Learning at our school

The school curriculum is based around inquiry learning.

LEARNING INTENTIONS

In our quest to create life-long learners we empower our students by providing them with learning intentions (what we are trying to achieve) and success criteria (how will we know when we get there). 

e-LEARNING:

Hamilton West School is in the process of developing an e-learning platform. In 2013 the school will purchase a range of ICT resources to support e-learning. This will be an exciting focus in the next few years.

ESOL:

The school has a number of English Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) students who are well catered for at Hamilton West School. We have an expert ESOL teacher who works hard with the other teachers to meet the needs of these students. On enrolment you will be asked about whether your child may fall into this category.

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YEAR 7 AND 8 TECHNOLOGY LEARNING
Students attend technology classes at another local intermediate once a week. Classes include: materials technology, fabric technology, food technology, bio-technology, computer technology and art.

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SPECIAL PROGRAMMES
Our school runs several programmes which support those learners who have special needs or abilities. 
These include: gifted and talented education (gate), supporting at risk readers (sarr), english speakers of other languages(esol), reading recovery, te reo enrichment and perceptual motor activities (pma).

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PRODUCTIONS/SHOWS
students participate in shows which are either original or adapted musicals. We encourage participation by as many students as possible and have a group of staff who are always coming up with original and fun ways to showcase the talent at our school.

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CULTURAL PROGRAMMES
At Hamilton West School we offer a range of cultural learning opportunities which run alongside those which are part of our everyday classrooms. In our classes we integrate te reo and tikanga maori into our learning programmes and also teach cultural activities such as dance, music and drama as is directed by the New Zealand curriculum.

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KAPA HAKA 
The school has an active kapa haka group who perform at school events and functions.

School Charter 2016
click on link to see Charter

OUR SCHOOL VALUES SUPPORT OUR CURRICULUM 

Education for Sustainability 

Hamilton West is developing sustainable practices across all areas of its operation.  These are our sustainable goals for 2015.

Kaitiakitanga: guardianship of the environment

People:

• Total Well-being: what can we do to support and improve staff well-being?
  
• Total Well-being: what can we do to support and improve student well-being?
  
• Total Well-Being: how can the BoT, PTA and Whanau Group work in partnership to develop a sustainable school?
  

Place:     

• Sustainable Landscape:  what sustainable land use practices can the school introduce? 

Practices                                                                              

• Green Consumerism : what products can we use that are environmentally friendly and safe?

Programmes:

• Knowledge about the Environment-what should the students learn (inquiry learning) about environmentally friendly human activities?
  
• Research and Investigation- what should the students research to improve their environment?
  

OUR CURRICULUM IS SUPPORTED BY OUR LOCAL ENVIRONMENT & RESOURCES

To do this we use the local community to support learning programes; we often involve parents, whanau, local artists, writers, musicians, sporting and business people to enrich the education of our children.

We also use a range of physical resources that are important to our school; these include Lake Rotoroa, Waikato river, Hamilton gardens, museum, and library. 

We want our students to develop a sense of pride and belonging.

Assessment practices at the school identify the achievement levels of individual students and informs the next steps in their learning journey.

We have a strong literacy and numeracy focus . Inquiry learning is also a feature of our curriculum at Hamilton West School.