Flemington School Whole School Science

Tuakana / Teina Relationships during whole school science.

As a school we have adopted a whole school inclusion way of learning science.   We are using this approach, which is a change, of how we usually run our classrooms, to address the needs of all students.  We are aiming to create and environment in which every student has the opportunity to flourish. 

One important principle of inclusive learning is that no two learners are the same.  We have found that in our groupings there are visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners.  We are giving each group the opportunity for these students to learn in a variety of ways.  Our findings have found that some are more hands on with the experiments, some can talk about it better than others, while others are keeping the groups learning journey up to date with the exact learning they are doing.  Our practice is supporting and accommodating most of our students.

The relationships that are forming throughout the whole school are also coming through.  The younger children look up to the older ones.   These relationships are forming a model for a buddy system.  The junior children know that someone is there, helping and guiding them in their learning.  Learning does not just come from the teacher.  This way of learning recognises the value of ako and that the roles may sometimes be reversed with the younger child guiding and teaching the older students. The model is also used between the senior room and junior room once a fortnight.  We have seen the junior children become more confident with the senior children and more willing and ready to work with them.