First Impressions
Heretaunga College is a co-educational decile 6 secondary school with approximately 800 students. The school is a community driven school with vocational options for students who are not wanting to follow a pure academic pathway. For example, students who do not want to go through academic routes can work at the cafe and earn credits towards hospitality.
The school is a positive behaviour for learning (PB4L) school where the pride values are participation - Whai wāihitanga, Respect - Manaakitanga, Integrity- Ngākau Pono, Determination- Te Hiringa and Empathy- Aroha. These values were chosen by the school community (both staff and ākonga). Within the first two days of being at school I observed the diversity, both cultural and neurodiversity, of ākonga that are in the school. They are supported and worked with/alongside with the school. The classrooms are inclusive to all students where possible. On my first day a teacher had sadly passed away the Friday before, I saw how the school community support each other. The staff were offered support from councillors if they needed it. A memory book was circulated, the teachers were all wearing orange as support colour, a mural was made and the ākonga who wanted to participate were able to.
My son and I went to the school performance before the practicum started. The passion from the ākonga who were performing shone through as a great performance that was very entertaining.
Final Impressions
The school is very much driven to support the students and the staff. Mental wellbeing of ākonga is a key part of the school as well as the academic journey. The wellbeing of the teachers is also a key part of the school where there are councillors on offer when they are required. On one day there was an extra teacher brought in for teachers who just needed a break from a class on that day. For the type of challenges that teaching can present it is great to see the support network that was available for all teachers.
There is a team of specialised teachers who are able to test ākonga who are struggling with the classwork. These specialised teachers work alongside the subject teachers and ākonga to make sure there is the support system for the ākonga to have equal opportunities to learn.
The school is set up to ensure the students get the best opportunity to suit them and their learning style. The science classes have been developed as an interest rather than just core science. There are many junior science options, beauty in the bottle, potions, zootopia and crimebusters were just a few options that the ākonga could choose from. They are using the curriculum to fit the ākonga, not making the ākonga fit into the curriculum. For senior students who are not comfortable with exams there are science courses that are all internal for them to get the credits and pass in a science field. The courses are again a focus on a particular area to interest the kids and also a science that is not the core science. There are academic science classes as well to cover the ākonga who were wanting a push in the science area.
While I was on practicum I was made to feel part of the science department and school team. I thoroughly enjoyed working at Heretaunga College and it was a great experience to see how they run the school with the community and the ākonga diversity to be embraced.
Lockdown Reflections
During level four I experienced and saw the importance of the following;
Wellbeing;
There needs to be a balance between the learning and wellbeing for the ākonga as well as the teachers. It is a stressful time with a lot of information and extra stress going on. For some ākonga they suffer from anxiety and the lockdowns can fuel this anxiety. It is hard for them to get into/focus on school work or even come back to school. Making sure that we are aware of the ākonga who are in these types of situations so the support is provided for them.
The wellbeing of the kaiako is also very important as they are juggling homelife as well as school life. I personally felt this with two kids at home who had needs from me as well as setting the work for the ākonga, giving feedback and feedforward on their work and attending meetings. Your mind is jumping between all the things you are juggling, where at school it is easier to separate between the school work and home life.
Connection to the school is important for wellbeing as well. There is so much change going on and feeling like you are part of a community is really important. It reduces the feeling of being all alone during lockdown. I saw this with my own children who lit up when they watched the recorded assemblies and saw what others were doing. They had familiar school routines of the school song and karakia. For teenagers this is also really important as socially they are more reliant on their friends and peers over their parents/caregivers. Having that link is very important to their mental wellbeing.
Home life:
For some families they need to rely on the ākonga to look after the younger siblings while they work. Other families may require the ākonga to work in essential jobs to bring in money for the whānau. In these situations school work is not an option for the ākonga. As a kaiako we need to be supportive and not add more pressure to the ākonga. Have the support for when they do get back into school work to catch them up with their classmates. There was a concern that some ākonga will not come back to school as they stay working, this was observed in the last lockdown.
The availability of the learning tools, devices and internet, was not guaranteed for all learners. The school worked hard to get devices to ākonga who did not have access to one.
Not all ākonga are in a safe learning environment where food might not be available or their safety is not guaranteed at home. Knowing who these high risk ākonga are allows support to be provided to them, whether it be food drops or a kaiako they have a connection with to touch base regularly to make sure they are ok.
Work load:
There is a huge difference between schools and the amount of set work and expectations on the students. Equity can become more of an issue, when I was hearing other schools had only reduced their workload by 1 hour a week. We were advised to only set one and half hours of work a week. This was from feedback from the last lockdown where there was too much work set so this was adjusted for this lockdown. Not a lot of students did the work, only 30-50% uptake of work, this was observed by a lot of staff across the school.
To be fair across the subjects to only set zoom calls during your class time. When there was a zoom call ākonga did not want to expose their home and rooms to others in their class. There were a lot of icons on the screen and not much talking. Concerns from teachers that they won't get the mahi into the kids to make sure they will pass NCEA.