Students get a little ‘assistance’ at SPS | Taranaki News | Local News in Taranaki

A GROUP of bright sparks gathered at Stratford Primary School last Friday to help solve some of the region’s town planning problems.
Under the banner of the ASSIST programme, a group of 20 Year 7/8 students were brought together to discuss how best to improve the communities of Inglewood and Stratford.
“We had 10 students from Inglewood Primary and 10 from Stratford Primary working on how to improve their respective towns,” says Stratford Primary’s Kerrie Drought.
“We’re wanting the students to compare the towns in terms of services and facilities, identify any areas of concern or lack of provision problems, come up with ways to solve those problems and then formulate plans.
“The key thing is to then actually take action to implement these plans. This may actually involve making submissions or drawing up a petition for a council.
The ASSIST programme is a special education programme for gifted and talented students from Stratford and Inglewood Primary Schools, designed to provide them with opportunities for extension.
“The programme really is about bringing like-minded people together, to share ideas and experiences, learn from one another and try to solve important problems.
“We want these students to ask why things are the way they are, and investigate everything fully. “We choose high-interest topics for investigation, and in past years have looked at wider global and national problems that need solving. This year we wanted to look at things in the local context.”
Friday’s activities were largely about team-building, and involved programme participants designing maps of their towns as they are at present. Through discussion and creativity, they had to develop a system of symbols that denoted key features in their communities – this being the first stage of longer-term investigations.
“By thinking about how their towns are at present, the students can see where the ‘gaps’ are, work out possible reasons why those gaps are there, research ways in which those gaps can be filled and then check out the financial viability of implementing any of their proposed solutions.
“Keeping it local like this makes it meaningful for students, and ties in well with the new curriculum.”
The ASSIST programme is now in its fourth year and is fully funded by the two schools involved.
“The students selected have demonstrated some degree of extra ability in other areas of their school lives – not always in traditional, scholastic ways. All students involved have to sign a code of conduct to stay in the programme though, committing to appropriate behaviour and adhering to each schools’ particular values.”
After a break of a few weeks, the group will again meet together to further explore their chosen topic and exchange ideas. In the meantime, a number of meetings between Inglewood and Stratford cohorts will be conducted via skype.
“We’re all looking forward to developing interesting solutions to some of these community issues, and seeing them enacted in whatever way is viable,” says Kerrie.