Academic Challenge and Support
Raising expectations
As an academic school it is essential to measure engagement in the learning process. Set the challenge too high and the students become frustrated, too low and it is not stimulating. The support surrounding lessons needs to be just right: not enough and the students may disengage; too much and you run the risk of doing the lesson for them, inhibiting real learning.
For growth and development to occur, a student needs to have the correct balance of challenge and support for their level of readiness. When the level of challenge is balanced by appropriate support academic growth can occur.
How does Huanui College ensure learning is appropriately challenging for all?
Specialist Subject Teachers
All classes are taught by specialist subject teachers. This means students learn from teachers who are experts in their chosen field, and passionate about what they teach. Our teaching staff design lessons to make coursework material engaging and that involves a mix of both academic challenge and appropriate support.
Key Learning
Different students will need different levels of support.
We are committed to understanding the individual needs and circumstances of each student; building their confidence and providing strategies that will enable them to become more independent and assured in their daily lives and for whatever lies ahead of them.
Click here to read more about Key Learning at Huanui College.
Extra Tuition
Our staff run focussed tutorials, and one-to-one guidance where indicated, and more specifically in the run-up to exam times. Extra tuition is provided for students during most lunchtimes, which can be run by older students and by teaching staff. Subjects on offer can be found on the roster hanging in the school office and on both Parent and Student Portals.
Please contact the school office or your child’s teaching staff for further details.
Coach meaningfully and with clear purpose
Our classrooms have students who:
- Are offered tasks that draw upon and extend what they can already do
- Can work together and deal with any disagreement, enabling critical thinking and review
- Are supported and challenged to solve problems
- Set goals to pursue their own aims and ambitions
- See the ‘big picture’ and pay timely attention to detail
- Grasp the purpose of their activity and make decisions to learn effectively
- Receive and review affirmative feedback, enabling students to learn from setbacks as well as triumphs
- Look at what goes well and why, learn to build upon reflective practice, rather than concentrating on what does not go well
- Know what to do when they are unsure, and where to look for advice
The Huanui College teaching and learning programme is based on not just the subject’s students undertake and the qualifications they gain, but the development of learning behaviours in and out of the classroom.
The Cambridge International Curriculum
Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) have been developed by a department of the University of Cambridge to provide high-quality qualifications that meet the demands of employers and educators around the world. Cambridge has been offered internationally for almost two decades and Cambridge programmes are currently taught in more than 160 countries. The Cambridge syllabuses and assessments aim to encourage independent learning, self-reliance, problem-solving, and enquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning.
Read more about The Cambridge International Curriculum
Literacy and Numeracy
Communication skills are essential criteria for most job applications. At Huanui College we shape and build the two crucial foundations of literacy and numeracy. Digital and data literacy are essential in the era of digital transformation and are treated with equal importance to health and well-being.