He Tangata, He Tangata, He Tangata

Culture, according to Stoll (1998), "describes how things are and acts as a screen or lens through which the world is viewed."  It "gives support and identity and creates a framework for occupational learning."  It has "its own mindset in relation to what occurs in its external environment which makes it 'situationally unique'."

Our strength is our school culture.  

Our vision is to promote and live our school values through our interactions with our children, our whanau and each other.  This provides unity to a school made up of over 35 different cultures.  We all come from such varied backgrounds but this is one way we can all speak the same language.  We celebrate this special character of our school in so many ways and encourage our children to be proud of where they have come from and what makes them unique.  There are children from privileged backgrounds where two parents work or a father is providing for them in their home country while the mum is in New Zealand supporting their children to learn English unable to work.  There are children for whom school is their safest place where food is provided and warmth and care are guaranteed on a daily basis.  There are children who are in before and after school care, children who live with grandparents, children who are living in crowded homes, children that have so many lunchtime after school activities to attend from dance to gymnastics, from swimming to rugby, from chemistry club to librarians, from coding groups to sewing groups. For all these children, they are our children and we will look after them in the best care we can provide. 

A constant factor for our school is improvement.  Improvement is based on the students entering our school and what their needs require.  Our student achievement data is an ongoing area where our lens is focused.  

A lot of what Mark Wilson described in his TedEd presentation rings true for our school.  We have to build an environment of success.  As described in the last post, our team vision is looking at how and why we are doing what we are doing based on Simon Sinek's, Start with Why.  It is our vision for our students in the time we have them and we are working together to achieve this.  We have been empowered to go ahead and find what works for our students.  We have the freedom to try new things, change our programmes, innovate and inquire into best practice.  We are encouraged to continually improve outcomes, in curriculum areas but also in pastoral care for our students and whanau.  Learning is the key for everyone.

Stoll's (1998) Norms of Improving Schools resonates with what we are trying to achieve in the professional environment of our school culture. 

At times, and in various situations, we are within all four of the teaching cultures Stoll describes:

 

A rigorous, challenging, robust, cohesive professional environment is what we are currently striving for.  We are on a journey to make this a framework for our professional learning as underlying all that happens in a school, we all know the why.  We are all working together for the children and whanau in our school community to succeed and do their very best.

References

Stoll. (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Culture/Understanding-school-cultures/School-Culture