The Detail
Our Community
Waihi – ‘New Zealand’s Heart of Gold’ is a fantastic town of 4500 people nestled in the picturesque south-eastern Coromandel. Waihi began life as a mining town and was New Zealand’s premier gold mines during the first half of the 20th Century. The mine was re-opened in 1987 and Waihi is once again the site of New Zealand’s most modern gold mine producing high volumes of gold and silver. The town is only 10km from the beautiful Waihi Beach and close to a wide variety of wonderful recreational and outdoor opportunities that make it a very attractive place to live.
For more see www.waihi.org.nz
School Community
Last year Waihi East School celebrated 100 Years of teaching and learning. We are a proud, well established school that reflects the needs of our ever evolving community. Students come from a variety of backgrounds and they enjoy the family atmosphere our small school offers. We pride ourselves on developing self worth and success – academically, through sports, and through the arts.
Our Contribution
Waihi East is a contributing school and at the end of Year 6 children transfer to Waihi College (Yr 7 – Yr 13). The majority of New Entrant children who enroll have had early childhood learning experience and the close proximity of Waihi Kindergarten is used to the advantage of both institutions.
Academic Abilities
Waihi East prides itself on its classroom programmes. A strong focus of the school is literacy and numeracy with other curriculum areas interwoven within these programmes. The targets at Waihi East School for 2009 are:
Written Language Targets
* 75% of all children will have moved a minimum of one stage within a level between March and November 2009.
Reading Targets
* 70 % of all children will have improved their reading age by a minimum of 10 months during 2009.
Maths Targets
* 85% of all students will work within numeracy benchmarks with an emphasis on Maori achievement.
Assessment System
*Staff have under-taken an assessment contract provided by the Ministry of Education. The outcome of this is student driven programmes, where children help set what is being learnt and what achievement will look like in their classroom. Children work collaboratively with our teachers and there is a shared responsibility with our learning. Assessment activities that monitor achievement include national testing, work samples, peer and self-assessment tasks. Yearbooks were introduced across the school in 2007 to enable sharing of academic success. These books go home every term with children and are a living document of learning. Children take great pride in their achievements and celebrate their learning. We aim for children at Waihi East School to be reflective learners who take initiative in developing their next learning steps.
*The Ministry of Education Numeracy Programme is taught across the school. Children are becoming aware of different strategies to solve problems. Number knowledge especially using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are thoroughly taught and we are delighted with the children’s achievements using this programme.
*Waihi East has a wide range of academic abilities. We are delighted by our achievements and the Board of Trustees is regularly informed of our progress. Teacher aides are in place in all classrooms to support programmes.
Sport
Our School prides itself on the sporting opportunities available to children and the success our children achieve in competitions. Activities include rugby, ripper rugby, basketball, mini ball, netball, soccer and cross-country running. We are fortunate to have a very capable and dedicated group of adults to coach our children.
The Arts
The arts are an important part of our curriculum too. A music teacher is on site every Wednesday and children enjoy learning a variety of instruments and performing to the school community. We have regular school productions where children perform in front of the students, staff and parents – these are always very popular events. Our children’s artwork is constantly on display throughout the school.
School Camps
Year five and six children take part in annual camps. In 2008 children participated in a camp at Waitawheta near Waihi. This year (2009) children experienced activities based around Lake Karapiro Camping and Pursuits Centre, this provided social and physical challenges where children worked alongside each other supporting, guiding and celebrating.
ERO
In 2006 Waihi East received a very positive Education Review Office Report. Notable achievements were in behaviour management, staff development/appraisal, and classroom programmes, including assessment strategies. We are proud of our learning environment.
Buildings
The school buildings consist of six single classrooms and two detached relocatable classrooms. The library was moved in 2007 to be alongside our other classrooms. Children will be able to use this space for quick access to reference materials. There is a double space multipurpose room, a well appointed administration block, two additional special needs rooms, a swimming pool and a hard court area. The extensive outdoor shelter area is also a great asset to the school. Another special feature of the school is its attractive setting and spacious playgrounds with a range of play equipment.
School Roll
The School roll has fluctuated over the past few years and is currently stable at 127 children – placed in six classes.
Staff
The staff are a warm group of teachers who are very loyal to our school community. Teaching strengths include mathematics, literacy programmes, information technology and physical education. Our staff enjoy professional development and the impact new knowledge has in the classroom. The current staffing entitlement is 7.74 with 4 Units. The current organisation of the staff is:
*Principal (Grade U3)
* Deputy Principal – 3 Units
*Asisstant Principal with 1 Unit
*One other Senior Teacher with 1 Unit
* Six Permanent Scale A Teachers
Ancillary Staff is as follows:
* Office Manager
* Three Teachers’ Aides
* Caretaker
The Teachers’ Aides include those employed for Special Needs Assistance with funding from our Targeted Funding and Special Education Grants. As a group, all the staff show commitment and loyalty to the school and an interest in the community they serve.
Community Help
The community has traditionally strongly supported the work of the school and teachers generally have little difficulty enlisting parental support for their programmes whether it be on a regular basis or for a specific task.
Examples of parent support include:
* Library book work
* Helping in the classroom
* Supervising small groups
* Coaching sports teams
* Providing transport
* Supervising groups on school trips
* Tutoring or mentoring elective groups on Friday afternoons
Waihi East School is a dynamic school that believes it has huge impact in local education. We are proud of our community and the achievements we obtain.
