Cutting edge and in the country | Taranaki News | Local News in Taranaki

IT’S only been a short while at the helm for Auroa School principal, Heath Chittenden, but he’s definitely still in the middle of the honeymoon period and loving every minute of it.
It’s his third term as the school’s principal and, with building and development projects going on all around him, things are obviously ticking over rather nicely for him.
“There’s a lot of development work going on at the school at the moment,” says Heath.
“And, I’m thrilled to be receiving great support from the staff, students and wider school community.”
Born and bred in South Taranaki (and presently a part-time farmer) Heath has a great deal of fondness for education in the rural sector. His last role was as sole charge principal of Hurleyville School; a role he took on after teaching stints at Normanby and in two schools in Wanganui.
“I enjoy working in ‘good, honest’ country schools; it’s great being in a position where you can work really closely with a community to meet its particular needs.
“The new curriculum is great in that sense, as it allows schools to teach the children through the context of their own community – before the kids learn about the wonders of the Amazon forest, they learn about the wonders of their own community.”
Yet, the requirement to be seen to be teaching students the kinds of information they’re going to need in the wider modern world is still a crucial aspect of modern education, so Heath is more than pleased to be able to say that Auroa School is doing that – and doing it well.
Modern on the outside
This combination of traditional and contemporary is guiding one of the school’s biggest developments – brand new teaching space for the new entrant class.
“We’re building a brand new 105m² classroom for new entrants. It’s a huge undertaking, which has involved a lot of unexpected groundwork, but we know it’s going to be up-to-date as a facility.
“We know that young kids learn a lot through play so we have made it a large space, to give them lots of room to move. It’s also going to have an outdoor wet area, which will make art lessons cleaner and easier.”
It is hoped that these kinds of developments in the new entrant space will help ease some of the traditional transitional worries that pre-schoolers face when they start school – creating a feeling of familiarity for the very young.
Another of the projects under way at the school has also been developed as a response to a peculiarly modern kiwi problem – how to be healthily outside without being unhealthily under the sun.
“We didn’t really have any shaded areas where the children could sit and eat their lunch outside. In response, we’ve started building a covered veranda that runs along the outside of the main classroom block.
“We’ve received funding from Transpower to help pay for it, and have had community labour helping to install it.”
And while the roofing material will be clear and let most of the sun’s bright light through, what won’t be going through will be damaging UV rays – a modern material meeting children’s traditional needs for a healthy level of light.

Modern on the inside
Providing a healthy environment in which the children can learn is something that Heath and the school take very seriously. Thus, another of Auroa’s latest investments has been classroom sets of ‘Bodyfurn’-designed furniture; special ergonomically designed furniture that improves a child’s ability to focus.
“The designers of this furniture have researched what children’s bodies actually do when they’re sitting down at their desks. Books and things are stored down the sides of their tables, not underneath, meaning that access is easy and they’re not ‘trapped’ around their knees by trays hanging down.
“The seats have been designed to provide good back support and skin ventilation, and they’re set just at the right height.
And with each individual classroom having its own computer ‘annexe’ (rather than a communal ICT suite) and a smartboard, moving from desk to teaching area to computer is hassle-free and good focus much easier to maintain.
Yet, high-tech, high-spec education doesn’t just stop there at the school, with the school’s oldest students regularly getting to play at being high-end inventors 
“We run a robotics programme for the Year 7 and 8s. They not only build robots, but also programme them as well, which really helps develop both logic and creativity.”
The older children are also fortunate enough to participate in a special literacy programme, only developed recently in Scandinavia.
“It’s called the AVAILLL Programme, which is a research-endorsed reading system that sees children learning to read meaningfully using the subtitles of movies.
“It has proven to be a huge success at the school with many of the children absolutely jumping ahead in their reading PAT scores; it’s just fantastic.”

Personal pride
Despite huge smatterings of leading-edge thinking and creativity all around the school, the Auroa School community still likes some fairly traditional things – the most prominent of these being its community decision to see all students in a properly worn school uniform.
“As of June 2, the school will officially require its students to wear a new uniform, after a large number of parents voted for one.”
And, according to Heath, the school community has high expectations with regard to sporting achievement, a traditional source of great pride for them.
“We have a lot of sporting folk on the staff; both current and former representative players of various sports, and we have been achieving particularly well in swimming and athletics. It’s something our school’s parent community rate very highly.”
But, sport isn’t everything and the school acknowledges that through various rewards programmes for students.
One such programme sees older children receiving actual keys that they pin to themselves like medals. These get awarded not only for sporting achievement, but also achievement in art, service and academic realms.
Sum of all things
With so much going on, Heath is rightly proud of the school and what it is achieving.
He’s pleased with his move to the school and indebted to all who make it the special place that it is.

“It’s a great school that does everything a country school does well, while staying up-to-date with contemporary education practice,” says Heath

"helping to install it.”
And while the roofing material will be clear and let most of the sun’s bright light through, what won’t be going through will be damaging UV rays – a modern material meeting children’s traditional needs for a healthy level of light.