when necessary. Team leaders attend twice a term and provide a vital link between what’s happening in the classroom and the pastoral team. In 2024, our two counsellors have mentored several third-year counselling students who, as part of their studies, take on students within the Preparatory School.
In 2024, all classes across Years 4–8 used the survey tool Komodo to track well-being. Komodo is designed to help students understand their own well-being and provide a bridge between staff and students. The tool consists of a short survey that students fill in on a fortnightly
basis. The questions are chosen by staff and cover topics such as device use and bullying, as well as social and emotional well-being. Student responses are tracked, and consistently low scores across several surveys flag a student for a ‘check-in’. Students can, at any time, also request a ‘check-in’ with a staff member.
Our students were also invited to share their reflections by completing the ‘AskYourTeam’ survey, with close to 90% of students from Years 4–8 participating. This provides us with valuable longitudinal data about how our children are emotionally and cognitively engaged with school. The results showed an overall improvement compared to previous years. A large majority of students feel that St Andrew’s is a safe school that they enjoy being part of, and a high percentage believe their teachers are confident in their ability to succeed. Most students also reported staff will follow up if they report being bullied, which has shown significant improvement from 2023. Students recognise the school’s values and endeavour to follow them. The majority feel supported with their learning and their teachers provide quality feedback.
The insights from this data will guide teams and the school in areas for further growth to continue to nurture a strong culture of feedback between teachers and students.
Like many schools across New Zealand, the Preparatory School has seen an increase in students with a neurodiversity diagnosis. Neurodiversity, which includes conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and others, can significantly impact a student’s well-being. Neurodivergent students often face unique challenges in
traditional educational settings, including sensory sensitivities, difficulties with executive function, and social interactions. These challenges can lead to increased anxiety, stress, and lower overall wellbeing if not properly addressed. In 2024, Irene Cronan (Head of Learning Support) explored and implemented ways of increasing staff and students’ understanding of neurodiverse differences. This included creating, with the help of students, a display for the school which contains information about the range of differences and short biographies on famous people who are neurodiverse. This is helping to raise awareness and acceptance across the school and creates a more inclusive environment where all students can thrive.
The Pastoral team again facilitated and added to an extensive Clubs Programme in the Preparatory School. This year, the following clubs were offered: Minecraft, Robotics, Chess, Book Club, Stitch Club, 3D Design, and LEGO. Clubs provided students with a more diverse range of options for break times. As we recognise and welcome a range of students in our school, it has been important to provide a place where all feel welcome and able to connect with their peers who have similar interests.
Gifted and Talented
Defining and identifying giftedness aims to acknowledge both individual and group talents, characteristics, and interests. Gifted education focuses on enabling the realisation of gifted potential, helping gifted learners to uncover their strengths and pursue their passions, while also reducing obstacles to their success. In the Preparatory School, students recognised as Gifted and Talented are tracked and included on the Learner Needs Register within the school’s student management system, Synergetic
Definition and Identification
Defining and recognising giftedness serves the essential goal of acknowledging both individual and collective talents, attributes, and interests.
Education for gifted students in the Preparatory School involves tailored programmes and strategies to support their unique needs and talents. These programmes are designed to help gifted students fully develop their abilities and thrive academically and personally.
Our approach to gifted education typically includes:
• Identification and assessment: Schools use various methods to identify gifted students, such as standardised tests, teacher recommendations, and assessments of their abilities and potential;
• Differentiated curriculum: Gifted students often receive a differentiated curriculum that challenges them at
an appropriate level, allowing them to delve deeper into subjects and explore more advanced concepts;
• Enrichment activities: The Preparatory School offers a range of enrichment activities, including extracurricular clubs, competitions, and projects that cater to gifted students’ interests and abilities;
• Individualised education plans: This is for gifted students and involves tailored programmes and strategies to support their unique needs and talents, help them fully develop their abilities and thrive academically and personally;
• Support for social and emotional needs through our pastoral care system: Gifted students may receive support to address the social and emotional challenges they may face, such as perfectionism, underachievement, and peer relationships.
Curriculum enrichment is taught by specialist teachers and includes Physical Education, Religious Education, Te Reo and Aotearoa Studies, Spanish (Years 1–7), French (Year 8), Music, Dance and Drama, Art, Practical Science, Food and Materials Technology (Years 7–8).
In 2024 the following areas were provided: Future Problem Solving (FPS)
For our students, Future Problem Solving equips them with a wide range of problemsolving, critical thinking, and communication skills that are valuable not only in academic settings but also in their future careers and personal lives. It encourages a holistic approach to addressing complex challenges and fosters a sense of responsibility for creating a better future.
Not only do the children explore relevant global topics, but they develop ‘Innovation Skills’ in class.
The Four C’s
• Creativity and Innovation – Problem solving situations are set in the future to encourage inventive thinking. Students learn to look at situations from a variety of perspectives;
• Creativity is essential as they generate challenges and develop multiple ideas for solutions to pressing problems;
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving –Students use analysis to gain an understanding of issues in today’s world and to comprehend the significant aspects of complex situations set in the future. Problem solving skills are applied as they focus on possible solutions and develop Action Plans for those situations;
• Communication and Collaboration –Students collaborate in teams while learning about the issues and while applying their problem-solving skills. Clear and articulate communication is developed while working with a team, an essential skill for our future leaders.
After researching the topic, students are presented with a one-page futuristic scenario, the ‘future scene’ which extrapolates existing trends and adds futuristic elements. They research the topic in depth, then learn and apply the six-step future problem-solving process.
We had 40 students take part in FPS in 2024 across Years 5–8.
The children were engaged and excited about this year’s topics. Study booklets provided for each new topic included video links, research articles and topic terminology. We had fun in class competing with one another around
terms and definitions, and how we could include as many new ‘intellectual’ words into our creative challenges.
The students enjoyed using the virtual reality headsets when we were exploring the topic of Digital Realities. The children loved the hands-on discovery time. A highlight was seeing the excitement, enthusiasm, and dedication that the children put into the topics. Students would often invite themselves to lead the class on new and interesting facts and findings. This is a chance for gifted and talented students to shine. It is also a platform for discussion among like-minded students.
National Competitors
• Year 8 Individual: Emmett Lawler;
• Year 8 Team – Juno Park, Zilong Chen, Joy Zuo, Ethan Zhao.
Writing Enrichment
Kerrin Davidson worked in the Preparatory School as part of a Writing Enrichment programme. Kerrin is a published author and was Victoria University’s Creative Writing Teacher of the Year 2008.
2024 saw the Writers’ Enrichment programme in the Preparatory School continue to grow from strength to strength with an increase in classes and two writers’ master classes running from Years 3–8. The purpose of these classes was not only for the students who require extension in Literacy, but also for those students who have a passion for writing. Kerrin’s classes provided an open-ended platform for students to write creatively with no barriers. She encouraged all students and guided them positively in their learning.
Sessions were run on a Monday and Wednesday lunchtime, with a variety of
competitions entered including New Zealand Poetry Box, Seaweek Competition, Royal Commonwealth Queen’s Essay Competition, New Zealand Poetry Society International Competition, Vancouver International Competition, Gifted Association Competition, and the Otago Daily Times competition.
The following students had their writing published in 2024.
• Jessica Whitehead (Year 6), Ava Blyde (Year 3), Georgia Blyde (Year 4). Fingers Comma Toes & Weather Issue (Int) Accepted to be published;
• Alfred Lash (Year 6). Winner Haiku – NZ Poetry Society (Primary and Intermediate Haiku Competition) (Int) Book Published;
• Emma Zhang (Year 7) – Special Mention. Published online.
Chess
A chess club was run each week by teacher Leanne Gilray. In Term 3, the Preparatory School took two teams (Junior and Senior players) to the Canterbury Interschool Chess Competition and eleven of our students attended the 2024 Individual Canterbury Interschool Chess Competition with Samuel Rijpma placing second in Canterbury (for the Year 6 level), Jack Blyde placing fifth (for the Year 6 level), and Ethan Waines placing seventh (for the Year 8 level).
Our end of year results were as follows:
• Years 5–6: Samuel Rijpma – First place;
• Years 7–8: Ethan Waines – First place.
Other enrichment opportunities offered in 2024:
• Rotary Speech Competition;
• Kids Lit Quiz;
• Extension Mathematics class Years 7–8;
• Otago Problem Solving Years 7–8;
• Code Club;
• 3D Design and Printing Club;
• Chess Club;
• D-Squared Drama Group;
• VEX IQ Robotics Club Years 7–8;
• ICAS Examinations;
• Australian Mathematics Examinations;
• Speech and Drama.
Junior Department
Another exciting year with our department functioning at full capacity, ensured opportunities for children to fully explore the Key Competencies by working in teams across the department, engaging in activities that acknowledged their thinking and the ideas of others, prioritising communication skills through professional learning and explicit teaching of selfmanagement skills using programmes such as the Mindful Movers.
