Outdoor Education

Experience in outdoor living under canvas is given to all Year 7 students at Kaituna Valley, a unique, beautiful site on Banks Peninsula. The total cost is $60. These camps are held early in the year which facilitates transition.

Year 8 classes attend a camp at one of a range of venues, usually later in the school year for different learning outcomes. Costs vary according to venue.

Year 7 students experience a sailing day and Year 8 students have a ski day in the third or fourth terms.

Acceleration & Enrichment (A&E)

Cobham Intermediate offers three A&E classes at each year level. Students are selected for these classes based on their primary school achievement record, conversations with their Year 6 teachers and the Cobham entrance test (English, Maths and Reasoning). Classroom learning programmes accelerate students to higher levels of thinking and enrich them with depth and complexity of learning topics.

Additional enrichment activities include Future Problem Solving, an opportunity to sit a wide variety of National and International tests such as the ICAS and the University of Otago Junior Maths competition, Cantamath, robotics, Literature Quiz, Canterbury Westland Science Fair, chess, music groups (eg. Chamber Orchestra and Chorale), sports teams (eg. NZ Association for Intermediate and Middle Schools Games) and specialised individual programmes. Students selected to be in these classrooms will have the opportunity to work with other like minded individuals.

In addition to this all maths classes at Cobham are ability grouped.

Inquiry Classes

Inquiry immersion classes are an option at both Year 7 and Year 8 levels.

The students:

• Take a greater responsibility for their own learning
• Participate in inquiries that they help design and plan in conjunction with the classroom teacher
• Use the classroom, school and wider community as resources
• Use strategies to identify, choose and explore topics that interest them
• Participate in a learner-centred approach
• Take responsibility for processing the data they are working with in order to reach their own conclusions.

Please note: students in this class enjoy all of the academic, cultural, technological and sporting activities provided.

Learning Support

Our school provides a depth of professional, motivating support to enable students who have particular learning needs to have these addressed.

• E.S.O.L English Speakers of Other Languages
• Special Needs especially in Reading and Mathematics
• D.A.R.E Drug Abuse Resistance Education
• Extension accelerated groups across the curriculum
• Computer assisted Reading and Mathematics programmes

The establishment of a well-staffed Learning Centre has enhanced these programmes.

• The Special Needs Co-ordinator teaches in the Learning Centre, assisted by a team of teacher aides who work with students there, in classrooms and technology workshops
• The Learning Centre caters for groups of up to ten students at both year levels, at maths interchange time
• Small group remedial reading programmes are run daily, and individualized computer programmes offering literacy support for dyslexic and students reading below cohort levels are available.

I.C.T. (Information and Communication Technologies)

ICT has become an integral part of all teaching and learning programmes at our school.

Access is available to all students subject to their parents/caregivers authorizing use on our school’s consent form

Our modern, fibre-optic system enables interactive learning opportunities throughout the world.

Internet Guidelines

Students

• May surf only the area specified by a teacher
• Can only access the internet when supervised by an adult
• Shall not disclose names, addresses and telephone numbers
• Shall not access unsuitable, offensive or illegal material
• Must sign an Internet User’s Agreement form before having access

Parents/Caregivers are informed of any serious infringement.

Random audits of computer usage are carried out each term.

Cobham uses internet filtering software “Campus Watchdog” which is endorsed by the New Zealand Ministry of Education.

Cultural

Our students have opportunities to participate in:

• Chess
• Chorale
• Choirs (Year 7 or Year 8)
• Debating
• Drama
• Future Problem Solving
• Kapa Haka
• Jazz Group
• Music Festivals
• Orchestra
• Operetta (biennially)
• Science Fairs
• Speech Competitions
• Technology Challenges
• Theatre Sports
• Art
• Dance

Music

Abilities and interests are catered for in a diverse range of musical groups.

The groups perform at school assemblies and on special occasions, various Christchurch festivals and by invitation.

Choral

There is a Year 7 and Year 8 choir, a chorale for the most talented singers, and private singing lessons are available.

Instrumental

Cobham has an orchestra, a jazz band for accomplished players, a chamber orchestra for the advanced players, and recorder groups (beginner and advanced).

There is free instrumental tuition is available for learners of violin, cello, flute and clarinet.

Students can have private lessons for piano, guitar, keyboard and theory.

Cobham Intermediate also has a dance troupe, a Maori cultural group (Kapa Haka) and a biennial operetta.

Specialist Teaching

Our Board of Trustees provides additional finance which enables us to provide higher quality teaching and learning through having half-classes (up to 16 students) for all practical classes. These include Fabric, Food, Metal, Wood, Science, Art, Music, Performing Arts and Physical Education. In addition the teaching of Mathematics is enhanced through ability grouping and additional teachers across each year level cohort to reduce group numbers.

Facilities

Our school enjoys outstanding, modern and age-appropriate physical resources. Specialist rooms designed to meet the needs of our students include those for Technology, Science, Visual Art, Performing Arts, Physical Education plus an ultra-modern Music Suite named for Hayley Westenra, a former student.