Year 7 & 8 Students

In Year 7 and 8 students have three distinct sections to their teaching program which are aimed at giving students a strong foundation of basic skills, real world learning in hands-on environments which span the curriculum, and the chance to develop the skills they will need for learning and work in the future. The overall aim of years 7 and 8 are to create great learners and great people, ready to tackle the challenges of NCEA and life beyond school.  The first section is core skills where students take 5 strands of foundational skills and knowledge. These are Literacy, Numeracy, Digital Literacy, Health and Wellbeing, and Te Ao Māori. The aim of these classes is to give students a strong background in the skills required for future learning and employment. 

The second section is cross curricular learning where students get to choose three courses per semester which are designed to cover the learning of multiple traditional subjects in an authentic way. These can range anywhere from building rockets (Science, Technology, Mathematics); to creating and hosting a community performance (English, Arts, Technology); to creating your own cookbook (Health, Technology, English); and anywhere else beyond. These courses are structured by the teachers like a traditional subject but span curriculum areas to engage students more deeply. 

The third section is project-based learning where students are challenged to solve big, real-world problems through a combination of group and independent work. This portion of the learning is heavily focussed on developing soft skills that will help students as learners and workers of the future. Emphasis will be placed on developing students’ character, critical thinking, communication skills, creativity, citizenship, and collaboration skills. The teacher will guide the students learning across these 6 competencies while the students will drive their own content learning while solving real world challenges.