Appraisal Connector
An ongoing indicator of the dedication and commitment to self-improvement of the teaching team, was evident throughout the year as teaching inquiries were recorded and shared with peers using the Appraisal Connector platform. Our shared theme this year was a focus on PR1ME Mathematics and the Structured Mathematics Approach. All Junior Department staff have completed professional learning by participating in PR1ME Mathematics webinars. New learning and thoughts regarding PR1ME and Structured Mathematics were the focus of our Professional Learning Group meetings and reflections were noted.
Embedding our Learning Culture
A common theme across the Preparatory School is the school wide StAC-UP programme. The Junior team have been creative in linking StAC-UP to class programmes and inquiries. The language of StAC-UP was shared through acts of explicit teaching to ensure our young students developed successful learning and behaviour strategies. Students have been reflecting on their actions around three key areas: Be Ready, Be Safe, and
Be Respectful. This cycle of reflecting and linking actions to StAC-UP through guided conversation and implementing change, has become part of our daily practice.
The highly successful Restorative Practice approach to conflict resolution, supported our StAC-UP programme. Restorative Practice conversations in the classroom and the playground ensured the children were supported in developing the necessary language skills to reflect on and resolve the issues at hand. Links were always made to the key elements of StAC-UP: Be Ready, Be Safe, and Be Respectful.
Te Reo Māori
Teacher Mary Leota has had a very successful year teaching the Year 3 classes and supporting ongoing staff development on the use of te reo in everyday conversation. Her availability and resourcefulness have benefited us all making sure that the use of te reo is commonplace in all classrooms and department events and celebrations. A strong focus has been shifting from single words to simple phrases. A highlight of the year was our Matariki celebrations which encompassed a full week and included our Pre-school friends. Inclusion was also evident in the department inquiry as the New Zealand Histories curriculum document was integral during the planning.
Structured Literacy
Teaching and training in Structured Literacy was a highlight for all staff in 2024. The Junior Department staff have continued to strengthen their understanding of `The Science of Reading’. Collegial discussions and sharing of individual insights have resulted in robust conversations supporting best practice across our highly experienced team.
We highly rate the benefits of this explicit practice with its excellent scope and sequence guaranteeing complete coverage of the students’ needs.
Liz Kane’s ‘Little Learners Love Literacy’ programme is the preferred approach by our Year 1–2 classes while the Year 3 students step up to using her ‘Code’ resource once they are ready. A highly valued outcome has been the expectation around Reading and Writing skills developing together and enriching each other. This contrasts with the previous approach of teaching them separately.
Another welcome focus was the emphasis on developing correct letter formations and fluency in Handwriting. Automaticity in Handwriting has been linked to more successful Expressive Writing as the mechanics are no longer a barrier. We look forward to continuing to build on this in 2025.
Mathematics
Students in the Junior Department continue to benefit from the PR1ME Mathematics programme which continues into the Middle School. PR1ME Mathematics is a teaching and learning
practice which has consistently performed strongly in international Mathematics studies. We have welcomed opportunities to share our PR1ME teaching with our colleagues from other schools as they have dropped in to observe lessons. Staff have participated in webinars throughout the year to remain well informed.
An area of interest to us moving into 2025 is the Structured Mathematics Approach. Our youngest students have benefited from the sequential lessons building number knowledge through repetition and explicit acts of teaching.
Transition to School Programme
Full New Entrant classrooms with happy and settled children reflected the successful Transition to School programme operating in 2024. Strong connections and an inclusive relationship between the Pre-school and our Junior Department ensured the children’s needs were the first consideration in all planning. Children who came in from other Pre-schools benefited from this wealth of knowledge, crucial for a student arriving without a network of friends. We continue to be proud of the programme and its positive results.
Digital Technology
All year groups began e-Learning this year with Digital Citizenship lessons. The Year 1– 2 students learnt about digital footprints and how and where they could leave a trail of information online when they use their favourite apps. The Year 3 students looked further into ways to keep themselves and those around them, safe online. They also learnt about how to get help if they are ever feeling unsafe online.
The Year 1–2 students learnt the basics of coding offline, with a focus on learning directions (left and right etc). They were then able to transfer these skills into coding the Beebot robots, which they thoroughly enjoyed.
The Year 3 students began using their own laptops in class. They began by learning about password safety, logging in and simple typing activities. They quickly developed the skills to create digital art of New Zealand birds for their class Inquiry. They finished the semester with a unit on coding, using Scratch.
Inquiry
2024 was a busy and stimulating year for our young learners. A highlight was the whole team coming together to investigate and celebrate `Dinosaurs.’ Following our St Andrew’s College Inquiry Pathway and the New Zealand Histories Curriculum document, the department worked together to explore new developments in our understanding of dinosaurs and their ancestors. Visiting with experts resulted in surprising new learning for students and teachers alike. Staff enjoyed the challenge of building on the extensive knowledge of students, as dinosaurs have always inspired young children.
The Year 3 students linked their inquiry to the Junior Department theme, through our native Tuatara, New Zealand’s oldest reptile, then moving onto a Green Spaces focus. Adding depth to this inquiry involved informative outings. The two Year 3 classes headed off to Pūtaringamotu/Riccarton Bush and Riccarton House to conclude their learning related to green spaces in our school and local environment. During the bush walk, the students enjoyed closely
examining the unique flora and fauna in a truly remarkable part of our city. Some highlights included seeing the magnificent kahikatea trees towering above the other trees, spotting some piwakawaka (fantail), and hearing the korimako (bellbird) in amongst the trees.
The students also had the opportunity to investigate the social history of early European settlement in Christchurch, through the eyes of the pioneering Deans family at Riccarton House. First, the students explored Deans’ Cottage and Riccarton House and learnt about the joys and tragedy faced by Jane, John and William Deans as they began a new life, in what was to become Christchurch. Lots of fun was had exploring the beautiful Riccarton House and venturing up into the attic where typewriters and old fashioned games were available for the students to play with.
The visit ended with a lovely picnic lunch together in the stunning grounds of Riccarton House. A big thank you to the special group of parent helpers who joined us for the outing, and to Anthony Hennig and Muriel McGlone, our two wonderful Canterbury Museum educators.
Discovery Time
Tūhura Time (Discovery Time) on a Friday morning has continued to encourage creativity through freedom of choice and connections across the department. Our youngest students navigated their way around the department, meeting different teachers and working with a range of buddies.
The Year 3 children worked with Helen King on some longer more in-depth projects. The first was Wearable Arts
where the children worked in pairs or small groups to create their own wearable arts costume, using recycled materials and what would otherwise have become ‘rubbish’ donated by families in the Junior Department. The theme this year was ‘Magical Mystery Garden’ and there were a wonderful array of animals, goblins, knights, fairies and princesses. This culminated in a spectacular show put on for the Junior Department, parents, and school leaders.
The second half of the year has been spent creating Rube Goldberg machines. Each week a new group has two periods to create their own machine. It is much harder than it looks! The students learn about how simple machines can work together to create one giant complex machine which does a simple task. This involves Science, Mathematics, teamwork, resilience and a lot of problemsolving. After many bloopers, a video of the machine working in full is achieved to present to the rest of the class.
Heather Orman
Years 1–3 Team Leader
Middle Syndicate
During 2024, the Middle Syndicate continued to embed the elements of StAC-UP: Be Safe – inside, outside, and online; Be Ready – to learn in all situations; and Be Respectful –towards others and yourself.
Well-being
The Year 4-6 teachers have actively put routines, systems and support in place to make well-being a focus, for students and staff. Our students have space to have timely conversations, with teachers and each other; and weekly StAC-UP lessons, where ‘Bounce Back’ is incorporated to explicitly promote positive mental health, well-being and resilience. All students have completed fortnightly Komodo surveys where they can communicate their emotions, what they might be finding challenging, what positives they are enjoying, any information they would like their teacher to know or request a check-in if they need space for one-toone conversations with their teacher. A Year 4 class had lessons facilitated by two psychologists around ‘Change’ and many of our students have had support from our Pastoral Care team. This has been a challenging year for many of our students and staff. We aim to continue to build on these initiatives in 2025 and keep staff and student well-being in the forefront of how we operate in the Middle Syndicate.
Manaakitanga
Manaakitanga was a highly valued aspect of our team. We set the expectations for the development of this in our students from our Year 3 transition meetings during Term 4 and encourage, model and make this a non-negotiable in our classrooms, the playground, team gatherings and in the wider school community. We welcomed
thirteen new students to our school and the Year 4 students to our team. The team came together for assemblies, fitness, Kapa Haka and singing to work on further establishing a shared understanding of what Manaakitanga means for us.
