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whole school events assembly student recognition

General Curriculum

Remuera Primary embraces a school-wide thinking, skills-based philosophy to facilitate focused teaching and learning. Habits of Mind or dispositions towards behaving intelligently when confronted with problems are a focus.

We teach these habits throughout the school. The effects of their use being reflected on, evaluated and transferred to future situations is an ongoing school-wide goal. Implicit in our mission statement is that our students become life-long learners. The philosophy is shared between students, teachers and the parent community as being applicable to us all.

RPS has a commitment towards delivering a focused, balanced, thinking-based programme. We use key competencies to set direction and ensure we are growing life long learners.

 

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GATE - Gifted and Talented Education

Programmes for gifted and talented students aim to encourage the development of thinking skills, problem-solving strategies, and creativity; as well as extension and challenge to the students. A range of external tutors as well as school staff are involved in the delivery of the programmes. Classroom teachers also cater for these children in the classroom with differentiated programmes.

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Learning Support

Special education is defined by the Educational Guidelines for Implementing Special Education 2000 as:

"... the provision of extra assistance, adapted programmes or learning environments, specialised equipment or materials to support young children and school students with accessing the curriculum in a range of settings."

The RPS Learning Support Co-ordinator has the responsibility to identify students who may need specialist support, refer students with learning or behavioural needs, and liase with outside agencies.

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ESOL - English for Speakers of Other Languages

The ESOL programme caters for Years 1-6. We operate a withdrawal programme where small groups of children with similar abilities receive intensive language acquisition work. These groups receive between 1-4 sessions per week according to their needs. These programmes are run by a qualified ESOL teacher.

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RPS Library

Our library is a welcoming, comfortable, lively and cheerful place within our school. It is a place to read, do puzzles, check out the newspaper, finish homework, research topics, discuss books and what we are reading.

There are current topic displays to support classroom learning. The school librarian works alongside students and teachers, helping them to access relevant and challenging books.

We encourage every student to have a sense of ownership and belonging in our library space - everyone is welcome.

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ICT - Information Communication Technology

The information centre houses the library and a computer suite of 15 computers. The ICT specialist assists teachers and supports classes in the use of information technologies. Groups of students work on projects such as the School Web Challenge, making animations and digital photo editing.

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Music at RPS

All children receive 6 practical music lessons each term with our music specialist. Students learn how to read music, sing, improvise and play in a percussion ensemble. We run 3 school orchestras and a senior choir.

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Sport at RPS

All children receive 6 specialist sport sessions with our sports teacher each term. In these lessons, sport skills are developed and skills strategies are discussed and practised. The school is part of many after-school sport opportunities: including soccer, hockey, netball, basketball, touch and flippaball (a mini-waterpolo competition).

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Language at RPS

We recognise the importance of students learning a language. This year, children in Years 4-6 have received a weekly lesson in Spanish from our Spanish teacher.

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Whole School Events

The school organises whole-school events throughout the year. These are a chance for us all to come together as a community.

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Assembly

There are assemblies every Friday of the term.

• Odd weeks are whole-school assemblies and are held at 9am. These are run by the School Captains and recognise the many and varied events that are happening around the school. Parents are encouraged to attend.
• Syndicate assemblies are held on even weeks. Seniors at 9am, Middle School at 11am and Juniors at 12pm. Again, parents are welcome to attend.

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Student Recognition

The school runs a positive behaviour programme in the playground. Students who are demonstrating positive behaviours are given an RPS Star badge. The students are then recognised as a group at the whole-school assemblies.

Principal Awards are given to students for a range of classroom achievements. They incorporate the Habit of Mind dispositions. Within a year the first award is Bronze, then Silver and a third award is Gold. These are given at whole-school assemblies and parents of recipient children are personally invited to attend.

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