Team Kawakawa
New Entrant - Year 3

Meet our awesome kaiako

Kristi Hiles
Deputy Team Leader & Kaiako
Room 2: Year 0 - 1

Mel MacGregor
Team Leader & Kaiako
Room 5: Year 2 - 3

Fiona Riach
Kaiako
Room 3: Year 0 - 1

Ben Milne
Kaiako
Room 4: Year 3

Kirsty Hull
Kaiako
Room 6: Years 1 - 2

Nicola Billman
Kaiako

Room 3: Year 0/1 (Thursday)

The transition of students from preschool to school life is extremely important. We encourage students and whānau to have visits prior to officially starting to build a connection with the kaiako, classmates and classroom. This gets new students familiar with surroundings and what to expect making them more comfortable and ready to fully engage. Our kura makes regular contact and has visits with the local early childhood providers. 

We inspire inquiry based learning in all of our classes and allow tamariki to problem solve by roleplaying scenarios. This encourages the development of critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity. Whānau are welcome to visit or sit in on classes, at any time, as part of our wider learning.

PMP (Perceptual Motor Programme) 

This programme runs in Terms Two and Three each year. During these terms students in Year 0-2 will take part in two sessions a week.  The focus of this programme is to get students moving in a variety of ways. They rotate through a circuit of activities in a session that help to build both fine and gross motor skills, both of which will help students' academic needs, especially in literacy and mathematics.  

Better Start Literacy Approach

This approach provides our students with the skills they need to become independent and life long learners in literacy.  This approach has many aspects and focuses around students building their phonological skills to be able to initially learn the sounds of the alphabet and to then progress to being able to use this knowledge to decode words in their daily reading. 

We are working in conjunction with the University of Canterbury who developed the approach and uses the decodable phonics books plus that have been put out by the Ministry of Education. 

Keen to pop in and visit?
Email admin@carterton.school.nz or call 06 379 4010 to organise a time to have a look around our kura and Team Kawakawa classes. Alternatively, feel free to head into the school office and talk to Jules, Lisa or Kerry.