Mā Maketū, mā Pātapu, mā Keepa, Mā Tinirau, mā

Poutini.

Whakatau, whakatau, whakatau mai rā ki Tōtara Puku.

Ko Aotea te waka

Ko Ruapehu te maunga

Ko Whanganui te awa

Ko Te Atihaunui a Paparangi te iwi

Ko Whanganui East te Kura

Whanganui East School Vision

‘He waka eke noa’

A canoe in which we are in with no exception, we are all in this together

Whanganui East School opened in 1904 and is situated in Whanganui East and is a U4, contributing primary school that caters for students from Year 1 to Year 6.  The current roll is 190 students.

Our school vision provides a consistent approach to ensuring respectful relationships through collaborative consultation with the whole school community ‘’He waka eke noa”   The Board, school leaders and staff work alongside our whānau to foster respectful productive partnerships for learning within the school community.  We draw on community resources, Iwi and new education initiatives to enhance learning opportunities and student wellbeing.  Consultation with the community includes:

• Community surveys and questionnaires
• Reporting back on Strategic Goals
• Consultation in 2021 with whānau to develop our Localised curriculum which will be implemented fully in 2022
• Informal/formal discussions with whānau/caregivers (community events, Focus Parent Evening, home visits, phone calls etc)
• Regular Learning Conversations and follow up conversations to ensure positive academic and social outcomes for students – goal setting in consultation with whānau
• School newsletters, Notice board, Assemblies
• School Webpage, Skool Loop and Facebook
• Information Enrolment Pack
• Board of Trustees Newsletter

Our Waharoa (Gateway)  is held up strongly with our pillars (Kotahitanga, Ako and Hauora).  The school is currently undergoing positive change to strengthen the pillars.  We know that we need governance and leadership that is strategically effective, learning partnerships that are inclusive and equitable, students needs are met socially, culturally and academically and students are affirmed to their cultural connections.  The Board of Trustees continue to engage with the School Donations Scheme for 2022.  As a result all children are provided with stationery at the start of the year and all curriculum related costs are fully funded by the school. 

Key Strengths of the school as identified by the Education Review Office were:

• A relentless focus on improving learning through robust and coherent school wide systems
• Professional leadership focussed on growing the effectiveness of teaching strategies
• Responsiveness and inclusive approaches for learning

School staff consists of the Principal, Deputy Principal, Assistant Principal, Team Leader and  9 fulltime teachers, 2 part time teachers, Office Administrator,  Property Manager and Targeted Learning support staff. We maintain positive staff morale and a climate of professional congeniality.  We ensure staff have appropriate Professional Development to support growth of practice.

The school operates 9 classrooms, a well resourced up to date library, 2 adventure playgrounds, a purpose built sandpit and well maintained grounds.

We participate extensively in all sporting activities across the year and take part in competitive sporting events which our children do very well at. We offer children as many sporting codes as possible and we have strong support from whānau.  At the end of the year a Sports Prizegiving is held to acknowledge the hard mahi across the year both in and out of school sporting events.  During summer we use the local community swimming pool as part of our Physical Education programme and the children swim 4 days a week until the pool closes for the season. We have a very strong focus on Water Safety Skills.

Our senior students (Year 5 & 6) participate in camp every second year and whānau support is needed for camps to go ahead.   Students are given the opportunity to fundraise towards  the cost of camp that is not covered under the School Donation Scheme.    Students are encouraged to attend camp which are at the beginning of the year as this is a great opportunity for students to develop a range of social skills and for staff to connect with students.  A main focus at camp is to develop resiliency and team work, which is great to bond as a class and to develop friendships.

We offer a range of Leadership roles across the school, Respect Leaders, Peer Mediators, Road Patrollers, Librarians, Kaea and the Environmental Team. Leadership provides children with the opportunity to identify and display effective communication and interpersonal skills and builds tuakana-teina across the school.

 The  Kickstart  Breakfast programme  is the only school breakfast programme of its kind within New Zealand to provide healthy breakfasts to children.  We are a ‘Fruit in Schools’, and students are offered fresh fruit daily.  The programme is funded by the Ministry of Health and managed by the produce organisation United Fresh.  The key objectives for Fruit in Schools are to see:  Children eating more fruit and vegetables, promoting health through a whole school approach and an increased awareness and implementation of healthy eating and physical activity.  We have also opted into the Lunch in Schools programme, all children are provided with a fresh lunch each day. 

 Whanganui East School is a Sun Smart school and students and staff are required to wear a hat during daylight saving and the grounds provide a range of shaded areas for students to sit in the hottest part of the day. In 2020 the Board of Trustees funded a shade area for the Junior and Middle School which is used in summer for shade and winter as cover.  This also serves as an outside classroom.

 As a ‘Duffy’ School we are able to provide our students with a wide selection of books to choose from to take home and share with their families each term. This is at no cost to whanau.

 We have a very active Board of Trustees who are fully involved and have an effective working relationship with the staff and community.  The Board have worked hard to develop our school Vision that guides our school goals and are regularly reviewing policy and practice.  The Board are also committed to providing resources necessary to achieve our Strategic Goals.

The learner-focused outcome indicators are organised in terms of the vision of The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa: “confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners”. These indicators are drawn from The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa and reflect the education system’s aspirations for every learner as an outcome of schooling in New Zealand.

Each NELP contributes to the goal of improving student outcomes. Effective communities of learning are characterised by high quality practices in all NELPs and those practices are integrated and coherent.

The NELPs educationally powerful connections and relationships and responsive curriculum, effective teaching and opportunity to learn have the most significant influence on outcomes for students.

The relative impact of these NELPs on student outcomes is driven by stewardship, leadership of conditions for equity and excellence, professional capability and collective capacity and the effective use of evaluation, inquiry and knowledge building processes for improvement and innovation.

At Whanganui East School, our Strategic planning is based around the School Evaluation Indicators, which identify 4 NELPsthat have the most significant influences on improving student outcomes, each of which relates to the National Administration Goals.  The following Evaluation Indicators provide teachers with the Strategic Goals for 2022-2024

It was lovely to catch up with many of our families and ex students for our New Year Puanga celebration. The morning started wet but the rain held off.

A Pohutakawa tree was planted in memory of Gerrard Williams-Bogileka by his whānau in our Memorial Garden.

Our Roopu birds  (Kereru, Ruru and Tui) were blessed by Mātua John and then into the hall for bacon and egg butties, venison, scrambled eggs, sausages, weetbix and fruit.

Our Kapa Haka group performed and sang a tribute song to Gerrard.  It was a great opportunity then for parents and whānau to walk through the classrooms and share with the children the work they have been doing.

 2022 School Organisation:

Roopu Ruru:  Miss Geard Team Leader

Room 1:        Miss Geard              Year 2 & 3

Room 2:        Miss Attwood          Year 2 & 3

Roopu Tui:  Mrs Ray Team Leader/Assistant Principal

Room 4:        Mrs Ray                                    New Entrant

Room 5:        Miss Ratima                             Year 1 & 2

Room 6:        Mrs Ramage/Mrs Cook          Year 1 & 2

Roopu Kereru:  Whaea May Team Leader/Deputy Principal

Room 10:      Whaea Kellie            Year 5 & 6

Room 9:        Whaea Noelene        Year 4 & 5

Room 8:        Whaea Fran              Year 5 & 6

Room 7:        Whaea Amie             Year 4 & 5

What a great evening to meet whānau and have an informal chat and share how our tamariki have settled into school this term.