Welcome to Our School

Welcome to our school.

Our vision for Orakei School is shaped by the ever changing world we now live in. The demographics of Auckland are reflected in the increasing diversity of our student body and our students arrive from a variety of cultural backgrounds and with a range of expectations and needs. Coupled with the changing learning environment, where traditional literacy and numeracy standards on their own are no longer adequate, our students are required to be literate in the digital environment and to develop emotional literacy which will enable them to succeed as 21st century learners. Successful schools have to respond to these changing times and Orakei School is no exception.

From a solid grounding in Literacy and Numeracy, through a rage of studies including our environmental work with “Trees For Survival” and our Mobile Learning with the use of Vodafone sponsored mobiles and notebooks, our students are actively engaged with their learning.

Our aim is to foster ownership among our students for their learning by creating stimulating and innovative learning environments and working collaboratively with parents to build relationships that are nurturing to our students academic goals.

Orakei School has an open door policy designed for you to have the opportunity to discuss your child’s learning needs. Please feel welcome to come and chat about how we can work together to support your child .

 

 

Commitment to Excellence

 

Upon enrolment staff consult with parents and pre-school teachers to understand each child’s aptitudes and skills. Similar care is taken with students who enter part-way through the school year. Upon enrolment every child benefits from a special gift of books donated by the Books in Home Programme.

As a staff we strive to ensure that educational attainment is consistent with, or above, the national average for a student’s age. Input and participation by parents, families and the community is both welcome and expected. Parents are advised of their child’s reading, writing and mathematics attainment in terms of national achievement levels. Our parent body is active in their childrens education and this is reflected in the high turn out at Parent Teacher evenings.

Literacy Development

Our goal is to provide a firm foundation and love of literacy. We focus on ensuring staff are using current teaching pedagogies and are skilled in the collection and utilisation of reliable assessment data which informs literacy teaching and “next step” learning for our students. Professor Tom Nicholson, Massey University, supports the Orakei School Literacy Programme and this relationship began mid-way through 2006. A group of teachers are enrolled in a post-gaduate Literacy Development paper through Massey University (M.Ed Literacy) under the supervision of Professor Nicholson. He runs this Masters degree class at Orakei School on a Wednesday evening for the benefit of our teachers and professional colleagues from other schools.

In addition, we run a comprehensive Homework Centre on Monday and Wednesday afternoons with a focus on Literacy and Information Communication Technology.  St Cuthbert’s High School students and Simpson Grierson legal counsel assist with reading clinics and student mentoring. There is also an extension programme for gifted and talented students.

Numeracy Development

There is a firm grounding in Number Concepts and we focus on ensuring teachers are equipped to collect and assess reliable data to inform numeracy teaching.

Future focus

Orakei School was founded in 1938 to serve the Orakei community. We are currently in an exciting time of growth and development and are fortunate to have a committed parent body who see the value in having a successful local school where their children can feel safe and attain their potential, both academically and emotionally. Our Board is committed to ensuring that Orakei School has up to date facilities and planning is underway to renovate our swimming pool and paint our buildings. Our forest of native trees is currently receiving remedial work to ensure that it continues as part of the educational and play area for our children. Our staff are enthusiastic, motivated and have created an amazing environment of differentiated learning in their classrooms and are continuing to expand the boundaries of mobile learning. Our children are caring, successful and at ease in each others company and are tomorrows leaders.

Orakei School is not the school of yesterday, but is a dynamic and invigorating learning community which is on the move.

Join us on this journey.

One School, One Community

Orakei School wishes to invite you and all in the Orakei neighbourhood to identify with our school as it engages in building a true sense of Community with all its stakeholders and supportive friends.