Case study: Te Aro School, Wellington
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“It’s a daily challenge to meet the needs of our diverse students and their families”
This case study is divided into the following sections, which can be accessed by scrolling down or clicking on the links:
Introduction by the Principal:
Teachers' Voices:
The information on this page can also be viewed in this printer-friendly PDF document.
School profile
Te Aro School is a decile 6, full primary school located in Wellington, with a roll of 204 students (View school website).
From the school strategic plan
“All children feel accepted and are accepting of others. The school is going to embrace the unique identity of each student so that they and their families feel a part of a supportive community.”
Main themes in this case study
The diversity of students in the school impacts on the teachers.Professional learning is key to understanding the changes and to making provision for the diversity of the students.
There is a need to make more formal curriculum links with Asia.
At Te Aro there is a truly international approach, with great relationships both within and beyond the classroom.
Next steps
Help the Asian children opt into the full range of school activities that we offer outside the classroom.
Investigate ways to make all the cultures more visible to the whole school e.g. school assemblies.
Use a range of children’s experiences to exemplify what we are teaching.
Find some translation support to engage with parents and the local community.
Introduction by Bryce Coleman, Principal
Things have changed a lot during my career as a teacher and principal.
We are more conscious of the needs of increasingly diverse children and their families. Te Aro has a large and diverse Asian population. Some of our children are New Zealand born or New Zealand residents. Some are refugees, or have arrived with parents who are seeking employment opportunities in New Zealand. When children from these backgrounds begin at Te Aro they may speak little or no English. We also have a number of students whose parents are employed by or studying at the Victoria University of Wellington (VUW). They may be here in New Zealand for just two or three years.
I have been involved with the Asia New Zealand Foundation for some time and have attended their meetings for principals. These have been very helpful in coming to grips with the idea of ‘Asia Aware’ schools. I have also received a scholarship through the Asia New Zealand Foundation to visit China as part of a professional learning programme for school principals. This will be a fantastic opportunity!
Many of the changes in our school have had an impact on us as teachers and I am very aware that our journey along this road to become more Asia Aware has a way to go yet.
In particular, we are very aware of the high expectations that Asian parents have for the academic achievements of their children. The Asian children are very keen learners and move along faster in their learning than other students, especially in maths. On the other hand, they may struggle with language issues.
Our school has a tradition of children using first names for their teachers and for me as principal. Many Asian families find this quite hard as they are used to a much more formal relationship with teachers and their schools. We do notice that parents, and sometimes the grandparents, pay a lot of respect to teachers, so we may need to work on ways to make the transition to school easier for these students and their families.
We have begun celebrating some of the major Asian festivities such as Diwali and Chinese New Year, as well as a number of other cultural events including Chinese dragon dance performances, and sharing lunches from all of our cultures. We have started teaching Mandarin, and our school production for this year is focused on an international theme. Our excellent English for speakers of other languages ESOL advisor, Cathie Cahill, provides professional learning for our staff so we have got off to a good start. Later in this case study a number of our staff will explain how useful this has been and explain the progress they have made already.
Our next area for development is to make more formal curriculum links with Asia. We’re thinking about a unit on international religions and extending our teaching of Mandarin, and after my visit to China I want to establish a letter-writing contact between Chinese children and our children at Te Aro School. Our teachers are considering ways to develop a stronger curriculum focus on Asia, and about ways in which we can draw on the skills and expertise of the families in our community.
In our strategic plan (2009-2011) we have made a commitment to develop our Asian awareness so that all our families and children will feel part of a supportive community where everyone has something to contribute and share with others. We also want our European and Kiwi kids to be aware of the important part that Asia will play in all their futures.
Our school is just getting underway with this focus. We still have a lot to learn, but already we can see the benefits for all our students, teachers and families.
Teachers’ voices
Section 1: Professional development
Te Aro has been fortunate to work with Cathie Cahill, its ESOL expert and a school advisor with links at VUW . Ray Teahen, associate principal, describes Cathy’s involvement:
“We have had a lot of professional development work in our school in the literacy area, especially focused on ESOL. Cathie has run sessions with staff on issues to do with particular groups of students, or an individual. She explained about their backgrounds and therefore the issues that might arise.
As a result of this, people have become very open, talking and passing on ideas and resources to each other. We chat a lot about how to meet each student’s needs. For example, we have shared ways of working with those Asian students who are well ahead in maths, though they still struggle with language and reading. There is a lot of staff talk about how to use different strategies.
We have also become aware of using different strategies for teaching. The recently arrived Asian students tend to prefer a more teacher-directed and formal style, whereas New Zealand children and those who have been here longer like more flexibility. So we try to offer a number of different strategies, so that the children have a choice about the ways in which they can work”.
