Koru Full Primary

Picture 1: syndicate building
Picture 2: students work
Picture 3: students work
Picture 4: healthy morning tea snack
Picture 5: theme board



The school we visited today was one that we had all been looking forward to.  Koru is a full primary school meaning that it houses both elementary and middle school aged students. We had a chance to speak to the assistant principal, Carolyn Alkafalau, on the phone a few months ago. Our conversation with her was great, and she told us a lot about her school. Koru is a very multicultural school and most of the students are Maori or pacific islanders. The first thing that I noticed about the school was how bright it was. The school was split into several different building which were painted different bright colors. It was very inviting and fun. Carolyn gave us an overview of the school. There are four building which are called syndicates. The two syndicates that we visited were the ones that housed year 5 and 6 and year 7 and 8 students.

After our brief introduction, we visited a reading recovery session. The students was a ten year old girl who was having her first year of formal education this year. She did very well, and the teacher informed us that she had made great progress in the first seven weeks of the program. This was the first time I had ever experienced reading recovery. It was very interesting. There was a lot of repetition. The student had to repeat and rewrite words several times. The teacher used a lot of strategies to get the student to read words including relating the unknown word to a similar word, using pictures, and sounding out the word one syllable at a time. Later in the day we went to watch rainbow reading which is where the students who finish reading recovery go. The students listen to a book on a cd while reading along at the same time.

The first syndicate we visited was the year 7 and 8 classrooms.  I was very impressed with the classrooms. The walls were covered in student artwork. When the school was being redesigned, they decided to put coverings on the wall so that things could be stapled and pinned to them. I definitely want to hand lots of things around my classroom when I become of teacher so those walls would be amazing! Although it was reading time, most of the classes were doing science activities. One class, for example, was putting flowers into glasses filled with various substances, and the kids had to hypothesize what would happen to the flower. Koru school does a great job of integrating reading across the curriculum which is something that is important to our research. The year 5 and 6 students were combined. Carolyn explained that they write down all the students' name and randomly select who gets what teacher. They do have to switch some students based upon behavior issues and other factors. I found it very interesting that they combined students. I think that it would be very hard to challenge some of the older kids and make sure that the content was not too difficult for the younger students.

One thing that was present in all the classroom was the school-wide theme: food for thought. I really like the idea of having a school-wide theme because it gets all of the students and teachers involved and interested. Every classroom had a section of their wall dedicated to the theme. The teachers also ordered books about health and nutrition from the Auckland Public Library that were on display in almost every room. For morning tea, each classroom had carrots and apples delivered to their room for all the students. The theme was a really big part of every classroom, and the school is doing a good job supporting healthy decision making.

During morning tea, we got a chance to converse with the teachers whose classrooms we observed. I really like that they all work together and share ideas. Some of the classrooms had similar assignments displayed. One teacher mentioned that she noticed that the students like to share what they learn with other classes since they are doing the same activities. Also, when one class mentions the activity they did, it gets the class who has not done it yet excited about what is to come in the classroom. The teachers also spoke about all of the professional development that they do. Koru definitely is a school that is working very hard to better their teachers.

I had a great time at Koru. The staff made us feel VERY welcome. I enjoyed seeing a school that was very multicultural. Also, the students were doing a lot of hand on activities which I enjoyed seeing. I am looking forward to visiting more middle schools to see the types of activities that they do with their students.