StAC-UP
StAC-UP is an integral part of our classroom practice, expectations and restorative conversations. It was explicitly taught each week and actively promoted daily in our classrooms and team. We used a range of resources for our StAC-UP lessons to meet the needs of our students. Students were invested in the StAC-UP tokens they could earn for demonstrating our StAC-UP values in and out of the classroom. StAC-Up values were also our point of reference when having restorative conversations with students. StAC-UP house tokens and certificates were awarded to students who demonstrated the values in our classrooms, playground interactions and team gatherings. Our students enjoyed the house token system and looked forward to finding out what house won a ‘non-uniform day’ every five weeks.
Appraisals
Teachers used Appraisal Connector to record and share their professional learning and appraisals throughout the year. Images, documents, and reflections were uploaded to Appraisal Connector for class descriptions, self-appraisal, leadership appraisal and student voice.
Mathematics
All Year 4–6 teachers used the new edition Prime resource, Maths Buddy (online) and exercise books. Mathematics classes were ability grouped at each year level with Mathematics being taught every day. Groupings were reviewed regularly to ensure individual needs were attended to throughout
the year. Shared assessment practices enabled teachers to communicate progress for all students for the purpose of parent interviews and reporting. Maths Buddy was used for diagnostic tests, weekly revision tasks, individualized lessons and extension. This learning supported whole class and group lessons and paper-based tasks.
Reading: Core 5 (Years 4–5) and Reading Plus (Year 6)
Integration of Core 5 (Years 4–5) and Reading Plus (Year 6) into the classroom Reading programme contributed to excellent progress in vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension for Years 4–6 students. Integrating Core 5 and Reading Plus into our Reading lessons has supported student progress with students making up to 24 months progress. Comprehension textbooks were used in Years 4 and 6 classrooms. This resource provided a varied range of text types to engage students, facilitate reading skills and strategies, and targeted comprehension at each student’s targeted level.
Structured Literacy
Our teachers have developed Structured Literacy expertise in the planning, teaching and assessment of this approach. We continue to integrate this with a combination of individual, group and whole class lessons to meet the varied learning needs in our classrooms. Teachers continue to further develop their knowledge and expertise in the teaching of Structured Literacy.
Kapa Haka, Aotearoa Studies and Te Reo Māori
Mary Leota, our specialist teacher in Aotearoa Studies has taught weekly lessons in our classes. This was an opportunity to build on knowledge and understanding for teachers and students. Teachers were provided with ideas, practical resources,
PowerPoints and online tools to use in their daily classroom programmes. Kapa Haka was taught by Matua Steve Reid and Mary Leota. One Year 4, 5 and 6 class attended Kapa Haka each week on a fortnightly rotation. This has broadened student understanding of Kapa Haka, Te Reo and Aotearoa Studies in our team. Over sixty of our students were part of the Years 4–8 Kapa Haka performance group. This group performed during Grandparents’ Day, the King’s College Jazz Band tour, Tūhono 2024 in the Christchurch Town Hall and opened the 2024 Years 7–13 St Andrew’s College Prizegiving at Wolfbrook Arena. This was a wonderful opportunity for our students to perform on stage and share their knowledge and skill with friends, family, our school community and schools from throughout Canterbury and New Zealand.
Science
All students received two terms of Science lessons in the Science Lab with Christina Fitzgerald. Students engaged in hands-on experiments and practical activities in a controlled environment where theoretical knowledge and learning was applied explored during experiments. The students observed, hypothesised, collected data, analysed results and drew conclusions. This hands-on approach enhanced their understanding of scientific concepts and fostered critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Seesaw
Seesaw has continued to be invaluable tool for communicating and sharing learning with parents. The flexibility of using Seesaw to send messages, share photos and video, give feedback, assign lessons, and assess student work was well utilised.
Megan Feller
Years
4–6 Team Leader
Year 7 Team
The Year 7 students of 2024 have been focused, enthusiastic, and energetic, both inside and outside the classroom. It has been exciting to see their continued growth and development into positive young adults.
The year began with a successful transition to the Year 7 programme. Students participated in a surfing day at Sumner and a high ropes course at Adrenalin Forest. They also had a morning of Top Team, which is run by Sport Canterbury and is a series of interactive team building challenges designed to promote problemsolving, communication and teamwork while being active and fun.
Top Team is unique in that it is designed with all abilities in mind. This helps takes away the ‘intimidation’ factor of physical activity and increases confidence amongst non-participating rangatahi to take part in future events. Top Team encourages maximum participation and fun. These initiatives are important in helping new students feel comfortable and integrated into the school community. They foster a sense of belonging and provide opportunities for social interaction and skill development, all of which contribute to a positive educational experience.
Integrated inquiry is a major focus in the Year 7 programme, as it can provide a holistic and engaging approach to education. Integrated inquiry is a teaching and learning method that combines different subject areas and skills to explore and understand complex topics.
Here are some key points about the Year 7 programme in 2024:
• Curriculum Integration: By integrating various subjects into the inquiry process, students have the opportunity to explore a topic from different angles. This can help them see the interconnectedness of knowledge and skills, making learning more meaningful and relevant;
• Thinking Skills: Integrated inquiry promotes the development of critical thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills. These are essential skills for students to apply in various aspects of their education and later in life;
• Information Literacy: Teaching information literacy skills is crucial in today’s information-rich world. Students need to learn how to locate, evaluate, and use information effectively. Integrated inquiry can help students develop these skills as they research and explore topics;
• Information Technology: Incorporating information technology is essential in the 21st century. It allows students to access a wealth of information and communicate their findings. Integrating technology into the curriculum ensures that students are prepared for the digital age.
During Term 2 the students worked hard rehearsing for the Years 7–8 production of The Aurora Stone. This production was written by the students and involved all 200 Year 7–8 classes. The production was an excellent showcase of student talent and was enjoyed by students, staff and parents.
In Term 3, all Year 7 classes took part in the dynamic and competitive Power Challenge which taught them about the
wonderful world of electricity. During the six-week Power Challenge, the students learned about electricity; how it is generated, moved, and used across Aotearoa. Their task was to design and build a wind turbine and use the electricity it generated to light up a mini town, which featured on an LED board. The programme was run by Science specialist, Christina Fitzgerald.
In 2024, there continued to be a focus on the use of te reo Māori in classrooms, recognising its significance as one of New Zealand’s official languages. Across the Preparatory School teachers have been providing students with a basic understanding of te reo Māori and tikanga (Māori customs and traditions). There have been several opportunities for students this year. A highlight for many students were sports trips to Australia in the July holidays and to the AIMS Games in Tauranga in September. The year ended on a high for students when they attended a threeday camp at Castle Hill. Students were challenged with many activities including rock climbing, rafting, kayaking, and an overnight tramp.
2024 has been a successful year for both students and staff on many levels. The continued implementation of the StAC-UP programme provides clear behavioural expectations and this transfers to calm and respectful students who can perform to the best of their abilities.
The staff have enjoyed the cohort of 2024 immensely and we wish them all the best for Year 8.
Kelly McBride Year 7 Team Leader
Year 8 Team
The Year 8 syndicate began the year with several trips to the Elmwood Bowling Club. We had expert coaching from Erica Ayres, Youth and Development Facilitator from Bowls Canterbury, and from several volunteers from the Elmwood Bowling Club. The matches were highly competitive and a focus on teamwork and collaborative skills enabled classes to bond together in a fun and active environment. At the beginning of the term, we also took part in Canterbury Sport’s Top Team Challenge. Sadly, the weather was cold and wet, but this did not dampen spirits, and the winning team managed to weave together competitive spirit, enthusiastic problem-solving and physical prowess to win. Judging by the enthusiastic way some parent helpers wielded hoses, in water-based challenges, the chilly weather was a quickly forgotten impediment.
Year 8 teachers spent the first 4–5 weeks of Term 1 getting to know new students and setting up classroom programs. It was great to meet new parents at the annual PTA Wine and Cheese Meet the Teacher evening, held on a balmy February evening.
Early in the year students were encouraged to apply for Leadership and Service positions throughout the school. We had many students successfully apply for School Leader, Sacristan, House Captain and Sports Captain roles, along with a range of Service positions also. These outstanding young people have led from the front all year and have fully justified the faith put in them by their teachers. Our excellent School Leader group also fulfilled peer mediator duties
and helped to maintain harmony in the playground throughout the year. School Leaders were also lucky to attend the National Young Leader’s Day held at the Christchurch Town Hall in Term 2 where they learned the importance of effective leadership and heard from a range of inspiring speakers.
At the beginning of Term 2, the Year 8 syndicate took part in action-packed camps to Castle Hill. Students enjoyed outdoor activities like abseiling, orienteering and the ever-popular outdoor tramps. The weather had certainly turned autumnal and there was an equal mixture of blazing sun and pouring rain. A particular highlight was the overnight camps outdoors. Sleeping under rock overhangs, bright moonlight and inside bivvy bags was challenging for some students but there was a real sense of achievement the following morning as sleep deprived 12-year-olds began to stumble back into camp. Hot drinks and bacon croissants were gratefully accepted and devoured. Castle Hill Outdoor Education Centre Operations Manager, Jo Parsons and her team were unrelenting in their positivity and kindness and an enjoyable time was had by all.This was a great way to begin the term and an opportunity for teachers and students to get to know one another even better.
