Local Curriculum

A little school with a big heart!

At Ridgeview we take pride in giving our students all the advantages of a small school while still giving them the same experiences as a larger school. Our school has a strong whānau feel and every child is known and cared for by every teacher. Our values of Respect, Excellence and Positive Relationships are central to all our learning and interactions in the classroom, on the playing fields and when we are out in the community. 

Through conversations with our tamariki and consultation within our school and local communities, we have adapted the New Zealand Curriculum to teach and learn in ways that suit our children and their strengths, and to cover the curriculum in a way that meets the aspirations of our community.

At Ridgeview we ensure that our students have coverage of all curriculum areas across the term. Teachers strategically plan engaging and pursposeful learning lessons that incorporate literacy and mathematics in all curriculum areas: Technology, Science, Social Science, Arts, and Health and PE. Each curriculum area is linked to an overaching theme and in 2025 our theme is: Kaitiakitanga

As well as developing learning in all curriculum areas our students participate in a sustainability program in which they learn about how they can be Kaitiakitanga in their local community, life skills around waste, food, and ensuring that the reasources we have last. In 2025 students are learning about chickens and how to look after chickens, having a sustainable vegetable garden, how to start and run a Pataka Kai and also about compost and recycling.  

Literacy

Structured literacy is taught everyday for 45minutes intensively and then integrated within other learner areas. We currently use the Sunshine Scope and Sequence as the basis for our Structured Literacy. This is a phonic based way of learning to recognise letter-sounds and then putting the sounds together to form words. The children learn the sounds in a prescribed order and once they have a minimum number of sounds under their belt, they apply their learning to specially written books.

 

Once our children reach the reading age of a Year 3 Junior Journals, School Journals and finally on to novels. As they progress through the school the emphasis moves from decoding to be able to read, to reading to understand.

Our Writing programme links in with our Structured Literacy, as well as focusing on different genres. Our studentst are encouraged to start writing and learning how to write when they arrive at school in a fun and engaging program. As they progress and develop writing skills, we introduce them to different writing genres. 

We also use The Code spelling programme. This is to support reading and writing in the school. Each child takes part in the spelling programme for a short time every day.

Mathematics

In 2025 we will be using a structured mathematics program called Maths No Problem. Every student recieves a workbook and the classroom teacher has a well planned program to implement. Students will use a range of materials and resources to support their learning in mathematics as we aim to have high achievement in Mathematics from all our students in 2025 and to foster a love for the creativity and fun that mathematics can offer. 

As well as maths no problem mathematics is integrated into real life settings through our curriculum strands. 

Inquiry

We use our Inquiry Model of Spark – Take off – Mahi – Show and Share in our wider curriculum. This model is used as part of our planning when creating curriculum plans. Each class has a timetable in which they have set times to cover each curriculum area. 

Science is an important part of our learning program at Ridgeview and we teacher specific science concepts each term to ensure that our students have a strong concept of a range of science concepts. Students learn reading, writing and mathematics skills through the context of science.

Health

We cover a wide variety of topics in our health curriculum and base our learning on the needs of the children. We cover everything from relating to others to personal well-being to providing our students with strategies to cope with their lives and relationships. We also pair up with our local police officer and look at safety online, safety on the roads and take part in their Keeping Ourselves Safe programme.

in 2025 students will be learning about the Hauora health model, relating to others, the firewise program, understanding the importance of our local community and also we will have some learning around food and food safety.

Physical Education

Physical education is a very important part of their daily routine. We are fortunate enough to have our very own heated school pool! Our pool is used for Swimming lessons in terms 1 and 4 where our students are able to swim 2-3 days a week, every week, for half of the year. Our school pool can be booked for the weekend and private events for the local community (Contact the office)

Our physical education programme encompasses sport, games, activities such as skipping, running and gymnastics as well as athletics. We take our students to events such as cross country, inter-school athletics, rippa, soccer and the mud run. Physical education is formally taught once a week, and in the summer months we take advantage of the weather and run school sporting activities in the afternoons. 

The Arts

We have private music lessons available for our students -please inquire at the office for information about these including costs and availability. 

Music, Dance, Drama, and Visual arts are developed through our art program once a week. In Term 2 we have a house arts challenge in which each child works with their house to develop a piece of collaborative visual arts, dance, and song to share at the end of the term.

In term 3 each class will design a performance to share with the local community based around their learning for that term. The performance includes all aspect of the arts disciplines and is a great showcase of our students talents in this area. 

In term 4 for 2025 students will get the chance to learn the ukulele and explore different rythems and beats with instruments. 

Camp

Every three years we take our Year 4 to 6s to Sir Peter Blake Marine Education and Recreation Centre at Long Bay. Our aim is to make sure that every child has the opportunity to attend camp at primary school. Our last school camp was in 2024. 

Prizegiving

At the end of every year we hold a prizegiving where we acknowledge those who have excelled at school.

Our students have an opportunity to perform and share some of learning. 

Market day

Each year our students set up games and make items to sell on our Mini Market Day. This is a great opportunity for our students to get creative, for our community to come together, and to fundraise for our tamariki. This year our Market day is on the 26th of June in Term 2. 

Matariki breakfast

Each year for Matariki we have a Matariki Breakfast where our whole school community is invited and the school provides a breakfast for our staff, students and their whanau.