Whānau Partnership and Assessment

At the Rural Campus (Te Haerenga), we foster learning partnerships between teachers, students and whānau. Having shared ownership of and responsibility for learning is well-known to improve engagement and achievement.

We believe that empowering students to become self-directed learners, and helping staff and parents further develop these skills in their children, can significantly increase students’ motivation and achievement in school.

‘Learning to Learn’ is a principle from the New Zealand curriculum that is a cornerstone of Reporting and Assessment at the Rural Campus. This means students take control of and improve their own learning, and develop “learner identities”.

We communicate and collaborate on our boys’ progress, achievements and wellbeing in a variety of ways that allow whānau to be involved in their child’s learning:

Student-led Conference - Term 2

Sharing of goals and next steps in learning and receiving feedback (from peers, teachers, parents, and from their own experience) that relates specifically to how the student can improve his performance.

Learning Journeys - Terms 2 and 4

A form of assessment that narrates and describes a student’s whole learning journey and is shared with whānau. It is on-going and gives a richer, holistic view of learning and development. Boys own and personalise these Learning Journeys with their own evidence of progress.

Assessment Rubrics

The Learning Journeys include rubrics, which are levelled learning goals for skills, knowledge or concepts that students have worked on during the year. Both students and staff assess, using the criteria on the rubric and evidence from their learning, and next steps are developed together.

End of Year Snapshots

Together with diagnostic testing and formative data (e-asttle data, noticing, responding, extending, communicating and reflecting with the learner) an overall curriculum level is communicated in a snapshot overview.