Learning at Kaurilands
This section will give you an overview of what learning looks like for an international student at Kaurilands School. Please also check out other pages under the "Our School" drop down, particularly "Our Curriculum" and "Our Initiatives".
English Lessons
To support the language development of our international students, Kaurilands School provides English language lessons four days a week (for long term international students only). These are run by our specialist ESOL teacher, Tracy Sutherland. These sessions assist children in finding their way around school, and support the classroom literacy programme by teaching oral and written language. They are 1 and a half hours long each day and run during class time.
Our ESOL teacher can also provide ongoing support with extra reading and writing materials for both the classroom and at home.
English lessons are available for adults, for a small donation at Church of the Saviour in Blockhouse Bay. Visit their site for more details.
Arrival and Orientation
We understand that making friends and feeling like part of the school community is extremely important for our international students. Throughout the year, domestic students and international students and families have the chance to get to know each other. Events such as family picnics, discos, performance evenings help children and families build relationships. We also encourage students to join sports, music and cultural activities to help them meet new people and get to know other students. Before starting school, information is always sent to families so that students know what to do, where to go and what to bring on their first day of school. This will include: a tour of the school with Jo Augustine, the principal, full introduction of staff who work with international students, ELL (English Language Learner) test to determine the type of support necessary, information about the school (sports teams, library, groups and clubs, school rules…) information about living in New Zealand, information about travel opportunities around New Zealand, advice on how to make the most of their experience at school, a buddy in their class who will show them around their class and attend activities with them.
Keeping up to date
We use several ways to keep families up to date with what is happening at school. Every fortnight newsletters are published and shared via email to celebrate student successes and share information about school events. Have a look at some of our previous newsletters here.
We also use a programme called Seesaw to notify parents of children's learning and classroom specific activities. Learn more about Seesaw and see some examples of class blogs here.
Our School Calendar is a great way to keep up to date with upcoming events and trips. It also shows you which extra curricular activities are available for the week.
Teachers are always happy to talk to parents about children's learning by email, phone or face to face. Formal reports are written to inform you of students overall progress at the middle and the end of the year via our online reporting system Hero.
For more information about the New Zealand Academic Calendar, how long students can study for and which year level to apply for, please contact our international student co-ordinating company - www.sieba.nz for specific information or email [email protected]
