Greetings, Kia Ora, Hallo, Talofa lava, Malo e Lelei, Kia Orana, Bula, Ayubowan, Namaste, Konnichiwa, Nín hǎo, Guten Tag, Dia dhaoibh, Goeie dag, Kamusta, Salām, Bonjour, Shalom.
Nau Mai Haere Mai. Welcome to Laingholm Primary School, “The Greatest Little School in the Universe”.
Our team of talented, hardworking, caring and creative teachers and staff take great pride in providing a safe, warm, welcoming and nurturing environment for your child.
They will laugh and let their imagination run wild in the Secret Garden, they’ll get muddy during Education Outside the Classroom, be challenged academically and in all sorts of sporting opportunities, and experience plenty of new opportunities.
This is a place where they will learn, develop and get prepared for the next phase of their life. It all starts at “The Greatest Little School in the Universe”.
We stand by our whakatauki (English proverb) that encourages everyone to try their best in whatever they do:
Kia kaha. Kia māia! Karawhuia! Be strong. Be brave! Have a go!
At Laingholm Primary our staff support and care for children with additional needs, as well as those with accelerated learning needs.
We have an excellent reputation for continued academic success in writing, reading and mathematics – an accomplishment we, as a team of teachers, are extremely proud of, and continue to pursue.
We look forward to welcoming your child, and your family, to Laingholm Primary School and sharing in their primary school journey.
Go well, Ngā mihi nui
Martyn Weatherill
Principal, Tumuaki
Laingholm Primary School, Te Kura o Laingholm
My philosophy about how children learn
After 30 years in the education sector, I have a strong set of beliefs about how children learn and what we as educators can do to optimise the conditions for learning.
Relationships are key to learning, and I believe children must feel ‘comfortable in their own skin’ and they must feel comfortable with their teacher for true learning to occur.
This is a relationship based on honesty, respect, aroha, trust and a pursuit of excellence as befitting a teacher-student relationship.
To my way of thinking, this means we need to do whatever we can to ‘start the conversation’. For example, for me, this means wearing a tie that depicts a comic or cartoon character that a student can relate to and comment on. I fill my office with LEGO and superheroes so that the students have an immediate area of interest that they can start talking about. Once they start talking, it is reasonably easy to steer the conversation towards other areas. The trick is to get them talking in the first place.
When I walk into a classroom I would like to think our students, and their teacher, sees someone who cares passionately about learning, about ensuring that the school is exciting and that the classroom environment supports learning. I hope the students are excited to see me and to share their learning with me.
I am future focused in my approach to teaching and learning. I believe some of the skills of the past belong firmly in the past. This is not to say that they were never relevant and important, they are simply not as relevant and important now. Beautiful handwriting, for example, is no longer a highly desirable skill as desktop publishing has replaced calligraphy.
Reading, writing and mathematics are incredibly useful tools, but they are just that – tools for doing something with.
I believe our classrooms should focus on ‘how’ to learn not ‘what’ we learn. For example, content is available 24/7 via multiple channels and devices. Understanding the learning process and how to construct new knowledge from existing content is now the most marketable skill.