PRIMARY SCHOOL
Primary School
Embrace an exhilarating educational adventure at Green School New Zealand! Our primary learners dive headfirst into a world teeming with opportunities. From rolling up their sleeves to explore the wonders of nature to stepping out of their comfort zones, every day is a thrilling voyage of discovery.
Learners are empowered to connect with the environment and passionately advocate for the changes they wish to see in their world. Guided by experienced teachers who harbour a profound respect for education and Mother Earth, they cultivate lifelong friendships, delve into their interests, and face exciting challenges.
Our curriculum encourages creativity, providing a canvas for young imaginations to run wild. Students meaningfully engage with the local community, gaining insights into its diverse tapestry while also establishing global connections. Amidst all the learning, there's plenty of room for laughter, fun, and joy, making the school experience genuinely enjoyable.
Our students thrive in an environment that champions decision-making and outdoor exploration, instilling a deep-seated love for nature free from eco-anxiety. They receive hands-on opportunities to develop crucial skills, such as literacy and maths, all while enjoying the freedom to explore, experiment, and excel.
In essence, Green School New Zealand offers a thrilling, immersive educational experience that equips primary learners not just with academic skills, but with a love for their world, the confidence to face challenges, and the resilience to effect meaningful change. Discover a school where education extends beyond the classroom and becomes an exhilarating journey of exploration and growth!
Whaea Kat & Matua Nick, Co-Heads of Primary
Teaching Team
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Whaea Kat
Co-Head of Primary
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Matua Nick
Co-Head of Primary
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Whaea Kelly
Primary Teacher
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Whaea Haley
Multidisciplinary / Substitute Teacher
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Whaea Marcela
Learner Assistant and ESOL Support
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Matua Mark
Multidisciplinary Teacher
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Whaea Di
Koru Teacher
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Matua Damian
Hikoi Teacher
Primary School Programme
At Green School New Zealand, our Primary School Curriculum is uniquely crafted to lay the foundation for a lifelong learner's journey.
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The GSNZ Primary curriculum carefully interweaves essential academic skills, such as mathematics and literacy, into a dynamic curriculum that bridges the gap between classroom learning and real-world applications.
The educational journey encompasses Voyages - innovative, hands-on inquiry learning experiences that inspire curiosity, encourage discovery, and stimulate intellectual growth. This immersive approach prepares our young learners for the complexities of the real world, fostering the ability to question, explore and learn with agility and creativity.
Key to our educational ethos is the celebration and appreciation of our cultural heritage. Our students engage in Kapa Haka, the rich tradition of Māori performing arts, which enables them to embrace diversity and develop an understanding of the deep-rooted Māori culture.
The curriculum incorporates Green Studies, fostering a love for nature and Papatūānuku, Mother Earth. We believe in cultivating respect and care for the environment, enhancing our students' ecological consciousness. This element is further enriched through our weekly Taiao Rumaki/Nature Day Immersion for Year 1-4 learners, an immersive outdoor experience allowing students to explore our beautiful campus, creating a tangible connection with the natural world.
Artistic expression is cultivated through partnerships with experienced, practicing artist and musician teachers from our local community. Students are given opportunities to explore and develop their creativity, and to appreciate the arts in its various forms.
To ensure we nurture individual interests, we incorporate Auahatia experiences - self-chosen, passion-learning activities. These unique sessions aim to fuel personal interests and ambitions, fostering independent thinkers and innovative creators.
Our curriculum embraces the great outdoors, providing comprehensive outdoor education experiences. Our skilled staff lead active adventures both on campus and beyond, incorporating eco-projects that contribute to the protection and nurturing of local native bush areas.
The Koru Curriculum rounds out our holistic approach, focusing on personal development and wellbeing. Learners cultivate mindfulness, resilience, and self-confidence, empowering them to navigate life's challenges with strength and grace.
In essence, the Green School New Zealand Primary School Curriculum offers an enriching, well-rounded education, encompassing a wealth of experiences to foster a love for learning, an appreciation for our cultural heritage, respect for our environment, and the skills and resilience to succeed in an ever-changing world.
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At Green School New Zealand, we understand assessment as an important learning tool. Influenced by the Māori concept of ako, acknowledging reciprocal learning between teachers and learners, our approach encourages shared knowledge and growth. Our diverse 'kete' or basket of assessment methods enhances learner involvement through self-assessment, peer evaluation, and reflective practices. We maintain open communication with parents about learner progress, and use Hero, a secure digital platform, to capture each learner's journey holistically. Discover our unique learning environment where student wellbeing, mutual understanding, and learner agency take centre stage.
Learning In Action
Primary School is where we give children the space to ask really big questions, to build connections, to learn how to thoughtfully disagree and most importantly to begin to express themselves as individuals. Primary School students strive to gain core competencies in Mathematics and Literacy in a highly supportive learning environment. Student-guided, hands-on projects promote entrepreneurial thinking, environmental education, practical skills, and the arts.
