A warm welcome to our new students, Sadhika Banerjee, Kezia Chandra, Kairo Lomas, Dylan Buchanan, Henry Major, Finn McConnell, Miller Winks, Ronan Oldridge, Zachariah Roughton and Quinn Fairweather

Welcome to Term 3!

It’s been wonderful to see our learners settle so quickly back into school life after the break, and a special welcome to the new families who have joined us this term.

You may have seen this week’s announcement from Education Minister Erica Stanford that the government will no longer build ‘open-plan’ classrooms, making statements such as “do not cater well for all learners.” While I don’t usually weigh in on political headlines, this one stood out, and I’d like to offer some reassurance and share a Puketaha perspective.

At Puketaha, we use the term Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs), or Collaborative Teaching Spaces, to describe our classrooms—but we don’t consider them “open-plan.” Our buildings were originally single-cell classrooms, modernised and connected to create more flexible, purposeful spaces. These often include breakout rooms, larger floor areas, and clearly defined zones for whole-class instruction, small group work, hands-on learning, and quiet, focused learning.

We agree that large, barn-like spaces with no structure—no walls, doors, corners, or breakout areas—can be challenging teaching environments. But that’s not what we have. At the same time, small, overcrowded single-cell rooms with high numbers and no collaborative support also present challenges. At Puketaha, like many schools, we believe we’ve struck a healthy balance: spaces that enable focused, relationship-based teaching while offering the flexibility to meet diverse learning needs.

Co-teaching is a strength of our approach. It allows teachers to group students according to their learning needs, work collaboratively to improve practice, and provide more targeted support. Rather than one teacher trying to meet the full range of needs alone, our environment supports shared expertise. Research—including that of John Hattie—shows that collaboration among teachers is one of the most powerful influences on student achievement, and our physical environment is designed to support this.

Our most recent Education Review Office (ERO) report highlighted the strength of our learning environments, inclusive practices, and the positive outcomes we are achieving for our learners.

The government’s move to a “standard classroom design”—single rooms joined by sliding doors—is being positioned as both an educational and financial solution. These Off-site Manufactured Buildings (OMBs) are designed to be rectangular, repeatable, and transportable, making them quick and cost-effective to build, especially to accommodate roll growth. While these designs may work well in some contexts, they are simple designs that may not offer as much flexibility to support highly functional ILEs that include breakout rooms, shared teaching spaces, or play-based learning zones. There also appears to be limited evidence showing significant differences in educational outcomes between building types. While “sector feedback” has been cited, we were not consulted, and it’s unclear how widely that feedback was gathered. We are all aware of the strong sector feedback from across the board, asking for better learning support funding, however. It raises a genuine question: Is this shift educationally influenced, or is it more about fitting a cost-efficiency model? 

At Puketaha and in many other schools using ILEs effectively, flexible, collaborative learning spaces remain a strength, helping students thrive in dynamic, inclusive settings. We will continue to draw on both research and our own experience to shape child-centred, learning-focused environments that meet the needs of all our tamariki. With so many sweeping generalisations made about education from various sources, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype. But what truly matters is looking closely at what’s working well for our learners here at Puketaha School. As noted in last year's Education Review Office (ERO) report, our Puketaha classrooms “enable high levels of achievement and engagement,” with “respectful relationships between teachers and students” contributing to “positive school-wide behaviour and settled environments for learning.” 

A local Hamilton principal spoke to Radio NZ about this announcement, and it’s worth a listen, as we relate to Tony’s response. Tony Grey on Radio NZ- listen here

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support. We’re looking forward to another rich and rewarding term of learning.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Ngaa mihi nui,
Nyree Olliver
Principal – Puketaha School

Our 'Mini Library' is now up and running, which is positioned in the old library space next to Kaakano 0's class as well as in the resource room next door. We purchased partitions to separate the spaces. We were able to keep most of our library books available for children to issue, and we are running a couple of different strategies to allow children to issue books, while avoiding disruption for Kaakano 0, who is next door. Classes either send small groups to issue books, or Whaea Emma delivers her portable library collection to Kaakano 1 and Kaakano 2 for them to choose and issue books from their classroom. Whaea Emma is still running lunchtime library clubs, using the Maahuri Deep Cave, approximately three times a week. 

We are live now for Quiz Night team sales.  Get a team together and come and join in the crazy experience that is quiz night!  Team tickets via KINDO or contact me/Rachel Goodin/Shannon Belosevich/Sharyn Harrison if you don’t have enough numbers for a full team. It is a fun night out. (August 2^nd at The Keg.)

Also we are all go with pie/samosa orders. Please keep these rolling in. Share the form, each item sold is new resources for our school. Last day for orders Monday 28^th July.  Please drop into the office any New World stickers that you are not using so we can pool resources for prizes.

Nothing much else to add, except to thank everyone for their support.

Kind regards,

Merynn Connors

PTA Chairperson

M: 027 629 6820  E: pta@puketaha.school.nz