Tena koutou, tena koutou,tena koutou katoa.
Ko Taranaki te maunga
Ko Waitara te awa
Ko Te Atiawa to iwi
Ko Ngāti Rahiri raua Ngāti Te Whiti oku hapu
Ko Debra Young taku ingoa
No Waitara ahau
Welcome to the Devon Intermediate whanau, I am sure you will enjoy your two years at our wonderful school.
I am into my sixth year at this school and what impresses me the most is the drive, the commitment and the passion of the teaching staff to provide varied and rich learning opportunities for our ākonga.
There are numerous opportunities to shine at Devon Intermediate and the best advice I could give your child would be to try as many new experiences, in and out of the classroom, as possible.
We are all experiencing difficult times during the pandemic and keeping the akonga safety and wellbeing at the centre of everything we do has been a schoolwide priority; strong relationships have never been as important as they are now and we appreciate the continued support we have from our community.
An area of interest for me is curriculum development. During 2021, and following guidelines from the Ministry of Education, our staff have begun reworking our programme so that it reflects both a localised curriculum and our New Zealand history. Staff eagerly look for opportunities to provide a localised curriculum that is relevant and rich in experience. To support this, several staff participated in Anne Milne’s education programme with the intention of developing a culturally sustaining programme, while other staff have been strengthening their knowledge of Te Ao Maori and Te Reo.
If your child is in a device class you will know that we are engaged in the Manaiakalani Education Trust Initiative. Last year we had two teachers delivering their learning programme digitally; this year we have six classes using devices to support their learning.
So, despite the impact of Covid, our staff have continued to model the importance of being lifelong learners. That is one of our strengths as a school, we continue to look forward to ensure our students get the best education possible.
No reira
Tena tatou katoa