Warrington School/About
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Haere mai and welcome to Warrington School
- Warrington is a small semi-rural seaside village that sits on the edge of Blueskin Bay
- It has the pristine white sands of Warrington Beach a child's stroll from the school and an easy 20 minute drive from central Dunedin
- The school has a supportive community
- The school has developed good links with the local Playcentre, surf life saving club and neighbouring schools
School Philosophy
- Warrington Well-being Way - "WWW" or Te Ara Oraka O Okahau
- The Well-being path is also the name of the main pathway entering the school
- Which will one day be a forest of native, edible and pleasurable plants
- Child centred and family friendly
- Students are encouraged to care for themselves, for others and the environment through an envirethical curriculum
- The School community through the Board of Trustees supports the teachers in their continual development of:
- Child focussed and current educational pedagogy developed from free thinking
- Students are encouraged to enjoy their childhood, ask questions of their world, seek their own answers and to have freedom to learn
Diverse multi-age classrooms
Our classes are like the states of matter - solid (junior), liquid (middle), gas (senior)
- 3 classes – senior, middle and junior – year levels depend on roll numbers
- Junior class provides solid structure, an emphasis on children becoming literate and numerate through creative teaching approaches
- Classroom teacher is Wendy Russell
- Middle school is more fluid with children taking more responsibility through directed programmes of work
- Classroom teacher is Janine Cotton
- Senior school is flexible (gaseous) with more independence by using democratic approaches to learning
- Classroom teaching is shared between Nathan Parker (Principal) and Brenda Morrison
- Teaching and learning are supported by June Anderson (Secretary/Teacher Aide), Dawn Hope (Secretary), Annette Hughes (Cleaner) Trudy Lee (Caretaker) Christine Rainbow (Pool)
All staff are friendly, smile lots and enjoy working with children
Latest Charter and Annual Report
Information for new families
Guiding principles
Warrington Decision Making Process
The well being of Warrington pupils and the sustainability of all associated with the school needs to be protected through decisions that are informed and fundamental to the School's philosophy.
Key questions
- Does the decision benefit the pupils? i.e. academically, educationally, emotionally, socially, culturally, sporting, environmentally, physically.
- Is the the decision ethically sound? e.g sustainable, uses fair trade, locally produced, environmentally friendly, healthy, renewable.
- Are we drawing on and building up local resources?
- Are all parties involved in the decision process?
- Is there someone we need to consult further with this decision?
- Will this decision impact negatively on someone/thing else?
Virtues programme
- This is an initiative to empower children to live by their deepest values and experience what is meaningful in their lives.
It's creating a culture of character... cultivating WWW.(Warrington Wellbeing Way)
Virtues are more basic than values. All cultures honour virtues such as courage, love, honesty and service, yet they apply them differently according to their own diverse value systems. So, what is a virtue? Here are a few thoughts from the children in Senior Room 1: "A virtue is something that everyone has to make them who they are."TRHN "A virtue is something inside you."AVT "Virtues can be used to make the world a better place."IAP "Virtues live in your mind and come out when you speak or act."EKMS "Virtues make you who you really are."NAA "Virtues plus personality...it all stacks up." FJH
The whole school is now on board with choosing a "VIRTUE FOR THE WEEK" from our virtues pack. The seniors learn what it means for them, through role plays, discussions and reading the virtues card. More often than not we find there are many sides to the picture and surprisingly many other virtues within the one we are focusing on (interdependence to the max). Two reps from the senior class then move through to the middle class and 'teach' their understanding of the new virtue for the week (often giving a little role play of their own). Once the middlies have got the new virtue pictured, a rep from their class joins the two seniors to move on to the junior room and deliver the new virtue to the young ones. The junior room teacher has noticed an encouraging improvement in the seniors delivery of the virtue to the juniors: "They are much more confident and bring the message down to the level of my little ones. This really shows they have a great understanding of it themselves. I am so impressed."
We are planning to move on to creating an 'Appreciation booklet' in the senior room where we make a regular entry of the things we are grateful for... from a simple smile, to a good friend...
ROOM TWO have been exploring the different virtues and came up with their own definitions of "WHAT ARE VIRTUES?":
"Things that make you good and happy" (Elsa age 7) "They make your personality" (Sarah age 8) "Things that make the world a good place" (Ashlie age 9) "Things that make you a better person" (Mary age 7) "Things that make you who you are" (Lachlan age 9) "They make you different in character to others" (Shea age 9) "If you had no virtues the world would be in chaos" (Joshua age 9)
