An Invercargill school is taking a new approach with its learning style and Active Southland’s Made to Move team is part of the action. 

Te Kura o Whare Pā/ (Fernworth School) has moved away from a traditional school set up (with children placed into classrooms based on age and has instead divided students into four learning “hubs”. 

These learning hubs cover the areas of active recreation, manufacturing, enterprise, and environmental. 

Te Kura o Whare Pā /Fernworth Principal Alison Cook said the purpose of the new approach was to create an environment where students were able to use their key competencies in a real-life context. 

Students had been divided into the hubs that best suited their interests, and curriculum learning was based around that hub’s context, she said. 

Students spend the mornings in traditional-style classrooms before being mixed into the hubs in the afternoon. 

“It’s been amazing. What we ultimately want to do is have mentors and businesses that we work with,” Alison said. 

Having Active Southland involved with the active recreation hub had been a perfect fit, she said. 

While the school hadn’t previously subscribed to play-based learning, the hub set up meant students had the opportunity to really explore those areas they were interested in, in a hands-on, real-life context. 

“This is our nod to that hands-on, play-based experience, what you are into thing.” 

The hubs also aligned well with the concept of tuakana-teina – the idea of an older, or more experienced expert (tuakana) guiding a younger or less expert teina. 

The Made to Move team had helped develop those experiences in the Active Rec hub, Alison said. 

“This has been the nicest fit, where there’s already an organisation that fits. So this hub has had a really nice step in to that in a really easy way.” 

Teacher in charge of the Active Rec hub, Tupou Salesa, said having Active Southland on board had been hugely beneficial for the students. 

“Our hub is all about promoting opportunities to be active not only at school but at home. Our philosophy is pretty much their (Made to Move’s) philosophy so it really works well.” 

Active Southland Community School Connector Jay Coote had worked closely with the school to help identify active recreation opportunities and so far had introduced the children to the Invers Play Trail, the Uncontained Play container, the YMCA, the Invercargill Public Library, ILT Stadium Southland, the Deveron St trial cycleway and, along with fellow Made to Move School Connector Joz Shepard, brought the “Playler” to the school to demonstrate different play options available. 

“Some of them have gone home and told their whanau about what they’ve seen.” 

“Having Jay there has been quite good for us because he is so accessible...He just opened up new avenues to us...This has been really good and the children love it, they absolutely love it,” Tupou said. 

Active Southland Tamariki Lead Shan Jensen-Loach said the changes being made by Te Kura o Whare Pā were a fantastic example of a school adapting to suit the learning and well-being needs of students, along with placing considerable value on the underlying concepts of the Health and PE Curriculum.   

“Our whole aim is to support schools and their wider community to fully understand and value how important physical activity is to the development and wellbeing of our tamariki. The Made to Move team love having the opportunity to work with schools and their communities to help form those important connections that can support this.” 

Article added: Thursday 15 July 2021