Southern View: June 28, 2016

16
Tuesday June 28 2016
SOUTHERN VIEW
Christchurch Intermediate
Schools
Specialists in Year 7 and Year 8 Education
OPEN NIGHTS 2016
Intermediates are two year
coeducational schools specialising
in the education of students in their
early adolescence, 11-13 year olds.
Intermediates are exciting places for students to
begin their adventure into adolescence. In addition
to providing a rich, age and stage, middle-yearsspecific
curriculum in a stimulating, challenging and
rewarding environment, intermediates cater for many
interest groups and clubs.
Early adolescence is a unique and
special time of immense physical,
intellectual, emotional and social
development. These changes create
specific needs and challenges that
are significantly different from
the needs of younger children or
older adolescents. Teachers in
intermediate schools are highly
qualified, experienced and skilled
teachers of students in their early
adolescence. Our teachers establish
strong relationships and particularly
enjoy working with this age group.
It is not surprising that New Zealand and overseas
research concludes that the quality of teaching is
one of the most significant factors influencing how
well students learn at school. Given that quality
teaching occurs in most New Zealand schools
regardless of their type, it’s only natural to consider
other factors that might make a difference for early
adolescents.
The young people at intermediates are changing
rapidly – physically, emotionally and socially.
Intermediates focus solely on this age group and
are well positioned to meet their needs. A mix
of specialist and home room teachers helps to
provide the choices, challenge, love for practical
activities and academic rigour in the students’
learning. Resourcing, both human and physical, that
is developed deliberately to meet early adolescent
student needs, helps to build self esteem, assist
students to develop and find strengths and links
learning with career aspirations. Teachers who are
focussed solely on the middle years are able to work
collaboratively to provide level-appropriate engaging
Our aim is for all of our students
to leave our intermediate schools
feeling confident in themselves
as successful learners and well
equipped with the knowledge, skills
and attributes needed for high
achievement not only at the next
stage of their formal education but
as life long learners.
programmes that connect learning to students’ lives
and interests and provide challenge for all students
to achieve to the best of their ability.
Current intermediate school students list these
points:
In particular, early adolescents
enjoy learning that is authentic and
meaningful to them in an environment
where they have choice and a real say
in what and how they learn. Students
enjoy the challenge of new and
different learning opportunities that
are provided by specialist teachers in
technology, science, performing arts
and visual arts. There also remains an
emphasis on continuing to develop
skills to a high level in literacy and
mathematics.
1. “There are more children of my own age here
because our school takes all the year sixes from a
few different schools and they come to one school.
And because we’ve got bigger numbers of pupils
we can have more sports teams and … there’s
something for everyone” Y8 child
2. “Our school has different specialist teachers for
subjects like music art, P.E. and technology, so we
get used to that – which is good preparation for
secondary school” Y7 girl
3. “At intermediate school everything is for our two
years (age group).” Y8 girl
4. “I like that we don’t have to look out for little
children. That was neat at our old (primary) school
but it’s nice to just have our own age here. Y7 boy
Intermediate schools work very
closely together to collectively provide
a wide range of extracurricular
opportunities for students. For
example, there are a number of interintermediate
sport competitions such
as swimming, winter sport, summer
sport, athletics and cross country.
5. “It’s good that we don’t have big secondary kids
here. We can worry about them when we’re older…
and then we’ll be big too. Y8 boy
For a specialist focus on middle year schooling, use
the table on this page to find the time and date of
the open night for your nearest intermediate school.
ENQUIRIES WELCOME
This is a great opportunity to
see Intermediates in action
Attending our Open Nights is a
great way to see Intermediate
schools in action
School Date Time Principal Email Phone Website
Breens Thursday 7 July 4.30pm – 6.30pm Nikki Clarke office@breens.school.nz 359 8108 www.breens.school.nz
Casebrook Wednesday 3 August 6.30pm – 8.30pm Sharon Keen office@casebrook.school.nz 359 7428 www.casebrook.school.nz
Chisnallwood Wednesday 3 August 6.00pm – 8.00pm Iva Hamilton info@chisnallwood.school.nz 388 4199 www.chisnallwood.school.nz
Christchurch South Thursday 28 July 6.30pm – 8.00pm Ross Hastings office@chchsouth.ac.nz 332 2408 www.chchsouth.ac.nz
Cobham
Tuesday 26 July
3.30 pm – 5.30 pm &
6.30 pm – 8.30 pm
Scott Thelning office@cobham.school.nz 351 6381 www.cobham.school.nz
Heaton Thursday 7 July 6.30pm – 8.30pm Andrea Knight admin@heaton.school.nz 355 9555 www.heaton.school.nz
Kirkwood
Tuesday 5 July
9.00am – 12.00 noon
and 7.00pm – 8.30pm
Phil Tappenden school.information@kirkwood.school.nz 348 7718 www.kirkwood.school.nz
Shirley Thursday 28 July 6.30pm – 8.00pm Geoff Siave office@sis.school.nz 385 2229 www.sis.school.nz