Part way through the July school holidays, Head of Preparatory School Sport, Alex Kelley led many Year 8 students to Queensland for the ‘Aussie Tour’. It was a challenging trip, and foggy conditions delayed the tour party’s departure. A hastily re-arranged schedule and quick thinking from Alex and his team, ensured the tour was successful despite the travel disruptions. Students were lucky
to compete against well-drilled Australian opposition and enjoy themselves at several theme parks and shopping malls.
Terms 1 and 2 were very busy as Year 8 students rehearsed for the Preparatory School Production, The Aurora Stone Dance and Drama Specialist, Ginnie Thorner led the cast brilliantly and Year 8 teachers could be seen rehearsing with classes daily. As the term progressed, performances were refined, and all children stood out with their resilience, their perseverance, and their talent. The Production was a resounding success, and it was a special privilege to use the new Gough Family Theatre. A special thanks to Ginnie and her team for creating such a unique and special experience for our tamariki.
Many Year 8 students were lucky to attend the AIMs Games in Tauranga in Term 3 and St Andrew’s teams performed well, often
competing against schools with much larger rolls and resources. One satisfying aspect of the trip was our second placing in the Service to Community awards. These awards acknowledge each contributing school’s commitment to acts of service for the duration of the tournament. For such a small group of students to be recognised in this way was hugely satisfying for everyone involved in the trip.
At the end of Term 3, the entire Year 8 team travelled to the Mt Hutt ski field for a day of action and fun. It was hugely satisfying to see our students enjoying themselves and interacting with children they did not normally work with. We had excellent sunny spring skiing conditions and students took full advantage of beautifully groomed runs, expert guidance from instructors and the chance to be together outside of the school environment.
2024 has been a successful year for learning within the Year 8 team. Literacy rich learning programmes have ensured continued success in reading and writing, and Year 8 Mathematics interchange, with an extra teacher and small class sizes, has gone from strength to strength. Digital literacy has been well-supported by our terrific IT team. The expert support of Specialist teacher, Anneke Kamo and the use of online learning platforms have greatly enhanced the effectiveness of teaching programmes. Students have enjoyed the benefits of specialist teaching, both in the Preparatory and Secondary School, and the connections between both campuses have been strengthened. Teacher Mary Leota has again been tireless in her support of students and staff with the continued implementation of Aotearoa Histories and Te Ao Maori. Furthermore, Christina Fitzgerald, in her role of Science Co-ordinator, has inspired children across the Preparatory School, and particularly in Year 8. Year 8 students have taken part in STEM challenges, dissected fish, written, and carried out their own science experiments and been on several Science field trips. The variety across the curriculum has benefitted Year 8 students hugely in 2024.
In Year 8 we continued to build on the Preparatory School pastoral care and values system. We have continued to use the online tool Komodo for our Year 4–8 students. Komodo is a well-being platform for students where they complete a survey once a fortnight on specific areas of well-being. Through carefully developed questions we are then able to identify individuals or groups who may require pastoral support. Komodo also helps us to identify year group, or school wide trends that we can address with wider strategies.
We also continued to work with students around engaging core values of being safe, being respectful and being ready. StAC-UP, combined with the St Andrew’s College school wide values of Truth, Excellence, Faith, Creativity, and Inclusivity helped to ensure positive relationships amongst students.
Term 4 has been very busy, and we have had successful Science trips to Orana Park. We also spent the day at the newly named Christchurch Show and our students represented our school beautifully and had a lot of fun. These experiences again highlight the importance of education outside the classroom opportunities. Students were able to make connections between the classroom and the ‘real world’ and it was nice to see the understanding and knowledge of every student enhanced.
The Year 8 group of 2024 have met challenges with great enthusiasm and have maintained their good humour, and importantly, their kindness and respect throughout the year. It has been a great privilege to be a part of the Year 8 syndicate and an even greater honour to be able to lead such an outstanding group of young people and teachers. I wish each and every child all the very best for the future and congratulate them all for the completion of the Preparatory School.
Morgan Sheppard Year 8 Team Leader
Sport
The Preparatory School provides a wide range of sporting opportunities for our students. The emphasis is on opportunity, giving our students the opportunity to participate and the opportunity to compete. Sport is a very important co-curricular area as in many cases it allows students to be part of a team and develop several important skills that may be transferred into other areas of their lives. The Preparatory School sports programme aims to provide:
Physical Benefits
• improved fitness, strength, flexibility and co-ordination;
• increased range of motor skills.
Social Benefits
• improved communication and interpersonal skills;
• improved leadership and co-operation skills;
• opportunity for lasting friendships;
• increased interest in accepting responsibility;
• ability to assume responsible risk-taking.
Personal Benefits
• enjoyment;
• increased self-esteem, self-confidence, and general well-being;
• improved ability to concentrate;
• self-discipline, commitment, and responsibility;
• organisational skills.
There were strong participation numbers in Years 4-8 and students embraced the sports options on offer.
Thirty-two girls travelled to Queensland, Australia in the July holiday, playing against John Paul College, Somerset College and St Hilda’s School.
The tour aims to not only provide high level competition in sport, but also to help develop skills in independence for our students and provide the opportunity to represent the school overseas. The tour was very successful despite flights being cancelled and the original tour itinerary having to be changed to accommodate the flight changes. It was exciting to return to Queensland with hockey, netball, and basketball although opportunities for hockey are certainly a lot better within New Zealand. Football, rugby and basketball will look to return in 2025. Football and Rugby, along with four swimmers and a tennis player also represented the College at the 2024 AIMS Games. They performed well and represented the College proudly and with distinction. In 2025, netball and hockey will attend the 2025 AIMS Games.
Several school exchanges (games in basketball, rugby, football, netball, cricket, tennis and hockey) were played during the year. In addition to the schools that we regularly play, Saint Kentigern School, St George School and Huntley School were also part of the school exchange programme. This year St Andrew’s College facilitated a winter exchange tournament that involved several local independent schools, and Waihi School, playing football, rugby, netball and hockey over three days. It was a great exchange, though will be refined for 2025. The Preparatory A netball team defeated all the other independent schools, also finishing second in the top section of Year 8 netball in Christchurch.
Many of our students represented their region in a variety of sports and were successful in the ISSA and CPSSA competitions in triathlon, cross country, swimming, and athletics. The school won several Canterbury Primary Schools titles including Girls’ hockey, netball, open tennis, skiing, Girls’ Year 8 4×100m relay, and Girls’ Year 7 1500m.
Leadership opportunities continued to be very important for our Year 8 students. Though this year we moved to school leaders’ roles and service roles with the intention in 2025 to focus on service roles to help develop leadership skills amongst a broader group of students.
The school leaders embraced the opportunities and provided coaching to junior students from Years 1–3, as well as leading the houses and serving as peer mediators at lunchtimes. Those in a service role ran the sports shed for Year 4-8 students.
StAC-UP values and the House token system continued to be used in the co-curriculum programme in 2024. Further to this, coaches were encouraged to use language associated to StAC-UP with students and this will be included in the online induction programme that will be introduced in Term 1, 2024. The induction programme proved to be very successful and an aid for the human resource department as it enables effective tracking for progress in the induction of a staff member or coach.
Coaching is an area that is essential to a successful sporting programme at St Andrew’s. Last year, I met with Year 13 students regarding the opportunity to
coach Preparatory School teams in 2025. Several students, who will study in Canterbury, expressed an interest in coaching which will bring considerable skill-based expertise to the coaching team. Sport coaching Professional Development opportunities will be made available to staff in 2024. We are fortunate to have several very able teacher coaches at the school. Coaching Solutions, Motivationz and Sporting Edge will again provide quality coaching support along with proteus sports who
provided several football coaches and are expanding their business to other codes. They offer superior support, ensuring there are quality replacements if coaches are absent. The expansion of the use of professional coaches has improved the quality of coaching for Preparatory School students.
Core Sports has continued to thrive, with the programme once again being utilised in Term 1 for winter team selections. This provided students with a greater
opportunity to showcase their talents. The inclusion of more professional coaches improved the student-to-coach ratio, resulting in higher quality coaching. During Term 1, students chose their Winter sports and benefited from the expertise of high-performance coaches. This year, the programme was also extended to Year 5–6 students. Looking ahead to 2025, Core Sports will commence at the start of Term 1, allowing for early preparation for winter sports. Instead of traditional trials, there will be four to five weeks of player identification sessions during the school day, ensuring no disruption to summer sports.
Currently, the Core Sports programme is focused on Winter sports, as most students opt for social sports or skill development opportunities during the summer.
Badminton was included in summer sport options again in 2024. This will now be a Term 1 sport only due to restrictions on gym use in Term 4.
We currently have 15 summer sports and seven winter sports on offer, including an extended Snow Sport programme.
Due to the reduced level of swimming ability identified in the preliminary swim timing and school championships at the beginning of the year, the leadership team determined there was a need to reintroduce Years 4–7 swimming lessons. Team Leaders organised the timing of the programme and each student received five to six lessons. Years 1–3 complete a twoweek block in Term 4. This programme had mixed results and is being reviewed for 2025. Ultimately the aim is for all Year 8 students to leave the school being able to
swim 200 metres unaided. Although there is general support from parents for this, others are reluctant and unable to see the benefit of their child being able to swim.
Sports uniforms are generally in good condition and the strong St Andrew’s brand is represented proudly through the uniforms that students wear. New uniforms have been ordered for 1st XI cricket, 1st XI football, and hockey.
Communication in the Preparatory School for sport is very good. Through Synergetic, the weekly Preparatory School newsletter, and the StAC App, the community is kept well informed of upcoming events and student achievement.
Coach Induction Online began to ‘spring roots’ in 2021, with consultation between myself, Director of Sport and Co-curricular Activities Mark Lane, and Chief Information Officer Dave Hart. I provided a system used at The Southport School in Australia and it was determined that this could be adapted for use at St Andrew’s College. It had been hoped that this would be ready to administer for Winter sports. It finally went live this year which was very pleasing.
Alex Kelley Head of Preparatory School Sport
Learning Support
2024 has been a busy and productive year for the Learning Support Department. Our team consists of six Learning Support teacher aides, and our Head of Learning Support. In addition to this, we also have two teachers supporting literacy intervention in the Junior School (Years 1-3) and Year 7.
Three tiers of support are provided to aide our learners:
• Tier 1: Provides a universal level of support which includes class observations, recommendations, meetings with staff and children and adaptations to programmes within the classroom;
• Tier 2: Provides small group intervention for a selection of students around a targeted need;
• Tier 3: Support is targeted 1:1 support. Some children who have Tier 3 support may have an Individual Education Plan if their needs are across a range of curriculum areas.
The Learning Support Team continues to collaborate with classroom teachers to ensure new learning is generalised into the classroom setting. This collaboration includes regular emails, shared learning goals, Individual Education Plans, learning overviews, sharing assessment and progress data, as well as professional conversations. Many children also have targeted support from external providers. Several of these providers work from the Preparatory School which enables us to collaborate and provide cohesive support for our learners.
Reading/Spelling
This year the team has worked hard; Structured Literacy is now embedded in teaching. This evidence-based approach is considered best practice when teaching literacy to both neurotypical and neurodiverse learners.
During our weekly team meetings, we share practice, discuss teaching challenges and problem solve together. This provides opportunities for the Head of Learning Support to provide professional development relating to these topics. All teacher aides show evidence within their planning, assessment, and teaching of using The Code and a Structured Literacy approach to teaching reading and spelling. Phonological awareness skills are considered essential foundation skills for reading and writing. These skills include isolating, blending, segmenting, and manipulating sounds in spoken language. The ‘phonological awareness screener’ was implemented with all students on the Learning Support roll at the beginning of the year. This aided Learning Support staff to identify areas of need around skills such as rhyme, alliteration, syllabification, auditory discrimination, blending and segmenting sounds, and onset and rime. These are all important predictors of reading success and must be addressed. Phonological awareness skills are taught using the ‘Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Curriculum’, ‘Equipped for Reading Success’ by David Kilpatrick, and Elkonin boxes.
Ensuring the children master the skills before moving on is crucial, as is regular review. This process is proving effective with many of our children exceeding one year’s progress in reading across the school year.
The shared document tracking students’ progress through The Code has now been rolled out across the Learning Support Team. This document is shared with the classroom teacher, ensuring that all teaching staff can track student learning in real time. It also means that another Learning Support teacher could begin teaching a student and know exactly where to start.
Learning Support Register
The Learning Support Register is a living document that reflects the ongoing Learning Support needs of our students. Each term, the Head of Learning Support, Deputy Principal (Well-being), and team leaders reviewed the students on the roll and any new needs that had arisen across the year. The Learning Support Register is regularly updated during Learning Support Team meetings. Records are kept using a shared online notebook around students discussed in each team. These records are made accessible to team leaders.
The Learning Support flowchart created in 2023 was in use this year and supported making decisions around referrals for Learning Support. There has also been strong collaboration between the Year 7 team leader and the Principal’s Executive Assistant around new enrolments for 2025. Students who are currently on the Learning Support roll will continue to have intervention from the second week of Term 1 in 2025. Those students who are new to the school will remain in their classrooms for the first five weeks to allow them to transition well into their new learning environment and to give teachers an opportunity to assess their learning alongside their peers. After five weeks of teaching, the Learning Support Register will be revisited and reprioritised, considering new learners’ needs.
Investigations in assessments used for the Learning Support Register continue. Our team will undertake new learning around implementation of Structured Literacy Reading Records, these are appropriate for students working up to Stage 7 of the Little Learners Love Literacy scope and sequence, or Year 3 of The Code. Once students are introduced to natural texts, (approximately 7-7.5 years reading age), Running Records can be used.
Individual Education Plans
Individual plans are considered Tier 3 support and have been written for ten students this year. These were developed and implemented in conjunction with class teachers, teacher aides, parents, and professionals.
Individual plans are for students who require extra support to access the curriculum, manage their behaviour, or increase their independence with health needs. End of year review meetings have taken place with staff and each family. Input was also sought from the children either through attendance at meetings or discussion prior to meeting to ensure
their voice is reflected within the plan. All students on individual plans have shown pleasing progress and parent feedback has been extremely positive.
Supporting Diverse Learners
We have many students enrolled in the school with diverse learning needs or neurodiversity. Many children have diagnoses of ASD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, or ADHD. These children can present with a range of behavioural, social emotional, communication or learning difficulties and deserve to be understood and have barrier free access to the curriculum. We also have many students without diagnoses who may present with similar challenges. A range of evidence-based supports are put in place to support these students in collaboration with classroom teachers, teacher aides, children and families.
This year the Learning Support and teaching staff have worked in teams with a range of people including Psychologists, Speech Language Therapists, Specific Learning Difference tutors, Teacher of Deaf and Hearing Impaired (Ko Taku Reo),
Behaviour Specialists, Socially Speaking (Occupational Therapy and Speech Language Therapy), and most importantly, parents, to identify individual student needs and plan for these. We value working closely together and appreciate the professional support provided to our staff and students.
Many of these specialists provide reports containing valuable learning information (strengths and challenges), diagnosis and recommendations. When reports are received, these are summarised by the Head of Learning Support and shared with relevant team members. A meeting is then arranged with parents and teaching staff. This meeting provides an opportunity to discuss the report in detail and plan how we will work together to provide the recommendations suggested.
The Head of Learning Support attended Pastoral Care meetings each week with the aim of strengthening and promoting the emotional well-being of students. Observations of students have been carried out as required and interventions or recommendations put in place where applicable.
Zones of Regulation continues to be implemented to support students with self-regulation. Currently, this is needsbased. This provides a proactive tool that students can use to support engagement and learning. It also enables teachers to be aware of when their support is required to aide engagement. The Zones of Regulation are a natural fit with the Mindful Movers programme in the Junior Department and support StAC-UP.
During Terms 2–3, a Needle Felting Craft Club was held during lunch time on
Fridays. This provided an opportunity for students to learn new skills, make new friends, connect with different adults, and have meaningful interactions. Needle felting proved to be particularly popular with a range of students from Years 3–8.
ICT
Often Educational Psychologists will recommend a range of technology supports for students diagnosed with Specific Learning Differences. St Andrew’s College provides access on all devices to Immersive Reader. This programme allows ‘speech to text’ and ‘text reading’, converts PDFs to written text and a range of other essential tools for students who find their literacy difficulties impact their access to the curriculum. This, year the Head of Learning Support has shared this tool with some students in Years 7–8, their teachers, parents and the Learning Support team.
Professional Development
This year our team has been involved in a range of Professional Development. Five team members attended Head of Well-being, Kerry Larby’s Character Strengths workshop. Willow Corner’s Collaborative Problem Solving was attended by two team members. The Head of Learning Support provided a video model of teaching a Structured Literacy lesson for team members to access. She also attended te reo Māori lessons led by Mary Leota and enrolled with the Education Hub online to support strategies for teaching and learning. Alongside these formal opportunities for professional development the team had weekly meetings with robust discussions about our teaching and learning successes and challenges.
Visual Arts
2024 began with the continuation of established art room routines.
