Schools join to form Community of Learners
The Waitakere Community of Learners (COL) is giving new meaning to the saying: ‘‘It takes a village to raise a child’’.
This cluster of 12 schools is a new Ministry of Education initiative, led by Shona Smith, Deputy Principal of Waitakere College.
Its purpose is to share knowledge and best practise among schools, to keep raising achievement levels in the local area.
The Waitakere COL is one of the biggest clusters, and is now seen as a benchmark for other clusters of schools in New Zealand because of the clarity of its plan and Vision – ‘‘to create a community in which learning is engaging, empowering and successmaking for our diverse population, where no student is left behind.’’
This group of teachers teaching teachers includes: Waitakere College, Liston and St Dominic’s Colleges, Summerland, Western Heights, Birdwood, Pomaria, Ranui, Holy Cross and St Paul’s primary schools as well as Henderson Intermediate.
COL Leader Shona Smith, Deputy Principal of Waitakere College was invited to speak at the Ministry of Education’s Regional Cross Sector Forum in June to explain how the schools are forging links to raise the achievement of Maori and Pasifika learners in reading, writing and maths and achieve the national goals of 85 per cent of all students leaving with NCEA Level 2 or better.
‘‘Now that the vision is in place, the real work can begin,’’ Smith says. ‘‘We aim to understand the evidence about student achievement within each school and look at what research says about how to improve achievement. Our team of 8 ‘Across Schools’ teachers will work with the schools to identify and share best practice approaches to literacy and mathematics in a way which is responsive to the cultures of the students.’’
Each of the schools also has its own COL teachers who will be at the forefront of these developments within the school.
This year will be a bedding in year for the COL, Smith says. ‘‘But I haven’t met a teacher or principal or parent yet who doesn’t want the best for all our Waitakere students – so there is a huge groundswell of goodwill and optimism. If we can genuinely collaborate and learn from each other so that our young people have a more successful pathway all the way through their education, the whole of West Auckland will benefit.’’