Observation of children outside of the classroom [Andy Bay]

Type of equipment available

Large school grounds with play equipment provide lots of space for less imaginative play using the playground equipment. Yet a lot of the children take to the gardens, trees, and random spaces around the school for more imaginative play.

Balls are available, and the courts are regularly used for basketball or soccer games.

Bikes and scooters are used as transport to and from school but not during school time.

Types of games/play common to particular areas – link with who is playing and ages

Younger children (years 0 -3) tend to play in the courtyard space around their rooms, or on the playground equipment, enjoying tunnels, flying fox, swings, climbing equipment etc. Rolling down banks is popular with this group also.

Older children (years 4-6) often gravitate to the main court to play soccer. However, they have also managed to sort themselves into different groups, with a younger group of players moving to a smaller area of the court.

Prevalence of older/younger children in specific areas

While there tends to be more senior tamariki on the court, and more junior tamariki on the playground, the rest of the school appears to be comfortably divided into roving groups of peers rather than having a particular group in a particular spot. The children are encouraged to explore their environment, and do so.

Any danger spots the duty teacher needs to be aware of within or near the play area

Risky play done safely seems to be a prime goal of the school, so tamariki work well at keeping themselves safe. There are potential danger areas, such as tamariki climbing on a roof (as the way the school is designed gives them easy access to these parts of the building), however, tamarki are firmly instructed on this not being accessible to them and generally follow the rules. There aren’t many danger zones for the majority of tamarki, and those that may have more need to be safeguarded are generally supervised.

How the duty teacher interacts in the playground

Most teachers meander while on duty, with different teachers taking different sections of the playground. However there are also lunchtime activities such as choir and ukulele where children are working with different teachers, and some teachers will join in different sporting games with tamariki. This has the advantage of building relationships with ākonga, but also helping to manage big feelings and diversity in a very casual manner.

How problems are handled if/when they arise

There is a solid behaviour management procedure in place at the school. All tamariki are regularly reminded of the four pillars of the school values and expectations:

• we are respectful
• we are responsible
• we are resilient
• we are reflective

Teachers are expected to have high standards in the classroom but to also build strong relationships with their learners. “Gentle parenting” approaches seem to be encouraged within the school, and there is an expectation that all teachers and staff will have similar approaches to behavior management.

More problematic behaviour that a teacher feels unable to respond to is referred to the team leader for additional support, which may then involve parents and referrals to other agencies.

Once a referral moves to the Principal, there are solid behavioural plans for pastoral care. however, this may also result in stand down as a last resort.

Most behaviour (e.g. swearing, littering, minor aggression) is dealt with by the teacher on hand, generally, a quiet word, non-verbal cues, or re-teaching behaviour is all that’s needed. At most a walk with the duty teacher may be required.
There is also a “red card” system where the duty teacher in crisis will hand a red card to a student, who will then race to the office/staff room to get help – the student doesn’t need to know what the crisis is, just where the teacher who needs help is. Staff are then primed to attend, with first aid kit.