Curriculum objectives were achieved through units of study across a range of genres including drawing, design, painting, printmaking, sculpture and photography. Special emphasis was given to developing lessons which improved skills and processes within real contexts for learning focusing on improving understanding of traditional and contemporary New Zealand and international art and artists and identification/recognition of them in the real-world setting. As well as covering topical artworks in real-time from around the world and current events like the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
In 2024, the StAC-UP programme for all Preparatory School students was easily applied in the Art room. Specific ways to Be Ready, Be Safe, and Be Respectful were readily achieved and accepted by the students.
A wide offering of media and materials allowed learners to experience many different means of expressing themselves visually. All year levels completed printmaking, painting, drawing, photography and ceramics and Years 1–3 learnt some ‘hands on’ colour theory, while Years 5–8 enjoyed an additional sculpture and design unit using paper mâché in Terms 3 and 4. Year 6–8 students were involved in a special project for our Rector, Christine Leighton. This involved some photography, painting, drawing and design.
Visual Arts linked to school wide themes and celebrations during the year, such as Matariki and the Junior Department Cultural Week which further connected the art programme to class learning. An assortment of children completed Matariki artworks that were displayed throughout the Preparatory School.
The St Andrew’s College Pre-school visited the art room in 2024 to do some collaborative art with the Preparatory School students. This visit focused on Gyotaku printmaking and was rewarding for everyone and showed great Manaakitanga.
Seesaw was used throughout the year to share the children’s experiences and artworks with their parents.
School displays and exhibitions of current artworks were updated regularly throughout the school, including the Preparatory School foyer for the enjoyment of all.
Music
2024 has been a busy and rewarding year for music in the Preparatory School. It has taken all of the last two years since the COVID pandemic ended to catch-up music learning areas that were severely restricted, such as recorder playing and singing. This will mean that at the start of 2025, year group classes will be back at the equivalent skill level of pre-Covid classes. This has also been the case with the orchestra and the two choirs. It has been pleasing to see how quickly the performance groups have gained traction.
During the year, the Preparatory School children had the opportunity to enjoy an adapted performance of The Elixir of Love by the New Zealand Opera Company in our Centennial Chapel. This is the sixth year that the Opera Company has visited. New Entrant to Year 6 children came prepared for the performance after having been familiarised with the plot and some of the solo arias (songs), thus enhancing their enjoyment and making the art form of opera more accessible to them. The New Zealand Opera schools’ programme is always well presented and well received by our students.
An important aspect of the music curriculum is for all children to prepare and present musical performances to their peers in the classroom, and/or to the wider community. The Seesaw program has been an excellent way to be able to record and post classroom performances. The Seesaw recordings are shared with the relevant class so that the children can reflect and evaluate their learning.
During the third term, children from the two Year 6 classes participated in the Christchurch Strum Strike Blow event in the Wolfbrook Arena. This year the number of children who could participate had to be restricted due to the enormous popularity of the event. The Year 6 classes all learnt the ukelele repertoire and then could opt-in to be part of the massed group of ukelele players at the event. The focus of this event was on participation and was very popular with our children. The children worked hard to master the pieces and learned to play together as a group. It was a thrill for our children to be part of a massed performance group of 1,200 children.
A new initiative took place in the third term where the whole school was filmed and recorded singing the waiata Nei rā te Kaupapa. The Cantare Years 5–8 choir recorded the waiata in the high school music department. This was the first time for many of our students to be part of a music recording and learn about the performance detail of this process. The recording then provided the backing for each class to be filmed singing a specific line of the waiata. The students felt a great sense of pride being involved in this school-wide project and have loved viewing the completed music video.
A significant highlight of the year was the involvement of all Year 7 and 8 students in the biennial Preparatory School Production of The Aurora Stone. The production was a resounding success, showcasing the dedication, teamwork, and musical talents of our students. From learning new songs to performing on stage, every student played a crucial role in bringing this magical show to life.
Congratulations to Director Ginnie Thorner for developing a show with students that gave all of them the opportunity to shine.
In addition to traditional instruments, our Year 7–8 students have embraced digital music-making through the Soundtrap program. This online platform has allowed them to explore their creativity by composing their own pieces, layering tracks, and experimenting with different genres and styles. The ability to compose online has been a fantastic way for students to express themselves musically and has proven to be one of the most
enjoyable aspects of the Years 7–8 music programme. It has been wonderful to see their excitement and pride in creating original compositions.
A musical highlight of the year has been the opportunity for the Cantare Choir to participate in the Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival. This year, children in Year 5 joined the Cantare Choir in the third term so that they too could sing in the Massed Choir in the Music Festival. Opening the choir to younger members has been highly successful. The performance week of the festival was the first week of the fourth term meaning that children had to take responsibility for memorising the songs during the Spring holiday break. This was a great thrill to be part of live music making at a high level of performance. The Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival provides our children with the opportunity to sing accompanied by a symphony orchestra, a concert band, and work with a team of highly skilled conductors.
This year a record twenty students from the Preparatory School were selected for Representative Groups in the festival. Twelve of our students were selected to play in the symphony orchestra with violinist Year 8 student Tony Chen co-leading the orchestra. Seven of our students were selected for the Junior Representative Choir and one student for the Senior Representative Choir.
It has been a rewarding year to see the Preparatory School students continue to develop their music skills in both the classroom and in performance groups, and in turn share this in performance settings in the classroom programme, school and community settings.
Dance and Drama
Another successful year in the Dance and Drama classroom. This is an energetic space for students to develop practical ways in which to express their ideas, creativity and understanding of the Arts within the Preparatory School programme.
Years 2–3
Students participated in a range of experiences in both Dance and Drama. They explored narrative through a range of story-based drama work. As the children worked in imagined spaces, they explored new characters and ways to solve story problems. This brought a lot of laughter to the classroom. Students explored dance elements of space and body awareness creating movement sentences to express an idea. The Year 3 children created their own Christmas dance to share at the end of the year concert.
Years 4–6
Students in Years 4–6 have continued to work with choreographic devices this year to further shape their developing ideas. They focused on space, time and relationships to create meaning in movement expression. This year, they danced with props including ribbons and boxes and ‘use of patterns’ in dance. In Drama, all students worked in a number of scenarios focusing on the ways in which scripted lines can be spoken in many ways. The students worked collaboratively in groups with open scripts to ensure they exercise their imaginations in the work.
Years 7–8
This year marked the first production in the Preparatory School since 2019. Over 70 students auditioned for roles, some that also required singing.
Year 7–8 classes worked separately for the first term to learn their parts and then increasingly they came together during the second term as the performance dates approached. Working in the new theatre, all students experienced the magic of performing on stage. There were also five students who worked backstage, supported by senior students and theatre Old Collegians. It is too difficult to find a suitable show for 200 students, therefore we create our own work.
The production, The Aurora Stone, had the script and song lyrics written by students and the music written and produced by the Year 13 music students. This was a special show, especially being able to be created in the new Gough Family Theatre.
D –Squared.
In the second semester, there was a strong group of students who wanted to continue to develop their skills in drama. They did this during lunchtimes. The group worked with scripts, devised work and were introduced to Theatresports. A highlight for this group was attending a theatre tour and vocal workshop at the Court Theatre.
The number of students interested and skilled in this area of learning has continued to grow and is supported by time and staff in the Preparatory School.
Physical Education
In the Preparatory School, students participated in a comprehensive and dynamic Physical Education programme. This encompassed a range of engaging activities and addressed diverse needs and abilities. Connections to general classroom topics were integrated, global sporting events were monitored, and school-wide sports initiatives were utilised to enhance the programme in 2024.
The programme offered students a secure environment to practice, develop, and showcase a variety of skills, techniques, and cognitive processes. ‘The Cloud’, a sheltered outdoor turf area was a key part of the physical environment that allowed the students to learn in a safe setting this year, having the capacity to learn in a large outdoor space shielded from harsh weather has been instrumental in the students’ learning.
Physical Education is learning in, through, and about movement. The core of a successful Physical Education programme is to nurture and build the self-worth of our tamariki. Through learning, students build resilience and confidence in themselves.
The aim of the programme is to inspire, motivate, and educate students in the physical environment to be healthy, work as a team and to improve all aspects of their hauora.
Physical Education lessons consisted of skill practice/development and games where students used skills they had developed. This scaffolding of the skill practice builds the students’ confidence,
provides effective and clear visible learning, and builds understanding before the children are placed in game situations. Students are given specific verbal feedback during the skill practice/ development so they understand their strengths and also what they can work on moving forward in the lesson.
The Junior Department focus was to improve basic ball to hand motor skill development, teamwork and understand the concept of attack vs defence.
The Perceptual Motor Programme (PMP) continued to successfully transition students from Year 0–1. A small ball aspect was added to the rotation this year. This included catching and throwing to improve hand-to eye coordination. This is a school wide focus.
A development phase was used for the Middle Syndicate team (Years 4–6). The students became more efficient and refined in movement through repetition in a variety of contexts. Students started to develop an awareness of team strategies and game tactics as well as learning to negotiate and communicate when disagreeing with others.
