Early Days

Well that’s my second full week of teaching in New Zealand over and done with so it’s time for a relaxing beer. Just another 37 weeks to go until the end of the school year! To be honest, I had forgotten how tiring and intense teaching is. It certainly makes a change from my previous job where I was able to sit down all day, spend the day emailing Chantal, surf the net when I fancied, go for a walk around the office when bored and make numerous cups of tea. Bring back my old job at NGC!

If you did not already know, I am teaching a Year 8 class (12 year olds) in an intermediate school (Year 7-8). In New Zealand, the primary sector goes up to Year 8 but some people choose to send their children to intermediate schools at the end of Year 6. Intermediate schools are still based around a ‘home’ class teacher but also have specialist teachers for certain subjects.

It has not quite been a shock to the system but has certainly been a jolt. By that I don’t mean the full on days but also the system or maybe it is my school. Unlike previous schools I did not receive a class list or pupil information until I asked for it but then a lot of things seem vague. There are a whole load of things that are rather blurry to me but I suppose if I was educated here and had worked in the system previously, I would know how things work! One big surprise though was that I would be taking my class on camp in Week 5. Not only would I be taking them but teachers need to organize transport, trailers to take the gear as well as all the paperwork. More about all that after I have been.

The curriculum is certainly looser than in Britain. We have year plans stating what needs to be covered in Literacy and Maths but there is nothing for any other subject! That is partly because Science, Geography and History are not taught as distinct subjects but as part of our ‘Inquiry’. More about that later. Thankfully, I do not have to teach Performing Arts as we have a specialist teacher for that. I also don’t teach Technology (Art, Hard Materials, Soft Materials & Food) as there are specialists for that, too. During the Technology and Performing Arts, is when we get our non-contact time. Yippee! That totals almost four hours a week.

Sport takes up a reasonable chunk of the timetable. At the moment, I am just taking my own class for things that I want to do. Soon though, teams will be going down to Hagley Park for touch rugby and cricket to play other schools. Well that’s what I think happens but like most things it has not been fully explained to me, yet. I have a feeling that I will be taking a hockey team to Hagley Park later on in the year.

Inquiry learning is the big thing here so it is the buzzword to have on one’s cv! That was something that I was fairly quick to pick up on and therefore had to do a spot of research to ensure I knew what it was. Each term we have a theme for our inquiry. Eachn theme is science or humanities themed. This term it is Commmunities and Leaders but where it will head is down to the pupils and myself.

Well, that's pretty much all I have got to say now but I will keep you all informed on how it all goes!