Corinna School Community

This week we are discussing and analysing issues issues of socioeconomic factors, school culture and professional environment in relation to our practise.

Corinna School

Corinna school is a Decile 1a, Year 1 - 8 school located in Waitangirua. Our school has had a growing roll of 240. The roll is expected to continue to grow in 2018. At the beginning of 2017, the roll surged when 40 students enrolled in the first week of Term 1. This seems to be linked to housing, the movement of families back into the area, or extended whanau coming from overseas to live together. Our community can be transient and each year there is approximately a 30% turnover of students.

The percentage of children belonging to particular groups in March 2017 are:

Samoan: 47.4%

Māori :23.4%

Cook Island Māori 12.1%

Tokelauan: 9.8%

Other , including Filipino, Tongan, Tuvaluan, Pākeha: 6.1%

South East Asian, including Kampuchea/Cambodian, Laos and Myanmar: 1.4%

These statistics, however, do not give a clear picture of the cultural diversity of the roll of Corinna School.  Many of the students have parents from more than one ethnic group. Some may be brought up by their grandparents, who are from another ethnic group; some may be 2nd or 3rd generation New Zealand born Pasifika children who may or may not speak a language other than English; some are new immigrants for whom English is a second language; some are refugees who were professionals and forced to leave their countries for political reasons immediately; some are refugees who have only ever known life in a refugee camp before coming to New Zealand; some are well established families whose parents and grandparents also attended the school; some are Christians; some are Muslim; some are from single parent families; some are beneficiaries living in rental accommodation; some have both parents in the workforce who own their own home; some have had  formal early childhood education and some have not; many have access to the internet; many have television and are open to the music and fashion influences of  youth culture, nationally and internationally.

Our school does not make assumptions about how the ethnicity, or home environment, of any student may impact on their learning. We believe in their potential to be successful learners, confident in their own identities.

What students have in common is that almost all attend Corinna School because it is their local school and they live close to it. The other commonality is that, regardless of what experiences the children may have had before they attend school, when parents or caregivers enrol their children, they come with hope and expectation that their children will be cared for, be happy and learn well.

These are the issues that arise from the socio economic status of our school’ s community and how the issues have been acknowledged and supported:

Rich language and cultural experiences: We acknowledge, respect and celebrate all cultures in our school community in a variety of ways, such as  kapa haka and polyfest clubs and preformances, providing language classes in Te Reo, Samoan, Tokelauan and Cook Island Maori, celebrating language/ cultural weeks with students and whanau etc

Strong Sense of Whanau: Our community are very close. Many are related or know each other through church, cultural and community groups. Many parents also attended Corinna School as students. They are very supportive and are always willing to help each other in times of need. We have strong Samoan and Tokelauan Parent groups, who regularly do volunteer work at school and help organise and run events.

How these issues impact on your practice? How have the issues been addressed?

We build strong relationships with outside agencies to support students and whanau: SWIS, PHN, CAMHS, Housing, WINZ

Healthy food policy, canteen/ Canteen Manager, student cooking classes and garden club

Learning through play: Inquiries based on student passions, strengths

Home Language classes, celebrating culture and identity, Polyclub, kapa haka, Noho...

Whanau, Mixed ability learning

Key competency focused, strengthed focused

Whanau engagement/ events such as Language week events, Fiafia nights, Masterchef Challenges.

Chromebooks: Global citizens