Gifted and Talented Learning
Responsive Practice
He kai kei aku ringa
Responding to the strengths, needs and interests of gifted learners through personalised approaches to teaching and learning.
Moko kauae
Moko kauae - a traditional māori tattoo that represents a woman's whānau and leadership within her community, recognising her whakapapa, status, and abilities.
We were fortunate enough to be a part of Whaea Kath's journey to receive her moko kauae in 2020.
Whaea Kath shared her whakapapa and what that means to her with her class - helping our taonga to understand the importance of tupuna (ancestors) in our lives.
Taonga grew their understanding of moko kauae through a ngā toi (fine art) curriculum lens - understanding and learning to create the patterns and markings that represent tupuna, iwi and hapu.
Nga Pumanawa Gifted & Talented - Bringing our Taonga to the Forefront
At Rotorua Primary we strive to respond to the needs of our learners to be culturally responsive at every level.
Our gifted and talented students - those who engage with learning in an extended way - are supported through an innovative program by Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru.
The program offers students an authentic challenge in their daily learning that is student driven and promotes core skills in critical thinking, collaboration and self management.
It motivates a culturally responsive environment, cultural beliefs, values, concepts and attitudes. These students will have the opportunity to be involved in the SOLE program.
Celebrating literacy success - Elizabeth Peake
Elizabeth is one of our Year 8 learners who has a talent and passion for literature. Encouraged by her teacher, Lizzie recently entered a national writing competition and came 5th out of 1000 entrants in a national competition.
Lizzie's entry "The Sunrise Attack" is the first of a series that she has been creating since a young age.
" I just really love creating my own universe, characters and plot lines using words" says Lizzie - " I find it easy, it just comes to me!"
Congratulations Elizabeth on a fantastic achievement.
SOLE Program
The SOLE (Self-Organised Learning Environment) program is student-driven and promotes curiosity, collaboration, self-organisation, engagement and tuakana/teina.
Students will apply a sense of wonder and engage in student-driven learning by answering ‘The Big Question', investigating the big question, organising their findings and then presenting their learning through a range of mediums.
Taking our learning wider
As part of contextualising learning outside of the classroom, we strive to take full advantage of regional and national curriculum challenge competitions that occur throughout the year.
This allows our taonga to connect with students from other schools and regions to compare, compete and grow key competencies, and to bring their learning back to our school and enact a tuakana/teina role.