Curriculum
At Riwaka School, we are committed to providing equitable outcomes for all learners.
Our learners are purposefully involved in a broad, rich curriculum that is strongly based in local contexts. Our teaching staff make good use of community resources and expertise to deepen curriculum experiences and engage children in meaningful learning. This involves bringing the experts to us, bringing the learners to environments in the area that support learning inquiries as well as recognising what engages our learners.
Learning is driven by ‘Big Ideas’ with integration of curriculum areas and development of the Key Competencies of:
- Thinking
- Relating to others
- Managing self
- Using language, symbols and text
- Participating and contributing
At the junior level of the school, students experience an aspect of ‘play-based learning’ to support development of the Key Competencies. This encourages curiosity, problem solving, creativity, negotiating, oral language and many other skills. On a Friday morning all junior classes work together in ‘Discovery Time’ which has a ‘play-based learning’ focus. Students can be seen building, imagining, evaluating, questioning, discussing, wondering and generally having fun learning with others.
There is some use of ICT in the school to support learning. Students have access to Mathletics and Lexia Core5 to support numeracy and literacy. As the students move up through the school, Google accounts are used for Y5-8 students for some aspects of their writing. Chromebooks and iPads are available for students to use.
Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC) is used at all levels to enrich learning experiences. We are fortunate to live in an area where there are sites within walking distance which have significance to science, social sciences and technology as learning experiences.
The NZC (New Zealand Curriculum) underpins planning, teaching, assessment and evaluation of learning at Riwaka School.
A process of ongoing curriculum review is part of our regular strategic plan.