In the Senior Syndicate (Years 7–8), the students consolidated the skills developed in earlier years. They applied movement skills in a variety of ways and combined other movements in more complex games and activities. Skills became more automatic, and the focus was on naturally transferring skills from one context to another. This year, the motor-skills and coordination of the Year 8 cohort has been noted and they are participating at a high level across a wide range of sporting contexts. Being a leader and leadership
are concepts that have been developed this year, positive reinforcement from the position of a leader is under-developed in comparison.
Physical Education does not only focus on movement, it also focuses on interpersonal skills such as teamwork, co-operation, listening, managing self, and relating to others. These are the skills that have been identified in the New Zealand Curriculum as Key Competencies. The Physical Education programme gives students the opportunity to learn, develop, and fine-tune these skills in an energetic and motivating environment which they can then apply to all facets of life. There are many students in the Year 7-8 level that require further instruction and teaching on inclusivity and positive encouragement in a sporting and Physical Education context, prompting students to articulate how they can specifically put these skills into practice is an ongoing focus in Physical Education.
The Physical Education StAC-UP Peer Assessment Initiative was implemented in 2024, and it has led to many successes of students identifying and describing other students being; Ready, Safe and Respectful within the context of Physical Education. At the beginning of each lesson, students are selected as the P.E. Assessors (P.E. Detectives) of the period. Their responsibility is to monitor the other students and recognise when they are showing the StAC-UP values within the context of the Physical Education activity or sport. At the conclusion of each lesson, the StAC-UP detectives will describe which students have been exhibiting the values and will give specific examples and details while doing so.
Recommendations for 2025:
• students need more time on their athletics component, many students do not understand or are familiar with the correct throwing and jumping techniques required for Athletics Day;
• develop leadership qualities and positive encouragement strategies within a sporting context;
• further development of basic co-ordination and foundation level movements;
• integrating emerging sports from around the world; Ultimate Frisbee, Pickleball, Table Tennis.
eLearning
This year, specialist teacher Anneke Kamo worked alongside the Preparatory School teachers to teach weekly lessons for a semester per year group, incorporating a range of digital zlearning experiences.
Junior Department Team
eLearning in the Junior Department this year began with digital citizenship lessons for all students, where the students learnt about keeping themselves safe online. The Year 1 and 2 students learnt unplugged coding skills before putting these skills into practice with the use of the Beebot and BlueBot robots. The Year 3 students began using laptops at the start of the year. As many have never used a laptop before, this was a new and exciting challenge. They quickly became confident in using programmes such as Teams, OneDrive, Word and PowerPoint. They also developed skills in digital inking and coding.
Middle Syndicate Team
Year 4–5 students began the year with an Olympics themed robotics unit. The students learnt how to code Lego Spike robots to compete in the ‘Spike Olympics’. They thoroughly enjoyed the new events that they needed to code their robot for each week. The Year 6 students used Canva to design magazine covers about themselves and also developed their coding skills to create independent projects in Scratch. All Middle Syndicate students participated in digital citizenship lessons, with a focus on digital footprints, cyber safety and cyberbullying.
Year 7–8 Teams
Cybersafety lessons were taught in both Year 7 and 8 lessons, with a focus placed on keeping safe on social media. Key aspects such as sharing location, cyberbullying and ‘pausing before you post’ were important topics that were covered. A highlight of the year was when the Year 8 students used the skills they had learnt about staying safe online, to create stop motion movies. They also developed coding skills as they worked in pairs to complete a range of challenges using the Lego Spike robots.
VEX Robotics in Year 7
This year we began the VEX IQ Robotics programme in Year 7, which has been a great success. Twenty six VEX robots were purchased and a programme of learning was created. Students worked cooperatively in pairs to build, code and drive their robots with a controller. They were then able to compete against each other in challenges. Changes were made over the year to split the classes in half, which provided much more teacher support with building and technical issues. The remaining half of the class remained with their homeroom teachers, where they completed digital citizenship e-Learning lessons.
Religious Education
He aroha whakato, he aroha puta mai. If kindness is sown then kindness you shall receive.
Our school values of Truth, Excellence, Faith, Creativity, and Inclusivity were supported by the Preparatory School staff throughout the year. The StAC-UP weekly focus continues to give students specific goals and expectations to follow.
The Preparatory School Chaplain is part of the Pastoral Team. This team meets weekly to ensure students, who are identified as requiring pastoral support, are given the care needed for their ongoing well-being.
The Chapel team consisted of Rev. Paul Morrow, Jillian Fenton, Ben Hughes and Bridget Roth, who provided a variety of weekly chapel messages connecting biblical stories with the children’s contemporary experiences.
The specific values focused on in chapel services this year were; Manaakitanga |Compassion, Whakaute |Respect, Takohanga |Responsibility and in Term 4 Generosity was again shown from our school community by the giving of many Christmas gifts for the Christchurch City Mission.
The dedicated Year 8 Sacristan team gave excellent service to the school during chapel on Tuesday mornings throughout the year.
There were four Sunday Services held throughout the year. The Year 8 Communion Service in Term 3 is now a valued annual event. This year Bridget Roth
shared the Advent message in Term 4, which again was well supported by our wider school community.
Te Reo Māori is incorporated into chapel services with the inclusion of waiata and karakia.
Religious Education is taught to all year levels in the Preparatory School and the Learning Intentions are specific to the various year groups. Students are encouraged to make relevant links with the Religious Education Curriculum, the school values, and their own life experiences and to then connect these to relevant success criteria.
The Religious Education curriculum utilises digital technology in a variety of ways. Examples of this are the video and photo apps used to record and share student learning with families through Seesaw. In addition, student voice gives valuable feedback to the Religious Education teacher who then adapts teaching programmes to suit the needs of all students.
Specific professional development opportunities for the Chaplain this year:
• attending the Religious Education teachers and Chaplain’s Conference where Bishop Kito gave his views of how the Gospel message of Love and Peace remains relevant in Aotearoa New Zealand today. Dr George Wieland reminded the delegates of the importance of continuing to serve our communities and being adaptable as we engage with a diverse multi- cultural society. Arron Butler was a speaker who guided delegates back to key metaphors as a way to be reflective in this busy hectic world.
• Personal te reo Māori support was given by teacher Mary Leota throughout the year in regular Staff Meetings.
Library
Overview
Throughout 2024 the library continued to be a vibrant hub for the Preparatory School. The library remains a place that is greatly valued by both students and staff as a centre for reading and learning. The large number of students who regularly choose to visit the Preparatory Library at lunchtime is evidence of how much the facility is valued. Art activities, board games and card games ensure the library is a lively space, with many opportunities for socialising during this time.
In 2024 total circulation figures remained high at 25,650 items, 24,750 books. This shows an increase of almost 900 books compared to the previous year. Readership of eBooks and audiobooks through the school’s digital library facility SORA was marginally lower than that observed in 2023. This difference was not statistically significant, but we will continue to monitor these figures into 2025.
Policy
Over the past year, the Preparatory Library, the Secondary Library, and the ICT Department have worked together to document our collection development principles and to update and digitise processes for dealing with any queries that may arise about any resource in our collections. This documentation has now been finalised as part of the policy and is available for the school community to view through SchoolDocs; this is an important achievement for library services across the school.
Collection Development
In 2024, more than 500 new books were added to the Preparatory School Library
collection, including the latest releases from popular series, and plenty of new and exciting books from both local and international authors. This year two thirds of new resources were fiction books, supporting the Preparatory School’s reading for pleasure focus.
Comprehensive audits of all fiction collections were conducted during 2024, weeding out less popular titles, old and damaged books to make way for new titles and fresh copies of some of our most popular series. This investment ensures the appeal of the collections to prospective readers, which hopefully leads to elevated levels of reading engagement.
Library Space
New furniture was ordered at the end of 2024. All old tables and chairs are to be replaced with new modern furniture, giving the library a fresh new look. This will be in place for the start of the 2025 academic year.
Professional Development
Early in 2024 the Preparatory Library hosted a National Library Meeting on The school library supporting our Neurodivergent ākonga, with about 50 attendees from around Christchurch. Additionally, the Library Manager attended the School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa conference He Puāwaitanga, in September this year; a three-day programme of inspiring and informative lectures and workshops.
Teaching and Learning
Throughout 2024, the Preparatory Library continued to deliver a varied programme of Reading Engagement and Information Literacy instruction and activities including book talks, book tastings, and story times,
along with a structured programme of instructional sessions for accessing, evaluating and using non-fiction resources.
Reading Engagement Initiatives
Wide Reading: The Wide Reading programme achieved unprecedented success in 2024. Approximately 70 students achieved a Wide Reading Award, almost double the 2023 figure. Forty-eight of these students achieved a Gold Award, another record achievement, and 6T became the first class to ever achieve a class wide Bronze Level Award.
Summer Reading Photo Competition: This initiative continued to grow with many staff and students participating in 2024, resulting in a great display and lots of excitement in the library at the start of the year.