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Life cannot be compartmentalised into separate boxes, so why should learning be? Our curriculum addresses this by taking a thematic, interdisciplinary approach to the way we learn.
For students, this could mean learning mathematics and physics by building a bridge over the river that passes through our campus. Or learning biology by exploring marine biodiversity, understanding our impact on it and developing solutions towards conserving and regenerating it.
We understand that each student learns differently, and our thematic units are designed to foster a deep love for learning in them. We have seen students thrive when programmes are designed to value their individual passions and they are empowered to lead their own learning journeys.
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Understanding the environment is fundamental to the Green School experience and is explored throughout our Green School Skills. Our thematic learning enables students to ‘Think in Systems’ and identifies the connection between social and environmental justice, supporting students to gain an understanding of their voice, power and role in creating change.
Environmental learning is threaded through courses and projects and is experienced day to day in where we learn, how we learn and what we consume. This awareness shapes sustainability mindsets as a springboard for activism, real projects that make a real difference and for instilling leadership in young adults.
Underpinning this is a strong foundation of scientific learning and the Green School Values, nurtured in all our learners. From climate change to marine ecology, from the circular economy to botany, our environmental science courses are flagship offerings delivered by educators with deep expertise, with a deep commitment to nature and a values-based approach to life as our guide.
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Wellbeing in the Primary School truly embodies the principle of wall-lessness. It incorporates social-emotional learning, physical wellbeing & development and community building. Wellbeing also relates to our students developing strong and positive relationships with themselves, their peers, faculty, parents, their community as well as their environment. We believe a focus on student wellbeing should be central to the way schools build their programs.
Social-emotional learning in Primary School happens everywhere, all the time. In directed lessons in the classroom building on the expertise of talented educators, when playing around our nature-infused campus, during conversations around the lunch table or when there has been an argument between friends. Supported by regular mindfulness practices, opportunities for reflection, and of course lots of fun, building this awareness of ourselves and others is critical.
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We take immense pride in Footprints, Green School's innovative capstone project for Year 6 learners in their final year of primary school, aimed at nurturing 'changemakers' among our learners.
Footprints is a unique initiative where our students, with the support of community members as mentors, identify local challenges and devise creative, sustainable solutions. By 'Thinking Global and Acting Local', they contribute positively to their community and environment. This process inherently fosters resilience, as students face and overcome obstacles in their paths, and the sustainability focus also ensures that learner projects are not just impactful today but also beneficial for the future. Projects are framed around learner passions and interests, allowing each learner to thrive within their own self-directed learning journey.
The culmination of the Footprints journey is a celebration of learner accomplishments. Our learners present their experiences and achievements to parents through a succinct presentation and an interactive showcase. This event allows parents to understand the project specifics, the skills acquired, and the growth experienced by their children.
Join us at Green School New Zealand, where we shape the changemakers of tomorrow, leaving enduring footprints on the path towards a sustainable future.
Primary School Highlights
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GSNZ Primary learners joined in on the 2023 School Strike for Climate Change in central New Plymouth. We held our own and marched along to the strum of Matua Mark’s uke and our community chants.
Read more here.
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Every Wednesday all the learners from Year 0 to Year 4 take part in a nature immersion experience for the entire day. We are so lucky to have a jaw-droppingly beautiful campus to explore, so there is never a shortage of places to visit: the wetland, the river, manuka hillsides, the herb garden, the Tropical House, the pine forest, the streams, the orchards, and (of course) our 'home base'- Fern Whare, which is an area of established native bush next to the river.
On Taiao Rumaki days, we blend structured and free play, based around developing our innate desire to connect with nature and the Te Ao Māori concept of tuakana teina. Each term has its own theme: Awakening Sensory Awareness, Cultivating Knowledge of Place, Traditional Skills and Crafts, and Restoring the Bond Between People and Nature. Our philosophy is informed by David Sobel's work on the notion of Eco-phobia, in particular his stages of environmental readiness, and by the native American text, The Coyote's Guide.
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Term Two saw the eagerly awaited Eco-Camp for the Guardians of the Earth. Teaming up with other schools across the EiM network, we structured activities around this year's theme, Biodiversity, perfectly timed with The International Day for Biological Diversity in May. Alongside a visit from a guest speaker, we came up with our own definition of Biodiversity, and discussed what about it was most important to us - we decided that the protection of the diverse species within our favourite part of campus, Fern Whare, was an area for focus.
Our guest speaker told us that one of the best ways to protect the biodiversity in Aotearoa is to place rat traps so, using the Trap NZ app, we set up a new trap line in Fern Whare- selecting boxes and traps, painting the boxes so they're easily recognisable, researching good areas to place them, how to maintain them and which bait is best to use.
We have been monitoring the traps every week since and have been recording, using and interpreting the data as part of our Term 3 Maths theme on Statistics. At the date of writing the traps had caught 5 rats and 7 mice, therefore we are confident we are achieving our aim of protecting the unique biodiversity of Fern Whare.
