End of the School Year (Year 1)
We’ve just completed our first full year of primary school in New Zealand, and I can’t believe how fast the year went. There are some real differences between the New Zealand and US school system, and I am now very curious to see how things progress as my kids’ education moves forward. Here are my take aways so far:
Uniforms are the best thing ever. I was so concerned about fighting in the morning to get my son in his uniform. He was not excited about wearing it, especially a shirt with a collar. Within a week, however, it became a non-issue. Now, there are no discussions about what to wear in the morning. He goes to his room, gets dressed, and we get on with our mornings. Even better, because the boys at his school wear ties during the winter months, he’s now totally fine wearing a button down shirt, blazer, and tie. I can’t even begin to imagine the hoops we’d have to jump through to get him to do that in the States.
Uniforms also mean the quantity of kids’ clothing I need to buy is dramatically less. In some ways that is good as the kids’ clothing options here are pretty limited and honestly not as good as in the US. But I can’t lie - I kind of love kids’ clothes shopping and I’ve had to seriously reel it in.
There is tons of playtime. Unlike in the US where there is a constant heartache over how little time kids get to spend outside, or at recess, or at lunch, the Kiwi kids have a ton of free time. My son has a morning tea break and an hour for lunch. There isn’t a cafeteria, so the boys sit in groups, usually outside, then go off and play with each other. Even better, there are multiple years of students outside together, and they all end up playing games with kids of different ages.
There are no grades or report cards. Yep, you read that right. Now, that’s not to say that the Year 1 kids aren’t being assessed and their progress monitored. At the end of terms 2 and 4 I received a detailed assessment (using a ranking system that consists of “above expectations,” “meeting expectations,”” or working towards expectations”) of the work my son was doing and his progression along the school’s curriculum. I had an opportunity to go through the report with his teacher as well. However, there were no spelling tests that could make him fail year 1 or quizzes on math problems. The closest we came to that was the report on his public speaking for the class which was based on a very scientific smiley face ranking system.
While at first I found this confusing, I could see the progress he was making, and there was no stress about school or tests. There was no doubt in my mind how much he was learning, and once I was able to let go of needing a number to tell me exactly how well he was doing. I know in a few years he’ll start getting real grades, but by then his maturity level will be able to handle those new stresses much better.
The curriculum is different. In Year 1 in New Zealand, three of the five curriculum foci are based on behaviours and social skills. They are:
Managing self - having self-motivation, a "can-do" attitude, and seeing oneself as a capable learner
Relating to others - is about interacting effectively with a range of different people in a range of different situations, including things like being able to listen well, recognise different points of view, and share ideas
Participating and contributing - being involved in communities, such as family, whānau, school, and be able to contribute and make connections with other people.
Only two have to do with thinking and using language, symbols, and texts. When I started to look into the curriculum requirements for schools in Texas, it was all subject-based learning and assessment. There didn’t appear to be a focus at all an laying a foundation underneath the academic skills.
I appreciate how the school is ensuring that my son feels engaged in his classwork and community. I can see how this approach will ensure that he gets enjoyment and fulfilment later on as his coursework gets more challenging and complex. However, I worry that if we ever end up back in the United States (which isn’t the plan, but you never know…) there will be a serious shock to his system.
However, the New Zealand system seems to be working. In 2019, New Zealand had the 7th highest score and US 24th on Education Rankings by Country by Population so I’m crossing my fingers that we’ll get to stay in this gentler, well rounded system. (Side note: I recently listened to an episode of Hidden Brain, and it went into some of the long-term benefits of teaching young kids interpersonal skills over cognitive skills. It is worth a listen!)
April is the new August. Because kids are phased in through the year, there is some wiggle room on whether or not a kid starts in Year 0 or Year 1. Typically, that wiggle room happens when kids have April birthdays. There’s a big decision to make - will your child be the oldest kid in the class and enter into Year 0, or will your kid be the youngest and start in Year 1? It’s the equivalent of deciding wether or not to “red shirt” your August born baby and hold him/her back or not. I’d never given this much thought before as I had April and June babies, but this year it became a question we needed to answer to plan for my daughter next year. Speaking of the Year 0/Year 1 conundrum…
Phasing kids into the class really works. In New Zealand, kids typically start school shortly after their fifth birthday. If that falls in the middle of the year, then so be it. This means there is a regular influx of younger students starting school. I noticed that the older, established kids took so much pride introducing school rules and lessons to the younger kids. They were thrilled to be a big kid and teacher. The young ones were immediately pulled into the community by the adult teachers and peers and quickly got caught up.
This system works because a lot of learning is done in small, ability-based groups within the classroom. My son was in a reading group with 2-3 other kids at about the same level. Same thing for math. (Or “maths” as they say here.) It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in school, your group is based on your ability, and students are able to slide into learning groups easily upon arrival.
The end of year is insanely busy. Typically, December is a busy month with holiday activities and May/June is busy with end of school year performances and activities. Now combine those two time periods into one and add in a whole lot of birthday parties for kids born in December and January. This week alone we’ve had two school carolling services, one end of year prize giving, one end of year ballet recital, one club holiday party, invites for five birthday parties, and one neighbourhood holiday party. It’s like this for weeks, and will let up only days before Christmas. We’re going to need the break to recover from December.
So yippee for finishing Year 1! We’re ready for a well deserved summer break, and I’m pleasantly surprised that there isn’t any apprehension about tackling Year 2 in February. My son is excited to go back to school, see his friends, and move up a grade. I think that might be one of the best takeaways from our inaugural academic year: a love for learning and a love for school.
Check out my other post on the education system found here.
