Learning Support at Arahoe

Additional Learning Support

Arahoe works within a tiered system of learning support.  School leaders are responsible for the provision of learning support and are guided by the Ministry of Education's directive to support priority learners.  Priority learners are describe as

"...groups of students who have been identified as historically not experiencing success in the New Zealand schooling system. These include many Māori and Pacific learners, those from low socio-economic backgrounds, and students with special education needs."  ERO (August 2012)

Tier 1 – Effective Classroom Teaching

Effective classroom teaching involves all students engaging in effective classroom programmes and working with skilled, knowledgeable, and observant teachers. This may look like differentiated classroom programmes that make connections to the student's knowledge and experiences.  Teachers will deliver appropriate, timely, and explicit literacy instruction with plenty of opportunity for students to acquire and practise literacy skills.


Tier 2 – Additional Learning Support

For students who do not make expected progress in their class, Tier 2 intervenes.  Supplementary support teachers provide short, more intensive instruction for students.  Tier 2 intervention is additional to and connected with, a students existing classroom programme. When tiers of learning support connect the impact on improved student outcomes can be significant. 

At Arahoe School these are the additional learning support programmes:

Reading Recovery

Reading Recovery is for students, who, close to their 6th birthday, are experiencing difficulties in literacy acquisition. Students who have not made satisfactory progress in their first year of literacy instruction are selected for this intervention, and accelerated for a short time to be able to fully participate in the classroom curriculum. 

Ara Pakeke and Ara Tuakana Literacy Support

Ara Pakeke and Ara Tuakana Literacy Support is for students who have been identified as achieving below the standard in reading or writing. School achievement targets, and the Curriculum and Achievement Plan inform the selection process. The in-class support is driven by an inquiry model to determine what will be most effective to accelerate students to meet or excel the national standard. 

English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)

Students come from diverse groups where languages other than English are used at home or in the community. These bilingual and multilingual students represent an increasing proportion of many school populations.

At Arahoe these students who have been identified as needing to develop their English Language skills are supported through an ESOL programme that helps children to access the curriculum successfully. 

Mathematics Support

The Mathematics Support Teacher’s (MST) main role is to provide additional mathematics support for ākonga / learners that are not achieving or progressing at expected levels. The MST role is to design an intervention response that creates the conditions for ākonga to thrive in their mathematics learning. The MST works closely with the classroom teacher to ensure ākonga's learning is coherent across their mathematics learning experiences.

At Arahoe, we select ākonga using their achievement data and discussions with their pod teachers to be part of the 'Math Magician' groups. The focus in these groups is to build their disposition/attitude to mathematics alongside their overall achievement. A range of activities, tasks and games are used to build the confidence, knowledge and strategies of ākonga in mathematics. The year groups our MST works with are influenced by needs identified across the school. 'Math Magician' sessions are additional to the core mathematics programme ākonga receive in their pods.

Teacher Opportunity Project

In this project teachers are scaffolded and supported to provide targeted in-class intervention for identified students. Tailored reading instruction addresses the needs of the identified low progress students throughout the year. Targeted students make accelerated progress in literacy learning.

Tier 3 – Specialist Support

At Arahoe when a student is classified as requiring Tier 3 Learning Support our Unique Learning Needs coordinator refers that student, with parent permission, to an outside agency.  Some examples of these agencies are: