How we do things

The school is currently divided into two teaching teams. We have 7 teaching classrooms and a Learning Support Class which takes students with special needs from our local cluster schools.
Students stay with their home class and teacher for most lessons- but may go to another teacher for Mathematics which is streamed. We have specialist teachers for technology, music, visual art, dance, drama and Chinese Language. Children spend a block of 10 weeks on each specialist area for an hour and a half.
Each class also has a block of lessons in a second language- this year all classes are learning Chinese from our Chinese Teacher, Lisa Wang. Each class has a 45 minute Chinese lesson for 20 weeks.

‘A marked strength of the school is its student body.  Students demonstrate their willingness to benefit from their time at school.  They cooperate well with teachers and each other, establishing good quality relationships that result in a positive school tone.  Students generally put their full effort into undertaking tasks set by teachers and engage enthusiastically in the programmes provided by the dance and visual arts teachers.  Overall, the school has a well-established learning climate that provides a sound foundation for students’ learning and for their active engagement at school.’ ERO 2007. 

All the essential learning areas are taught with an emphasis on Maths and English. We use an Integrated Curriculum approach which means we believe students learn best when there are meaningful links between the curriculum areas as opposed to teaching the curriculum in distinct, fragmented, timetabled slots.  As young adolescents, intermediate children need to be active participants in how and what they are learning.  We tap into this need by developing our units of work around current issues that directly concern our students.  It is important to give our students the opportunity to make a difference both in their own community and in the global setting.  Learning experiences within each curriculum area relate directly to the issue the students are studying.  This gives the students an authentic and relevant purpose to the work they are doing.  By making these links between curriculum areas our students are able to go deeper into the issue and they are encouraged to become critical thinkers.

‘The integrated studies approach provides rich opportunities for students who are able, to take responsibility for their learning, to manage their own time and to think independently.  This approach also encourages students to develop their collaborative and co-operative learning skills.  It is a very suitable approach for early adolescents who value opportunities to find out about their world for themselves.’  ERO 2007.

To help reinforce what is taught in class and to assist with the transition to College we set homework four nights a week. Homework content will vary from class to class but the school-wide expectation is that all students will complete 40 minutes set homework from Monday – Thursday.

There are many opportunities for students with identified skills and qualities to be extended and enriched. Within classroom programmes students may be ability grouped for a variety of subjects. Maths is streamed across teams for each strand. Our top mathematicians compete in Mathex and sit the Otago Problem solving exams. We also offer the New South Wales exams in: computers, science, English, writing, spelling and maths. This year we chose our best writers to attend a one day Young Writers’ Workshop at the Aotea Centre.
For children with an interest and ability in technology there is the annual North Shore Intermediate Technology Challenge. Our Year 8 boys’ team won this event in 2008 and we will be defending our title strongly in 2009. We also have an extension cooking programme that is very popular. For the artistic there is an art extension programme, rock band, drumming group and a boys’ barbershop quartet. For those into sport we have an extension dance troupe as well as all the sports zone days and sports exchange programmes. We participate in all the main zone days and we are always very competitive.

‘Teachers put a lot of effort into helping to ensure that students have access to a wide range of activities.  In their own time, they coach sports teams, work with dance and music groups, and offer enrichment opportunities in areas of student strength.  Teachers work hard to make their crowded timetables work to the advantage of students.  They are proud of their students and show a strong desire for individual students, and for the school as a whole, to succeed.  Teacher turnover has had a marked positive impact on the quality of teaching in the school.’ ERO 2007.

For students who need extra help with their work we have a Learning Support class that caters for students working at Level 1 of the curriculum. For other students who need support we can offer individualised programmes. For the past two years the Board of Trustees has funded an additional teacher to assist students with difficulties in Reading, writing and spelling. Mrs. Gamble takes small groups of students with identified needs every day to give them additional support. We have the Takapuna/Northcote RTLB service based in our school and some students get support from an RTLB (Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour).

Additional English lessons are available for students whose first language is not English. Mrs. Gamble is currently undertaking university study to become a fully qualified ESOL teacher.

‘Students who attend ESOL withdrawal lessons receive programmes that are well suited to their English language learning needs.  Programmes support students to acquire both spoken and written English.  They are appropriately targeted towards supporting students’ access to the curriculum, as well as helping them develop English for interpersonal interactions.’ ERO 2007

Being a small school all students are given a number of opportunities to develop their leadership skills. Each class has representatives on a student council that meets weekly. The student council organises activities for the whole school and councillors are called upon to represent the school at official functions, to welcome visitors to our school and report back to their classes.
Weekly assemblies are run by classrooms and students have to organise the format, guest speakers, items as well as present weekly awards. Each year we send a group of our school leaders to the Young Leaders’ Conference where they listen to inspirational speakers and talk to leaders from other schools.

Are you mad about sport? Then Northcote Intermediate is the place for you! We have sports teams in most of the main sporting codes, we participate in the Intermediate Zone Sports days- where we perform very well- we have whole school sports once a week, daily fitness and organised lunchtime sports games most days.

Do you fancy yourself as a budding singer, musician, artist or dancer? You will fit right in here- our performing arts programme is awesome. If you enjoy acting you may win a role in our school production- a highlight of the year. We have a whole school production every second year and this year the production promises to be better than ever. Miss Franklin, our drama teacher, is working with a large cast of students including actors, singers, dancers, musicians, sound and lighting technicians and stage crew to make this the best production ever.

We are into challenge here! At Northcote Intermediate you can expect to be taken out of your comfort zone a little with our EOTC programme. Each year every class goes on an overnight camp where students have to pitch tents, prepare their food on a gas cooker, survive the long drops and cold water. If that isn’t enough they then have to survive a selection of the following activities- three hour tramp, mountain biking, the very scary tree challenge, snorkelling, kayaking and team challenge activities. There is no shortage of parents wanting to help on these school camps. We have a two year rotation for the camp venues- in odd years we go to Woodhill Forest and in even years we travel north to the beautiful Tawharanui Regional Park.