Kids’ Lit Quiz: During Term 1, St Andrew’s College Preparatory School gained second place in the Canterbury Kids’ Lit Quiz, losing
out to the winning team by only one point. The result reflects the high levels of engagement in reading and children’s literature throughout the Preparatory School.
Book Club: The Tuesday Book Club has now been running for three years and comprises a small but select group of avid readers. Lively analysis and debate of books, authors and genres dominated meetings.
Te Wiki o Ngā Pukapuka/Book Week: At the end of Term 3, staff and students spent a fantastic week celebrating the joys of children’s literature. This year the theme was ‘Reading is Magic’, focusing on stories that lift our imaginations, and spark creativity and dreams. Throughout the week, library sessions and lunchtimes were filled with literary quizzes, competitions and creative activities that kept us entertained, all capped off by our spectacular annual book parade.
Author Visits: St Andrew’s College Preparatory School Library hosted a total of four authors in 2024. Gideon Couper and Jennifer Somervell are both local authors who visited our younger students. Older students had the pleasure of meeting creative genius Steve Mushin, and our middle syndicate were treated to a visit from international bestselling children’s author Jacqueline Harvey.,
Book Fair: Our annual Scholastic Book Fair was more successful than in recent years selling over $6,900 worth of books; this provided our school with over $2,400 worth of credit with Scholastic New Zealand. These funds will be used to support the Wide Reading programme in 2025.
Te Reo Maori
Ko te kai a te rangatira he kōrero.
The food of chiefs is dialogue.
Overview
During 2024 Te Reo Māori (TRM), led by teacher Mary Leota, continued to be integrated into most classrooms by teachers in various ways. Students saw, heard and spoke simple phrases as well as began their learning day with karakia and waiata. Many kaiako can now give simple instructions in TRM and include tikanga Māori concepts such as manaaki (respect), atawhai (kindness) and kaitiaki (caring) in class discussions and in a variety of curriculum areas.
Staff Professional Development was provided by Mrs Leota throughout the year to increase the confidence and knowledge of TRM by all teaching staff.
In Years 3–6, Te Reo Māori was delivered using an oral approach. Tamariki heard, sang and spoke their new learning and practised in small group and game situations to develop their confidence and fluency. Many tamariki were able to confidently share their pepeha and ask and answer simple questions with pronunciation and fluency. They were confident being called on to share waiata for both formal and informal occasions.
In Year 7, akōnga learned to read and write a variety of active and descriptive sentences as well as describe their whānau and their whakapapa. They also played simple games and sang waiata to develop their
pronunciation skills. The school haka was taught and explained so that students new at Year 7 understood the mana and history of the haka. It was particularly pleasing to see the retention of prior learning from students who have come through St Andrew’s TRM programme in the Middle Syndicate.
In Year 8, classes developed their written sentence structures to include a wider variety of vocabulary. Both online and partner games were played and enjoyed, developing confidence when using new words. Students are now able to answer questions about their whakapapa, their whānau and their school. Students learned to introduce visitors and speak about jobs that people do, as well as develop a wider vocabulary of everyday kupu (words) and phrases used in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
During Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori several activities and events occurred. The whole Preparatory School learned a new waiata; Nei rā te Kaupapa o te Reo Māori and joined together as a whole kura to sing for our Mahuru Moment and record the waiata for a video. We also had a theme of Tuakana/ Teina where older classes buddied with younger classes to work together sharing their te reo Māori activities. Many special whanaungatanga moments were shared, observed and celebrated. Daily quizzes and competitions were eagerly contested and throughout the week new relationships were formed. New kupu (words) were added to the school environment and students are encouraged to add these words to their conversations. There was a large display of bi-lingual books in the library and many kaiako spent time immersing their students in TRM games and activities.
Kapa Haka
In Term 1, all students from Years 4–8 participated in kapa haka sessions with Kapa Haka tutor, Matua Steve Reid and Te Reo Māori teacher Mary Leota. A variety of traditional and modern waiata and hymns were sung and the actions learned. Simple stick games and Te Haka o Hato Ānaru (St Andrew’s haka) were taught and all the boys who were in the team travelling to Tauranga for AIMS Games worked hard to learn the haka to perform before matches. Year 7–8 girls who travelled to Australia for their sports tour, also learned a poi waiata ‘Rona’ to share with their Australia friends.
In Term 4, 84 students opted into the performance group. This group perfected their programme of waiata ‘To Āroha’ and ‘Waitaha E’, their poi dance ‘Rona’ and the school haka. They performed with distinction in the Tūhono Cultural Festival in the Christchurch Town Hall and opened the proceedings at the annual College’s Years 7–13 Prizegiving at Wolfbrook Arena. Throughout the year the kapa performed in school assemblies and on special occasions. The performance repertoire of the kapa haka group has widened and they were able to combine with the College Kapa Haka to perform ‘Te Taukaea o te Aroha’ at Prizegiving.
Aotearoa New Zealand Histories (ANZH)
Throughout 2024 Aotearoa New Zealand Histories was integrated through Aotearoa Studies sessions with Mrs Leota and class inquiry studies. Classroom teachers also integrated ANZH into their Literacy programmes.
Our akōnga started the year answering the questions, ‘Who are we?’ and ‘What’s our story?’. Building on from previous
learning about personal pepeha, students learned about the history of Hato Ānaru –St Andrew’s College, from what the whenua was like and the animals that lived here before the arrival of humans, to how the whenua was used by Māori, to what changed with the arrival of the first Canterbury settlers. All classes explored the people and places of St Andrew’s that led to them being well versed in school history in time for Founders’ Day and the Highland Games. Staff and students learned the school haka – not just the sound that it makes, but the background to the actions and the words so that they could perform it with mana.
In Years 3–4, students studied some interesting native animals – tuatara and kiwi, and lizards and geckos. We learned about how Māori valued these animals and what we need to know about them for their survival. Willowbank brought a live tuatara to visit us at school and the students learned about the action being taken to ensure the success of the breeding programmes for tuatara and kiwi. As well as learning about the natural history, students looked at the people at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and learned vocabulary around whānaungatanga (relationships), pepeha and mihi – introductions and words we can use to talk about kai (food) we use for celebrating who we are. Sharing pūrakau (traditional stories) was included to reinforce the principle that Māori history is the foundational history of Aotearoa. Our history has grown from these, with the arrival of our ancestors and new arrivals from all over the world. Year 3 visited Riccarton Bush to learn about settler life in ‘Early Canterbury’ – and about the native birds and plants in the bush. They finished
the year looking at how the many different peoples of Aotearoa celebrate special events, with a focus on kai.
Year 5 learned about famous New Zealanders throughout history and Year 6 investigated Polynesian navigation methods, pre-European life and culture as well as individual inquiries into early cultural practices. Sharing of stories such as Maui, Kupe, Hui Te Rangiora and Moana have guided learning and understanding of the deliberate and skilful exploration of Te-Moana-nui-a-Kiwa; the Pacific Ocean. Students completed in-depth learning about lizards and geckos in Year 5 and visited Willowbank Wildlife to learn about our native animals and constructed their own gecko habitats in the school grounds. Year 6 learned about the mythical creatures, taniwha. They investigated how these beings were integrated in pūrakau (stories) to explain natural phenomena and dangers. All classes investigated Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the importance of this founding document, as well as hearing the stories of what happened before and after the signing of the treaty including some of the early conflicts between settlers, government and tangata whenua Māori.
Year 7 classroom teachers led inquiries into places and stories of significance within their inquiry programmes. Year 8 learned about the history of early New Zealand and completed a major inquiry in Term 1 on the Treaty of Waitangi including Te Whakaputunga o Te Rangatiratanga (Declaration of Independence). They explored the historical events and people involved in the conflict and peaceful resistance at Parihaka and learned about the effects of the New Zealand Wars on tangata whenua and settlers.
Throughout the whole school Matariki was explored and celebrated in a variety of ways. Buddy classes worked together to understand the meaning behind the traditions of Matariki and why it is an important time in the Aotearoa New Zealand maramataka (calendar). Individual stars were identified and the relationships to the land and people explored through both waiata, craft and research activities. Year 8 investigated how different cultures around the world celebrate the rising of the stars.
Eco Action Canterbury
Our Year 4–5 students have sown native grass seeds, and the Year 6–8 classes have transplanted seedlings that we will nurture until they are ready for planting in the community in 2025. Sustainability concepts are discussed throughout our class lessons, focusing on traditional practices from pre-European times and how we have adapted that knowledge over time, particularly looking at the land around us and how it is cared for.
In 2025 there will be opportunities for the wider school community to be involved in planting our seedlings into the new native forest areas in the Christchurch Red Zone. Caring for the whenua and our unique animals is a focus at all levels.
E hara taku toa it te toa takitahi, he toa takitini.
My strength is not as an individual but as a collective.
This reminds us that we need to work together to achieve great things.