Deputy principal Jan Treeby, a new entrant teacher, has found these professional learning opportunities extremely valuable:
“In my new entrants teaching we don’t have formal ESOL sessions because the children are all learning literacy together from the beginning. We also use the first languages of all the children, especially in greetings. At the moment we have Mandarin and Cantonese spoken in the class between some of the students. The English of these new arrivals and entrants improves really quickly.
For the older children, Cathie’s ESOL role is very important in helping them all to access the curriculum. When we work with language issues in this school we also have a cultural component so that all the children are learning cultural as well as language knowledge. This opens their eyes, including the Kiwi children’s, to new things and makes connections across the cultures”.
Section 2: Learning languages
In addition to this professional development, the school has employed Kristin Holmes, who is both a trained teacher and a teacher of Mandarin.
“At my previous school I was encouraged to take up Mandarin, which I taught to Years 7/8. I gained a scholarship to go to a language school in Beijing. This was a fantastic opportunity in terms of both language learning and improving my understanding of Chinese culture.
When I returned I kept up my language learning by enrolling in ongoing Mandarin classes. I am required to teach the language at the same time. When I moved to Te Aro they asked me to take the Year 7 and 8 Mandarin option.
I have a fluent Mandarin speaker in the class. We have worked out a way to utilise her expertise with language and mine as a teacher. So she provides the oral modelling, and I organise how the class runs. It is good for the other children, though maybe I need to build up my oral confidence a bit more!
My trip to China gave me a much better insight into appreciating the drive of the Chinese families about their children’s education, and the high expectations they have for their achievement. In order to get on in China you have to take advantage of every educational opportunity. I see this coming through in New Zealand as well, and with other Asian cultures. I think it is important to work with the Asian families to meet their expectations. We have to think about how we can get a spin-off from this for the Kiwi children too.”
Section 3: Inside and beyond the classroom
Te Aro School demonstrates a truly international approach, with great relationships both within and beyond the classrooms. As Jan said about her new entrants:
“At the moment only a small number of my new entrants are New Zealand-born Kiwi children. I am noticing how well they all just mix in and learn together. We have lots of visual clues up around the classroom and a lot of acting or mime is used to communicate. They quite naturally talk about their own cultures to each other and they play together all the time. I have noticed that these cross-cultural relationships and friendships last throughout their time here at school”.
Ray talked about what he has observed around the playground:
“I go out into the playground and watch completely mixed teams playing soccer or netball and other sports together. It just seems to happen in this school. And the kids do talk about their different experiences and what their families do. For example, today someone shared their experience of a community cultural festival this weekend and then a good discussion resulted from that around the class.
I also notice the older children in my class are becoming more aware of the future economic power that China is developing, and we have talked about the importance of Mandarin as a world language. I see kids growing up in New Zealand with different knowledge and expectations, and they are more conscious of the possibilities of travel and work in Asia.”
In addition to her Mandarin teaching, Kristin is a key person behind the school’s major drama production, which is about a magic carpet journey. Each class is contributing an episode from somewhere around the world. They are preparing to present songs and dances from their particular countries. The visit of a Chinese dragon dance group to the school provided some excellent modelling for this project.
Next steps
All staff commented on things they thought the school needed to develop in the next few years. In light of what they have gained from their own professional learning opportunities, they could see a number of things they wanted to work on to make Te Aro School even more ‘Asia-Aware’.
“We need to do something to help the Asian children opt into the full range of school activities that we offer outside the classroom – school trips, drama, music and so on. Some of the Asian families do not quite understand the importance of these activities in New Zealand education. In Asia, the tradition is more that school does the educating, and home does the raising, without much crossover. It does seem that sport is providing something of a breakthrough in this. When their children are in school sports teams the families do get more involved beyond the usual school hours” (Ray, associate principal).
“The race relations days are important but we need to make sure that they are integrated right through our teaching. Perhaps there are ways to make all the cultures more visible to the whole school. Perhaps we could use the assemblies to present things, and the parents and children could participate – singing or dancing or talking about particular issues.
We have a very multicultural school and it would be good to use a range of children’s experiences to exemplify what we are teaching. I think there is room for us all to do that more” (Kristin, teacher).
Both Bryce and Jan talked about ways to bring their students’ families more closely into the school community:
“The best thing for me would be to have access to someone who can translate for me, as I need to work closely with the children and their families when they first arrive. Parents and grandparents like to be very involved at this stage, but perhaps we are missing out on opportunities to understand each other better” (Jan, new entrant teacher).
“Getting translators in is important, particularly for sensitive issues, or when we need to know more detail about a student’s learning needs. It is important that as teachers we have the best information possible about all our children. We just have to organise the budget around this” (Bryce, principal).
Related pages:
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