MANUKURA Junior Programme

"Education is your passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today."

The Junior programme at MANUKURA operates a thematic, integrated approach through which students learn skills and content around topics. Integrating the curriculum allows broad, meaningful contexts to frame reading, writing, and often maths. This approach breaks down barriers between siloed subjects, enabling deeper learning and making cross-curricular connections. In 2020, the themes that students will explore are Mana Tangata, Rangatiratanga, Kaitiakitanga, and Te Ao Marama.

Daily Routine

Our mornings are focused on Literacy and Numeracy sessions, where students are grouped in workshops to strengthen their core skills in these areas. Students remain in separate classes for Te Reo Māori, Art and Health classes, while Science is headlined with practical activity sessions throughout each term by our senior Science staff. Additionally, sessions are dedicated to Kapa Haka, Food Technology and individualised Music lessons. The Junior Programme provides rich opportunities for students to develop key competencies in self-management, thinking critically, relating to others, and participating and contributing. In Year 9 Te Reo Māori is a compulsory subject. 

Personalised Learning

Students complete curriculum-based assessments in Literacy and Numeracy, providing them with feedback on their pathway through skill progressions. As well as individual IPPs, each student has an individualised Google site where they are encouraged to upload their work so that whānau have the opportunity to view and comment on their learning journey. This uploaded work is evidence of their progression through the Junior programme.

City skyline

Photo By: John Doe
Button

Louise O'Flaherty

Junior School Lead

We know that deep learning occurs when young people understand the reasons for and relevance of what they’re exploring. Students should be able to connect their learning to real life situations, and have numerous, varied opportunities to build their knowledge. With digitised learning fast becoming the new normal for learners, we see the critical need to help them develop an additional set of competencies - the need for self-management, the tools to seek help when necessary and - most importantly - the ability to have agency over their learning. MANUKURA has long been a future-focused kaupapa - seeking new strategies to advance and excel in education. The junior programme continues to evolve as we pursue the challenges of a modern world and seek to become a model of Excellence for Māori education in the 21st Century.