We are proud of the way our students embrace the learning opportunities they have and in the way they create meaning through self directed projects that often take them out into their community. This section will give you background information and suggest ways you can support your child's learning journey.
We are proud of the way our students embrace the learning opportunities they have and in the way they create meaning through self directed projects that often take them out into their community. This section will give you background information and suggest ways you can support your child's learning journey.
At St Joseph's School, we use ongoing assessment information from a range of sources to identify each individual child's learning need and teach to their learning needs rather than their age. Class programmes are planned from the New Zealand National curriculum and supporting documents for each year group.
In any class, there is always a range of ability and current attainment. As a result each class operates groups at a variety of levels at the same time as part of the normal delivery of the programme. There is not a set learning programme at each particular year level, rather, there are expectations set at curriculum levels which span across two years and take into account children's interests. It is also possible that a class may have teaching and learning programmes that cover more than one curriculum level.
Parents are encouraged to spend time in the classrooms if they wish to find out how each class functions. Parents are welcome to talk to their child’s teacher about aspects of the learning programme any time throughout the year. However, it is helpful to the teacher if you make an appointment.
Play based learning is a time of discovery and allows teachers and students to co-create a positive learning environment where students direct and take responsibility for their own learning with the guidance of their teacher. Children develop many important skills through this process including key competencies and learner qualities including problem solving, using their imagination, building persistence and resilience, communication, negotiation, patience and turn taking. As well as these, we discovered the development of lots of oral language, reading, writing, maths, science, technology, health and social sciences.
At St Joseph's School, we wanted to make children's transition from early childhood education to school as smooth as possible. We saw Play Based Learning as a way to do this and have seen great results so far. We also know that reading and writing skills develop best for children who have good oral language and a broad and rich vocabulary. This time provides lots of opportunities for children to talk and build their vocabulary in a range of meaningful contexts.
Children love this time at our school. If you want further information, please speak to our New Entrant teacher, Lisa Dickson.
In New Zealand, we live in a beautiful environment surrounded by sea and beaches, with lakes, rivers, water, mountains and bush in abundance. As a result, we believe it is important to teach our children the necessary skills to be safe and to enjoy a variety of activities possible through living in this environment. As well as using this environment for everyday learning, children also have the opportunity to go on school camps, a real highlight for their year.
School camps alternate years are currently as follows:
Years 7/8: 5 day camp in Wellington / Borland Lodge - Fiordland National Park
Years 5/6: 4 day camp in Dunedin / Camp Columba, Pukerau
Year 4: 3 day camp in Naseby
Years 0-3: Outdoor Education Week
At St Joseph's School, we are fortunate to have dedicated teachers who strive to meet the learning needs of all students. Sometimes however, it is necessary to put support programmes in place to better meet the needs of some individual students. The other pages are designed to give general, background information about the support that is offered at St Joseph's School.
Should you require further information please contact your child's teacher or our SENCO - Belinda Davidson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
