Tania Campbell
Principal
Kia Ora Whānau,
I am delighted to be the Principal of Ramarama School. We are a full primary school set in 2.8 hectares of grounds that includes ten learning spaces, an amazing library, astro turf courts, playing fields, adventure playgrounds, a swimming pool, and a school hall. We are situated just off the Southern Motorway between Drury and Bombay.
We enjoy a true country atmosphere and pride ourselves on being a semi-rural school with long standing events such as Calf Club, Flower Show and Grandparents Day. The school has an Enrolment Scheme and currently only accepts students who live within our home zone or are siblings of current students.
As we are a relatively small school (200 students), but with some major housing developments happening in our area we are growing each year. Our staff work collaboratively throughout the school and pride themselves on building strong relationships with all students and families. The door is always open if you need to talk to a staff member or make time to meet with them. We value a strong home school partnership, as we know that helps students learn best and helps them to feel valued in our space too.
Ramarama School prides itself on being a community of learners who work collaboratively to provide high quality teaching and learning programmes and additional opportunities, taking a holistic approach to education. In doing so we provide for the diverse learning requirements of all our students while promoting equity and excellence for all. School Camps, Education Outside the Classroom, School productions, Kapa Haka, Ukulele lessons, Spanish, Play Based Learning and Year 7 & 8 Technology are all examples of the additional opportunities our students are afforded.
Fostering a “family” atmosphere is an important part of our school character; younger children regularly work with older children during whole school events and we have awhina groups that operate throughout the school. Your child will be placed in an awhina group when they enrol at school and they stay in that awhina group until they leave. Each awhina group has a colour assigned to it. We have a fun points system that operates throughout the year and students earn points for various activities. Students meet in their awhina groups every Friday and this is the time we focus on Te Ao Maori- Maori language, waiata, myths and legends and tuakana-teina learning.
Parents are encouraged to maintain close relations with teachers and are welcome at all times to discuss children’s well being and progress. The P.T.A. (Friends of Ramarama) is a voluntary group of parents who carry out fundraising activities to provide the school with extra resources and to provide parents with a lot of fun! They help to organise school social events, stay and play and Calf Club Day.
A newsletter is sent home to parents each fortnight to keep all families in touch with school matters and we use a digital platform called Seesaw to share learning and celebrations with our parents/caregivers. Regular Board of Trustees meetings are open to all members of the community. You can find these dates on the school google calendar.
All class environments are engaging and visible learning pathways are evident throughout. This enables students to confidently manage their own learning, identifying their strengths and next learning steps. On-going teacher inquiry ensures that our teaching and learning programmes remain relevant and aligned to current best practice approaches.
Our school vision and values have created a strongly inclusive school culture. Students at Ramarama School experience a sense of belonging and pride in their school.
The school’s strategic direction continues the strong emphasis on delivering a well balanced curriculum, endeavouring to develop in the children the knowledge, attitudes, skills and competencies that will enable them to reach their full potential.
We look forward to welcoming you to our school.
Arohanui
Tania Campbell
Tumuaki/Principal