Alwyn Poole is a prominent figure and voice in the partnership schools movement and together with his wife Karen, founded the partnership schools South Auckland Middle School and Middle School West Auckland. Earlier in 2003 Alwyn & Karen also established Mt Hobson school in Newmarket (through Village Education Trust) and has plans to open Russell Middle School in the Bay of Islands in 2020 (a designated character school).
Alwyn shared with us his passion and vision for education in New Zealand citing some of the challenges and opportunities we face from a structural and political perspective.
We have all heard about primary schools teachers being low-paid and having difficult jobs of managing large number of students. Compounded with the tight labour market and inability to attract qualified people into teaching professions- it seems like a never ending challenge.
Yet having a good primary education and a strong year 9 and year 10 programme are fundamental in helping prepare students for the next stage of life- especially if that includes university.
Citing a NZ Initiative Report that was published last week, Alwyn shared the key determinants to educational attainment in children have to do with the educational background of their parents and wealth. Research shows that young people who have university degrees make more money than those without and that the peak quality of secondary schools is measured by university entrance. The report also found that the percentage of university entrance acceptances was higher amongst Asian and Pakeha students and lowest amongst Maori/Pasifika (20%).
The Village Education Trust (VET) model which Alwyn created, consists of small class sizes of 15 students per class (important for establishing strong teacher-student relationships and feedback) and allows flexibility in recruiting the best teachers for the roles. With 60 staff and the majority of students from Maori or Pasifika backgrounds, Alwyn's schools have really made a difference.
Alwyn took the New Zealand curriculum and broke it down into 32 topics (see photo above) which are then taught in a split day format of academic mornings/ arts & sports afternoons. The 32 topics are also incorporated into projects where students have personal interactions with professionals to learn more about how the topics are incorporated in real life or with site visits - such as a visit to Pearl Harbour (to enrich the studies on War History).
So how big a difference do these schools make?
Alwyn found that students who entered into their schools from other public primary schools were lagging almost 2 years behind their peers. However after 1 year at their school, they measured and saw a dramatic improvement of 1.4 year advancement which means that the students who come in at year 9 have a chance to catch up during their two years at VET school.
Alwyn ended his talk by saying talent and intelligence shouldn't be seen as things we are born with, but rather something that can be developed through education and experience which is done year by year.
Next week our speaker is Victoria Brownlee, the first New Zealand woman to intern at the United Nation Office for Disarmament Affairs. She will be sharing with us her story about her experience at the UN as well as her journey from NZ to NYC. We also will be inducting a new member, so please come out and meet Weilian Du.
Please remember to register online for our weekly meetings by clicking on the "accept" link in the email from Dan Turkel subject "Event Invitation for Downtown Rotary Meeting- xx 2019" before the cutoff on Monday 11:00am. From May 7th, we will implement a new system of fines for those who don't register by the cut-off time. All proceed will go towards the Sunshine Fund.
Lucy
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