Moving through the School

Rising 5s

The Rising 5s Club has been supporting transition into school life at Worser Bay since late 2010. It's important for us to get to know not only the child starting school, but also the whole family before Day 1!

So for up to two terms, depending on the numbers of students starting when, 4 year olds and their parents are welcome to come to school on Fridays between 2.00 and 2.45pm.

It's an opportunity to get involved in a range of activities, meet other parents and students starting and get to know the team of teachers with whom you will be having an important relationship.

Autahi & Tautoru - Year 0 – 3

There are 2 spaces making up the junior area of the school: Autahi and Tautoru.

Autahi (Year 0 - 1)

This space is designed as a transition space where the emphasis is on settling into life at school, making friends and developing confidence. It also supports children to transition into the way that Worser Bay School is structured, including the different learning spaces and having more than one teacher.
	Children are supported to develop self- management skills that allow them to work with increasing independence. Children are provided with the opportunity to work at their own pace on early reading, writing and numeracy skills. They will have opportunities to work in all spaces of the junior area as well as with all teachers who teach in the junior school.

Tautoru (Year 1-3)

Throughout the year children transition from the Autahi space into the Tautoru space, where they are placed into one of the 3 base groups. The decision of when children move through to the Tautoru space is based on factors such as their self-management skills, confidence and peer groups (keeping friendship groups together).

Base groups are a mixture of Year 1, 2 and 3 children and are fluid; changing as children’s needs do and as new children join our school. The aim of these base groups is to provide parents with one teacher in the team as your first port of call if you have any questions or concerns.

Base group teachers also report to parents on children’s progress. However the nature of our school is that children are taught by more than one teacher. The teachers plan, analyse assessment data, and monitor progress as a team. As a result they have joint responsibility and understanding of where children are at.
	In the afternoons the children from Autahi and Tautoru join together and in mixed groups do one of 4 activities. These include Visual Art, The Arts (dance, drama, and music), PE and Science/Technology. This gives children a chance to work with different people and also different teachers.

Building children’s key foundation skills for learning in English and Maths, that is learning to read and write, is at the core of the programme in Years 1 -3.

Developing critical and creative thinking skills, as well as base skills for Inquiry are also important components.

Another important aspect of our programme is developing children’s key competencies: learning to Manage Themselves and their learning, Relate to Others, Participate and Contribute, develop their Thinking skills, and Understand language, symbols and text.

Click here to find out more about the key competencies.

Mahutonga and Matariki

In Mahutonga and Matariki, Years 4, 5 and 6, children are very confident with their place in the school and have developed close friendships. These years provide a wonderful opportunity for them to explore and take greater risks with their learning as they move towards Intermediate.